Behind the Lines
Emergency!
Hurricane Ike devastated the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Another storm is brewing over why the regents don’t want to rebuild it.
23 comments
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:19pm
tj says:
Are you guys missing the whole story? The prime motivator in allowing the UTMB to die in Galveston is a poorly hidden plan to move it to Austin!
January 15th, 2009 at 8:22pm
Jon says:
I listened to this article eoday through the Tx Monthly podcasts. I work in the management side of government healthcare and I have to be honest; I can't believe it has taken this long to close out UTMB. The hospital was losing $15 million a month prior to the storm and then $40 million after the storm. Can anyone really wonder why UT was trying to extract itself from this dismal failure of a hospital and graduate program? Lets look at this from the standpoint of balance. All medical institutions have to balance care with cost; and develop a threshold that allows the business side of maintaining the capitol needed in order to provide the medical services desired. First, the location of a Level 1 trauma center on an ISLAND that is cut off from one of the largest cities in the nation during inclement weather - when the larger population is apt to need those services is ridiculous. Putting a major medical institution on an ISLAND of only 57,000 people that is in close proximity to major medical centers at locations that are not prone to flooding or isolation is a stroke of genius. Hospitals, by design must be centrally located and protected from the very disasters that cause their greatest utility in order to be effective. The decision by the board of reagents to not throw hundreds of millions of dollars into rebuilding a facility that is GUARANTEED to be destroyed again in the future is one that ensures the solvency of the entire UT medical system. The incredible losses the UTMB system was "proud" of maintaing does not demonstrate a true compassion for the uninsured of Galveston, it merely demonstrates a cavalier and egocentric desire to provide extravagant and wasteful medical practices to a community who neither benefitted from nor could afford. Unfortunately for the patients of Galveston, the doctors and administrators who were unwilling to reign in the fiscally irresponsible "hallmark" practices of UTMB doomed the institution before the hurricane provided the final justification to the regents. What many readers fail to understand is that these cost overruns and wasteful practices cost the UT education system, the State of Texas, and the Texas taxpayer dearly every month - preventing the $15 million dollars a month needed to shore up UTMB from being spent on rural and inner city-clinics, research, and any other well deserved medical initiative.
January 12th, 2009 at 12:50pm
Dana says:
Mimi
Please do not let this story die! I was born at John Sealy Hospital when my dad was a medical student there. UTMB is an incredible hospital and if it is taken away everyone will have to go to Houston if they need a Level I trauma center. At one time, Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont was going to become a Level I trauma center to take some of the pressure off UTMB from places like Lumberton, Orange, Silsbee, Port Arthur, etc. For some reason that did not happen and "St. E", which was once considered THE hospital in the Beaumont area, has declined significantly. All the more reason to keep UTMB in Galveston!!!! It produces some great doctors, many of whom stay in this area (within 100 miles of Galveston). The loss of the medical school would start a ripple that would spread farther than just the loss of a hospital. It would affect the entire Gulf Coast region, and would signal the loss of a school that proved that it could weather the Great Storm of 1900, only to be taken down by the greed and materialism of the University of Texas system. Please tell me where to write (my congressman, Galveston's congressman, Rick Perry?) but don't let this story die!
December 30th, 2008 at 2:27pm
retired UTMB says:
All of this has broken my heart. What can we do to let President Callender and the Board of Reagents know the feelings of the public. Is calling my state representative going to make a difference. I wonder what the population of Galveston will be in a year of two. Galveston's economy will be worse than awful. Who will want to live in Galveston.... :(
December 29th, 2008 at 7:25pm
Concerned Californian says:
"President Callender has been unwilling to accept money from local private foundations."
OMG! Has this man been lunching with the likes of Lehman's Richard Fuld or Bernard Madoff?
Callender and the regents have a fiduciary responsibility to UTMB, Galveston and southeast Texas. When will the greed end?
