Sections of this page:

Teamwork cuts KUMC utility bills

TOWNHALL meetings set

Patient satisfaction scores rise

Around KUMC.....

Parking permits available

Planning for enhancements, new services gets underway

Donald Hagen, EVC

Classifieds

Topics Information

Campus-wide effort
Teamwork cuts KUMC utility bills

Utility bills have plummeted over the past six months, thanks to concerted efforts by all KU Medical Center employees. As a result of their cooperation, KU Medical Center has reduced electrical and water costs significantly, according to Don Rau, assistant to the vice chancellor.
“We have lowered our kilowatt per hour (KWH) consumption by 2.5 million kwh-a reduction of 4.2 percent,” said Rau. “This equates to a savings of 3.75 million pounds of carbon dioxide from our air and a savings of $104,767 through the first three quarters of FY98 for our budget.”
Moreover, water consumption dropped by 13 percent, saving $86,743 this fiscal year to date.
“Through three quarters, our persistence is continuing to pay dividends,” he said. “Thanks to everyone for their efforts at energy conservation. Everyone is to be congratulated!”
Rau expressed appreciation for departments that don’t operate at night or on weekends. These departments, he said, have agreed to a reduced heating and air conditioning schedule. That schedule provides heat or air conditioning 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
The Medical Center will continue its conservation progress. Lighting renovation is ongoing, with the current focus on converting to energy saving bulbs and ballasts that produce more light in all areas operating 24 hours a day. Among the areas under conversion are hallways, stairwells and parking garages. Individual office changes will begin early in the next fiscal year. Moreover, fan systems in Dykes Library and the ground and first floor of Murphy are being upgraded.
Rau also urged employees to continue turning off lights and computers at night, on weekends and whenever they are away from their desks for more than an hour.
Utility savings...from page 1
“During this fiscal year, we will save enough from our utility budget to fund the lighting projects for the Energy Recovery Team for FY99, invest in Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system upgrades and be more aggressive in pre-purchasing natural gas for the upcoming winter,” said Rau. “Congratulations go to each employee who contributed efforts to save energy, the Energy Recovery Team, who have worked some nights and weekends to complete projects and all Facility Management employees from the Hvac Shop, Systems Shop and Facilities Management who have supported these efforts.”

TOWNHALL meetings set
Don’t forget to set time aside to attend a Townhall meeting! The meetings are
Monday, June 29: 7:30-8:30 a.m., Wahl Hall East
Wednesday, July 1: 3:45-4:45 p.m., Sudler
Monday, July 6: 3:45-4:45 p.m., Sudler
Tuesday, July 7: 10:30-11:30 p.m., Sudler
Wednesday, July 8: 7:30-8:30 a.m., Wahl Hall East

L-R William Jackson, sportscaster interviews: Fred Burry, MD, Medical Director, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Irene Cumming, KU Hospital CEO and Donald Hagen, KUMC Executive Vice Chancellor
during the recent CMN Telethon.

Patient satisfaction scores rise

KU Medical Center employees have pulled together and made impressive progress in patient satisfaction, competency and costs, according to data from the last two quarters of this fiscal year, which will end June 30.
The good news comes from patient satisfaction surveys and other data sources, which have been on the rise for the past six months, said Irene Cumming, hospital chief executive officer. She congratulated the entire staff for the success of their efforts.
“We have begun to turn the corner in all three areas and for this I thank each and every one of you,” she said. “Our overall patient satisfaction scores have increased during the last two quarters of this fiscal year. Our competency scores are trending in a positive direction. And our cost per discharge has been on the decline since November 1997. Cost per discharge for March and April represented the third and fourth lowest points during the past twenty-two months. Congratulations!”
The results demonstrate that the KU Medical Center team-in all clinical and support areas can quickly improve performance. They put KU Medical Center on track for reaching its goal of being in the top five percent of U.S. healthcare organziations.
Cumming cited teamwork among individuals and departments as an integral factor in recent progress. “We all know that teamwork—individuals and departments working together to deliver preferred quality care in a cost-effective manner—is critical to our success. We have seen many examples of this teamwork in recent months.”
Among them are the recently established medical/hospital
Patient Satisfaction....from page 1
director partnerships we have established. A team with representation from our medical and pharmacy staffs recently capitalized on the skills and knowledge of both groups, and improved the process for antibiotic utilization.
“The new process significantly reduces cost, and more importantly improves our quality of patient care,” said Cumming.
She also praised individuals who enhance KU Medical Center’s reputation through individual actions. Among them are helping patients and families find their way to appointments or loved ones’ inpatient units.
“We have talked before about moments of truth-those opportunities to enhance the reputation of the University of Kansas Hospital in the minds of patients, families and the community,” said Cumming. “Moments of truth happen through individual interaction, not through team meetings or decisions coming from my office. For example, when you take the time to help patients or family members find their way to an appointment, you have left a lasting impression of our hospital as a place where people care.”

Around KUMC.....

