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UTMB will remain a presence in Galveston... but...
All of UTMB Cardiology and Surgery are now at Mainland Hospital in Texas City...
Nov, 14, 2008
GALVESTON, Texas — (AP) The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston will remain academically accredited as a medical school despite the loss of 3,800 jobs, officials said.
However, UTMB will continue sending medical students to health facilities elsewhere in Texas to gain clinical experience, officials said. Since Hurricane Ike's landfall in September, the school's third- and fourth-year medical students have served their clinical rotations at hospitals across the state.
The UT System announced Friday it has hired an Atlanta-based consulting firm to help in deciding how a diminished medical center could develop "a successful clinical model that includes a presence on the island." A report from the consultants is due by the end of January.
UTMB plans to reopen up to 200 inpatient beds and an emergency room as soon as possible, joining a 16-bed maternity ward that is already operational.
The UT Board of Regents unanimously approved the job cuts Wednesday during a meeting in El Paso, saying they want to keep the medical school in Galveston but could not allow it to continue losing as much as $40 million a month since Ike hit the island in September.
Tom Johnson, executive director of the Texas Faculty Association, a union that represents the UTMB faculty, said his organization has hired an investigator to examine the reasons behind the layoffs.
"It is our opinion, however, that the crisis has been perpetrated by UT/UTMB...," Johnson wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
UTMB President Dr. David Callender said Thursday he hopes to meet with employees by the middle of next week to let them know who will lose their jobs. Officials will follow UT rules in determining who is laid off, he said, and seniority will be one factor.
Employees will be paid through mid-January, 2009.
Ike caused nearly $710 million in losses to UTMB, which has 12,500 employees with 8,000 working on the island campus. Officials have said that only about $100 million of the damage from the Sept. 13 hurricane is covered by insurance.
All of UTMB Cardiology and Surgery are now at Mainland Hospital in Texas City...
05:36 PM CST on Friday, November 14, 2008
[SIZE=-1]By Leigh Frillici / 11 News[/SIZE]
TEXAS CITY, Texas — Ever since Hurricane Ike damaged UTMB in Galveston, traffic has picked up at the Mainland Medical Center in Texas City.
In fact, it's the only fully-operational hospital in all of Galveston County.
Ike decimated UTMB Galveston's ability to care for the more critical patients.
"The majority of us are coming an hour or two earlier than we're used to, and a lot of us are working into the night," Dr. Janis Golde, Chief of Staff at the Mainland Medical Center, said. Extra patients means extra staffing needs, so Mainland has hired employees from UTMB Galveston.
"They weren't doing any surgery at UTMB at all," Dr. Taylor Riall of UTMB said. Riall is one of 60 UTMB doctors now practicing at Mainland.
"It's provided me an opportunity to work with my patients, which I didn't have before," Riall said.
Over the past week, Mainland Medical Center held orientations for dozens of new staff members. The majority of them came from UTMB.
"We've hired over 100 new staff members, most of whom are PRN nurses," Deborah Beverly of the Mainland Medical Center said.
"We've been able to employ the UTMB employees that needed jobs," Cynthia Travis, Director of Physician Services at the Mainland Medical Center, said.
Come January, UTMB will lay off 3,800 people. Mainland is keeping its doors open for the possibility for more hires.
"We'll expand the staff as needed," Travis said.