December 28th, 2008 at 12:59pm
Linda says:
piling on?? don't think you can blame this on the Regents:
AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Legionnaires' disease bacteria found at UTMB
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/12/06/1206texdigest.html
December 26th, 2008 at 12:19am
Linda says:
Sorry ... sorry that the reputation of the place has deteriorated over the years; yes, that is my impression and I think it is valid. The school and hospital were not 'what they used to be' for a loooong time, for WHATEVER reason. I am wondering when the plethora of hospitals will sink the whole system. It's obvious medical care is in crisis in our country, not just on the island. Maybe we need to think QUALITY not QUANTITY.
December 21st, 2008 at 7:48pm
Sterling Blocker MD FACS says:
I know that my father would be rolling over in his grave if he knew what was happening at UTMB. Truman Blocker , the first presedent of UTMB dedicated his life to the building of UTMB as one of the premier institutions in the nation.
Being an AOA alumni of UTMB myself, I am deeply saddened by the lack of enthusiasm toward rebuilding and were it not for a terminal lung condition (IPF), I would do more.
With many regrets,
Sterling Blocker MD Ret. Pediatric Surgeon
PS The city of Galveston was a great place to grow up
December 20th, 2008 at 8:05pm
Vicki says:
Thanks, Mimi, for writing a great article! I hope this will help get the news out to the rest of Texas and the world. Hurricane Ike dealt Galveston a tremendous blow, but the economic devastation caused by the UT board of regents will be even worse. Those heartless money grubbers really need to come visit Galveston, but they are too cowardly to do so. Plus they are too busy frittering away money at $15000 retreats.
December 13th, 2008 at 6:53pm
Natha says:
I was also rif'd and to this day I can not find out on what basis were employee's judged, years of service, evaluations, age, gender, etc. When we ask why we were terminated our supervisors told us they had no input as to who would stay and who would go. It appears that the majority of the employees that were dismissed were women, over the age of 50, and predominately white. In just my little area there were 7 faculty support staff, within about a 30 minute time period there was 1 person left. They have reduced the specialty clinics to two floors of UHC where they once had 6 floors and the bldg. called the PCP was completely occupied. I could go on and on but what would be the point. I see no way they can turn this around. The problem goes back about 11 years ago, when Perry and W convinced Medicare to send the reimbursement payments to the State and the State would see to it that the hospital that provided the service and submitted payment request would be reimbursed by the State, what they did was add a middle man to the payment process. Instead of returning the money back to the hospital it belonged to they used the money to buy property in several locations across the state, opened or expanded mini medical schools at several colleges. If you get to Austin you can see the UTMB red white and blue sign on several hospitals the state has purchased with I assume money that should have been returned to UTMB Galveston. This is much deeper than IKE, the storm just speeded up the Regents process of completely destroying what took years to build. I don't know how any of them can sleep at night.
December 11th, 2008 at 9:52am
Rif'd off 2 says:
Where has everyone been? UTMB has been saving lives for over a hundred years! All those who are saying that the facility should be saved, where were you when we needed you and your insurance money? Taking your health insurance money off the island, saying, "I won't go to the county hospital!" And now, you have to close your business because all those laid off UTMB workers aren't having lunch there, aren't buying gas or sodas there, and patients and their family members aren't shopping at your grocery store...where were you when we needed you? I have little sympathy, you have put yourself in the same place that me and my (former) cooworkers are now. If UTMB survives, I hope everyone on the island, in Galveston County, remembers this time of uncertainty and takes advantage of the excellent health care service that is right in your back yard.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:34pm
Bemused says:
What's a teasip?
December 10th, 2008 at 6:27pm
Round Rock Resident says:
Texas politicians and regents have a real attitude problem that is slanted toward status and prestige at the expense of common sense and human decency. The actions toward UTMB is but one example.
December 10th, 2008 at 1:37pm
Tatertot says:
I am one of the lucky ones...our house did not flood but my husband was one of the named drs in the crap paper. We have been here for 17 yrs ON the island, love it but may have to leave it. Sorry to see them "release" the vested ones. Where will THEY be in 3 yrs....bet not in Galveston perhaps in Austin...makes you wonder.