Endowment Association establishes web page

The Endowment Association at KUMC has established a PULSE page, which can be found at www.kumc.edu/endowment/index.
The page was designed as a vehicle by which faculty and staff could share information about individuals, corporations, or foundations that might have an interest in funding programs and projects at KUMC. In addition to accepting information volunteered by employees, the Medical Center Endowment Association Office periodically will send requests for information. Those who have any insight into these requests can complete the appropriate form and e-mail it to the Endowment Association. All information submitted to the Endowment Association Office is sent via secure encryption.


Mock Survey prepares for 1999 JCAHO review

Though it seems like we just completed a Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations survey, everyone is gearing up for the next round. Beginning today and tomorrow and continuing July 8 and 9, representatives from a consulting company will be on campus to administer a mock JCAHO survey. The June mock survey will look at administrative and medical staff functions. In July, consultants will help with surveying nursing functions. After the mock survey, Tom Valuck, associate hospital administrator, and Ann Babb, interim chief nursing officer, will develop a plan for the 1999 JCAHO survey.



O’Connell, Ahluwalia serve on Cancer Institute panel

Kathleen O’Connell, PhD, RN, School of Nursing, and Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, MD, MPH, MS, Vice Chair and Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, served on a National Cancer Institute review panel, which reviewed applications concerning adolescent smoking.

Parking permits available

Make sure you stop by Stoland Lounge outside the Bookstore between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. today and tomorrow to get your parking permit. Parking Services staff will be on hand to distribute permits. Those who miss the chance to get their permits on the main campus can get theirs at the Parking Services office, 2100 W. 36th Ave., Support Service Facility next to the Post Office. The deadline for getting your permit is June 30.
Bring identification and be prepared to pay any outstanding fines you may have. Parking Services can accept Mastercard, Visa, Discover and checks.

Planning for enhancements, new services gets underway

Hospital officials are planning to add skilled nursing services, enhance women’s and children’s services and increase security for pediatric inpatient services over the next several months.
The plans call for consolidating seven medical-surgical units into six and moving pediatric inpatients from the Delp Pavilion to the Bell Memorial Building. In doing so, the hospital will bring pediatric, newborn and women’s reproductive health under the same roof, free space for skilled nursing facilities and improve operational efficiencies, said Ann Babb, clinical medicine director.
“We’ve had many meetings and discussions with physicians, staff, managers and others in preparation for meeting these goals,” said Babb. “We asked for feedback, and everyone had the chance to respond, and those responses are a part of the assessment and planning. We’ve received a lot of constructive suggestions. Overall, the responses have been good.”
No date has been set for implementing the plans.

Tereesa Olinger presents a check to William Jackson, sportscaster KCTV-5, during the CMN Telethon. Watching in the background is Ned Garrigues, MD, Chief of Plastic Surgery and Medical Director of the Sutherland Institute.

KU Medical Center was well represented at the 15th Annual Cancer Golf Classic, of which KUMC was a corporate co-sponsor. The KU team comprised Bill Marting, Kathy Zink, Judy Ecton, Scott Glasrud, Bob Page-Adams, and Tajquah Hudson. The tourney raised a total of $53,000 for cancer treatment and research.

Donald Hagen, EVC

We Care About You!

You need to know how much we appreciate all of the hard work everyone is doing throughout the Medical Center to create a new organization that will support us in the years ahead. It is important for everyone not to lose sight of the fact that all of the initiatives being undertaken are to sustain and strengthen our primary missions of education, research and patient care. As we work to restructure our organization and our operations, there are times when some will feel threatened. Some will become disillusioned, others will be frustrated, and human emotions will come to play.
Please understand that we are attacking old processes, not the people. Our processes need to change if we are to continue to have excellence in all that we do. It is clear that the changes will affect all of us, but they must occur if we are to succeed.
In some respects, our situation reminds me of the period when the heated Federal budget debates were occurring. There was a lot of bashing in the press and people from all over the place struck out against “Washington Bureaucrats.” While it was true that there were significant inefficiencies in government, unfortunately fine, qualified hard-working people were stereotyped and victimized. During that unfortunate period, I watched many of these people, who often traveled hours to get to and from critical jobs, became totally disillusioned. They didn’t deserve it and what happened was wrong.
There is a major lesson here. As we work to restructure our operation, we must work together to create the new enterprise. We must be certain that we listen to each other throughout the process and respect the challenges and adjustments each of us has to make. All of our employees, be they Hospital, University, Student Union Corporation , KUEA, KUPI, or Research Institute will have a different work environment in the future. However, while each will have new tasks and ways of working, everyone is critical to our ultimate success.
I believe we can be successful by carefully planning and sensitively executing needed changes. However, during this critical period of transition, we must pay increased attention on communicating and communicating well. We have no place for rumors. It is amazing to me, how so many people, (and many of us are scientists) believe what they hear without evaluation. It is important that we apply some principles of science to our daily management life. Take time to find out the truth. Don’t spread rumors.
We have great leaders and they all have great teams. Everyone is working very, very hard to help create a new environment designed to focus on our students, patients, and research. As we enter the most critical phase of our transformation, everyone needs to make a special effort to make certain that each of our teams is successful.
I know we can make this happen,
I have great faith in all of you.

