HJNO May/Jun 2024

DIALOGUE 18 MAY / JUN 2024 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS like. I think it's time to listen. What steps are you taking towards creating a culture of wellness? What does that look like? We talked about me being confidently wrong; we all mature over time, and I think the same thing happens with our health. When we reach out into the commu- nity, it's all about holistic health — not just your physical health, it's also the mental, the emotional. Sometimes the most pow- erful thing we can do at UMC is to just sit and visit with someone and care for them— show them that we're nice and that we care. Because, as I said earlier, that's NewOrleans. That's who we are as a people. It's not always just prescriptive. I don't want us to ever to lose touch with that. I don't want us to be transactional like the Texas Medical Cen- ter. All my buddies in Houston will love that. We're very proud of our medical schools and what they're doing. We're going to study our history and the Spirit of Charity. It's powerful. It's not all positive. There are issues. There are always going to be issues with an organization that's nearly 300 years old. But there are also some really powerful pieces there, and I think it represents New Orleans, so I certainly want to amplify that. Editor In your last answer, you mentioned holistic. You know it's no secret Louisiana's rankings are last in health outcomes. Are we giving our citizens what they need to live healthy lives — mind, body, and spirit? And what is the fix if we're not? Nickens It's exactly what inspired me six years ago to come to Louisiana, and I think that we are making progress. It's never going to be as fast as we want to see, and it's not going to show up in the rankings right away. The trailing rankings data is almost generational. It will show up. I believe we're on the right path. When you ask, “Are we giving our citizens what they need …,” it begins with the personal decision of health. There are some great health outcomes in New Orleans that go along with the terrible outcomes. But there are some very prescriptive things like the way we eat and the opportunity to eat. You also hear about food deserts. There are outcomes like teenage suicide that have gone up in the U.S. for the first time in 10 years. Louisiana is such a caring population. How do we tackle something like that?When you start looking at suicide or mental health, you look at food insecurity and the impact that can have on individuals. I think those are some of our basic areas. What I tried to do at Children's, and I'm excited about doing at UMC, is to be the convener of the small charitable organi- zations that exist to help New Orleans. I think it's not really the competitive piece, but the collaborative piece, in how we all work together to tackle issues and focus in on one particular area to be better. It’s sad that there's not just one thing. It’s definitely a journey. We’re focused on safety. I want to make sure our employees and patients feel safe. We're an urban safety net hospital in the center of NewOrleans, so we are intentional about ensuring that you feel safe when you step on campus. Improving that comes from a lot of subjective listening. Then, there are some very specific things you do. We have more security officers than we've ever had. We've upgraded to more dynamic cameras. We are much more attentive to things than we might've been in the past. We're train- ing the brightest and best, and they look at our campus and our facility to be better, to choose excellence. Editor You mentioned food. Would it ever make sense for a health system to get into the healthy food business, actually serving up healthy meals as part of good medicine on the corners of New Orleans? Nickens From a system perspective, I'd love to study that and see what's happened across the country. From a hospital perspective, we are focused on our ability to add healthy foods. We have a farmer's market that comes in every other Friday. We are also trying to find ways to put healthy food in front of our own employees. As a health system, how do we live by example? We recently partnered with one of the When we reach out into the community, it's all about holistic health—not just your physical health, it's also the mental, the emotional. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do at UMC is to just sit and visit with someone and care for them— show them that we're nice and that we care.” “