December 10th, 2008 at 1:32pm
galvgal says:
It is amazing to me that UT will pay the asst. football coach $1M in salary. ONE regent from the Board came down to Galveston tosee what IKE had done. Prestige and greed have fostered what might be the demise of UTMB and Galveston for that matter. Last year, the ER (level 1) saved my life, if I had been shipped off I am convinced I would not have survived. It is a sad time for Galveston and UTMB.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:50pm
utmb employee says:
It is a disgrace to see utmb as it is now. In the long run, with no emergency care on the island so it will cost much more to life flight to houston area for care, with the events such as the biker rally,Dickins other gatherings in Galveston. Alot of these are uninsured visitors so add a hefty life flight bill in addition to medical costs......
December 10th, 2008 at 12:12pm
bt says:
one facet of this bizarre situation that was not explored in this article is that while 3000 or so people are losing there jobs Callender is making $900k and building a multi million dollar house on the bay. Why doesn't he take a lesson from detroit and accept little or NO pay unless and until he stewards this institution back into the black or at least a little less red. As a graduate of UT austin and a current student at UTMB, I have to admit I am embarrassed and ashamed of my alma mater.
It might also be noted that while UT austin is planning on opening a medical school, they chose to work with UT south western and not UTMB. it has been suggested in order to get approval from the LCME (the accrediting body of the AMA) UT might have to eliminate a medical school. Ike may have just played right into their hands.
December 10th, 2008 at 11:02am
exUTMBer says:
I was one of those laid of at UTMB. I count myself lucky, I just lost my job and I wasn't there long enough to have much invested in them. Many others, including some of my coworkers, lost their home, their belongings thanks to Ike, then UTMB kicked them when they were down, laying them off in the middle of the worst economy in my lifetime. Many of them were conspicuously close to retirement and had dedicated years of service to UTMB.
One thing I found very interesting was how quickly things seemed to change after the elections. Before, politicians pledged funding and support to UTMB and the headlines in the local papers read "layoffs not imminant at UTMB". Within a few days of the election, the politicians were quiet and the layoffs began.
Another thing I found interesting is how none of the people responsible for UTMB's sorry state have been held accountable. Upper management was at fault for neither forseeing the problems that resulted from putting critical hospital functions at ground level to be damaged by storm surge, lack of adequate insurance, or general poor management.
As is the case with Detroit and Wall Street, management was responsible but the rank and file employees and stakeholders are the ones that pay the price.
December 10th, 2008 at 10:46am
Cliff Jackson says:
Thanks Mimi!
Of course, it's so clear in hindsight, that UTMB Regents and UTMB management conspired to ensure that the inevitable, hurricane storm surge would destroy all of the primary systems of hospital and support buildings, thereby ensuring the eventual relocation of UTMB facilities to other mainland locations.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that raising vital systems to upper floors of island structures could have prevented the loss of assets which resulted in the UTMB downsizing.
If UTMB had stockholders, the Regents and UTMB management would be the despised Enron villains of the day!
December 10th, 2008 at 9:04am
imurnurse says:
So much of what was published in this article is what I've been saying since before I was RIF'd. Pretty Hair Perry has finally given us a good reason to get rid of him. Big fail, UT Systems. I thought you people were smart. Oh, did I learn. You're all just greedy.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:02pm
Rif'd off says:
For those of us left at UTMB that now have the dismal task of turning patients away because the are "unfunded" or under insured, I have a brilliant solution! Print business cards with the following:
For your immediate healthcare needs please call:
Governor Rick Perry's office at 800-843-5789 and/or call your state legislator. To find out who represents you:
http://www.house.state.tx.us/resources/faq.htm#who_rep
I have already ordered a box of 500 for $19.95 + tax.
December 9th, 2008 at 10:08pm
Ken Shelton says:
It is for the failure of their stewardship of UTMB in this crisis that the current UT Board of Regents will be remembered.
December 9th, 2008 at 8:53pm
Vandy says:
Mimi,
You nailed it.
Galveston is hurting. The unseen patients will be dying.
Vandy Anderson (FOP)