Classifieds

For Sale

For sale: Four-bedroom house priced to sell quick! Four-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, living room, dining room, and walk out family room with wood-burning fireplace, open stairway, wet bar, finished basement, eat-in kitchen, fenced yard, large trees, walk to all schools. Off 71st and Quivira, Shawnee. $144,950. Call 631-1838.

For sale: VCR: Fisher Recorder-Player $25. Exercise bike: Voit Gravity Rider II $25. Six-foot bookcase, three deep shelves, dark walnut veneer $20. Table: 36-inch, round, light oak with two drop leaves, white base, $25. Call 941-4767.

For sale: Bicycle, boy’s 20-inch blue Huffy, excellent condition, $20. Call 677-3173.

For sale: Leather love seat, gas tank, front and rear fender for Harley-Davidson motorcycle, all in excellent condition. Call 371-2546 after 6 p.m. Can also leave a message.

For sale: 50-gallon aquarium, complete. Wood stand with storage, hood with light. Emperor filtering system, rocks, gravel, plastic plants and beautiful fish. Nothing more to buy. Must see. $350 firm. Also, Hammond model L101 organ, very good condition, make reasonable offer. Call Bob or David, 677-5354.

For sale: Frigidaire refrigerator. 17 cubic-feet. Crosstop freezer, $100. Window air conditioner, 115-volt, two room capacity, energy-saver, $175. Lennox central-air system, pre-owned. Late model, high-efficiency. Includes condenser, cooling coil, lines, thermostat, $300. Call 432-2602.


For sale: Bedroom set. Full-sized bed with mattress and box springs, head boards with mirrors. Six-drawer dresser, four-drawer chest, two-drawer night table. Dark wood look. All $120. Cordless phone, $30. Sewing machine in wooden cabinet, $75. Karaoke machine, $40. Disc camera, $25. Push lawn mower, $50. Call 432-7475.

For sale: Lawn mower. 21-inch, self-propelled mower with rear bagger, $85. Bentwood rocking chair, $45. Coffee table/end tables with leather tops, $175. Call 262-0458.

For sale: Acoustic Research Turntable, new Shure cartridge-needle, excellent condition. Large record collection, like new, classics and others. $200. Time-Life photography books. Complete set, $25. Set of art books, $10. Antique doll wood highchair, $25. Large antique pharmacy display bottle, $30. Antique wood trunk, very old, excellent condition, $200. Other small antique items Vintage lamb coat, black, $30. 1930s silk evening gown, $30. Call 438-5043.

For sale: 1997 Grand Prix GT. Two-door, black. Under 15,000 miles. Power seats and windows. Sharp. $18,750. 1992 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer. Four-door, leather power seats and windows. Maroon and tan. Air-conditioning needs repair. 93,000 miles. $10,750. Call Rich, 616-4900.


Pets

Free to good home: two one-year-old male outdoor cats. Call (913)768-7745.


Lost
Lost: 300-pound cast iron 36-inch by 36-inch cauldron pot from my front porch near KUMC on June 13. Sentimental value. Large reward for recovery-no questions asked. Call 677-3173.


Announcements

Farewell Reception for
Mark Casey Friday, June 26

Please join Human Resources in their farewell reception for Mark Casey 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, June 26 in the Human Resources Training Room located at 1038 Delp Pavilion. Mark has been in the benefits section of Human Resources since October 24, 1979. He came to KUMC from the Department of Social & Rehab. Services.

Retirement Reception
For Annie Brown
Tuesday, June 30

KUMC employees and students are invited to a June 30 retirement reception for Annie Brown, associate registrar in the Department of Student Services. It will be 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Francisco Lounge. She has been serving students here for 24 years. Please join us as we wish Annie well in her future endeavors!

Topics Information
Topics is the employee publication of the University of Kansas Medical Center.
It is published weekly by the office of Public Relations and Marketing. The deadline for submitting news briefs for consideration is noon on the Wednesday before they are to appear. For longer articles or features, contact the editor in advance.
Send story ideas to Leslie Champlin, acting editor, G114 Hospital, or e-mail: lchampli@ kumc.edu or call ext. 1602

Topics ad policy
Send or bring your ad to Topics, G114 KU Hospital, or fax to ext. 1225, or e-mail: lchampli@kumc.edu by noon Wednesday of the week before it is to run.
Ads run free of charge for employees, students and volunteers. For-sale ads are limited to three items. All ads must include the advertiser’s name and work extension (or medical student box number) for verification.
Only home phone numbers --- no pager numbers or KUMC extensions --- will be published. No ads for commercial services or pets for sale will be accepted. Ads will not be taken by telephone. Only one phone number per ad.
Ads may be a held a week if space is limited.

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