HJNO May/Jun 2024

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  MAY / JUN 2024 13 incumbent upon us as leaders to remem- ber that and to be very purposeful in what we do. In my journey, when I was younger, I was probably a little overconfident. Now I'm more of a servant in the way I think about how care is delivered. I've lived life. I'm very much comfortable with the responsibility, but I also see it as a calling. I'll also add that I like to have fun, and New Orleans is a great place to have fun. If you can't find balance in this city, you're not going to find it anywhere. I'll tell you a goofy story. When I first got here, I lived inside “the box.” I didn't know Mardi Gras and had never been to Mardi Gras. I didn't quite understand it. Everyone at Children's said, "Ooh, you live inside the box. You really need to leave about 2:30. The floats line up for the parade, and you won't be able to get home." And I said, "Hey, I am here to be transformational for children of Louisiana. I'm not going home at 2:30." And about 7:00 that night, I had to walk three miles home because I couldn't get my car inside the box. So, I learned firsthand howMardi Gras worked, and next day, I was gone at 2:30. I have fallen in love with this city, the peo- ple. I want to be a part of it. I'm aware of the challenges we have. I want to be a part of the solution, whatever that takes; but I love to have fun, and here in New Orleans, you can do that. You can do incredible things. You can run hard and care and be passion- ate, and then, you can go have fun. People want to have fun. Editor How's your team doing? Nickens The team at UMC is incredible. UMC is an academic medical center, so that means teaching is going on all the time. You think about working in a Level I trauma, man, it is intense. From gunshot wounds to car wrecks, etc., everything happens here. We’re the only burn center between Galveston and Atlanta. We have 61 inpatient behavioral health beds. Some of our patients are in a psychotic state and sometimes aggressive and violent. Our team is trained to manage that. The team that provides care to those patients is tough. They're really good at what they do. They have chosen to be at UMC just like me. We want to be there and make a difference, and that goes from the CEO and the CNO [chief nursing officer], to the direc- tors, all the way to the frontline nurses, and all of our physicians from Tulane and LSU. They're tough, they're courageous, incred- ibly competent, and they have to be; this is complex stuff. There are a lot of certifica- tions, a lot of education, which I also love. They're intellectual. So, that spins off into some cool research and clinical trials. When you have that much complexity over and over and over, you start studying it, and you have the ability to learn from it and then share that information regionally, if not nationally. The team is good. They're strong. I enjoy interacting with them and working with them. They’re tough, competent, and they love doing what they do. They choose to do it. The people who work at UMC are there on purpose. Editor What surprised you as a healthcare executive coming from Houston, the largest medical center in the world as they like to tout? Nickens collaborates on the go with colleagues, pictured left to right: Jenny Tubre, RN, clinical director; Janice Long, RN, clinical manager; Toni Rouge, RN, program specialist; John Nickens, CEO; and Raphael Trinidad, rehabilitation technician.