View Larger Image
Stephanie Gardner opens the virtual Team UAMS Town Hall May 18 in the Smith Auditorium.
Image by Bryan Clifton
Town Hall Provides Updates on Construction, Growth
| As UAMS expands its physical presence and develops new programs, it also is growing and redefining itself in the perception of Arkansans.
“For many years, UAMS has been viewed as an entity in Little Rock, but I am extremely proud of the steps we’re taking to expand our care and partnerships throughout the state and put that notion behind us,” said Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D., senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, provost and chief strategy officer.
Spotlighting construction, new programs and initiatives, Gardner led a Team UAMS Town Hall virtual meeting May 18 from the Fred W. Smith Auditorium on the 12th floor of the Jackson Stephens Neurosciences & Spine Institute.
Christina Clark, MBA, and Amy Wenger, MHSA, in their presentations cited an example of the university’s expansion outside of central Arkansas, a new regional campus planned for El Dorado. Clark is vice chancellor for institutional support services and chief operating officer. Amy Wenger is vice chancellor for Regional Campuses.
Amy Wenger speaks at the Town Hall about UAMS’ expanding presence in new locations in Arkansas cities and towns.Image by Bryan Clifton
Wenger said that in 2022 and 2023, UAMS will partner with the Medical Center for South Arkansas in El Dorado and open up the new campus. Once open, it will provide primary care to patients in the region as well as training of physician residents.
In Miller County, UAMS Regional Campuses has started operating a Family Medicine Clinic in cooperation with the Fouke School District. About 40% of the county’s residents live below the poverty line compared to 18% in Arkansas. The new clinic on the public school campus is staffed by physicians and nurses from the UAMS Southwest Regional Campus in Texarkana and provides primary care to members of the community as well as students, Wenger said.
To further the goals of the Vision 2029 strategic plan for UAMS, Regional Campuses is collaborating with the Rural Research Network and is building the infrastructure to evaluate, implement and sustain projects as well as to engage more rural communities in research.
Regional Campuses also has worked with the UAMS Institute for Digital Health & Innovation to bring specialty care to the different regions of the state. Together, they have begun providing virtual visits as well as some in-person consultations for cardiology patients in Helena-West Helena; infectious disease patients in Magnolia, Texarkana and Helena-West Helena; liver and kidney patients in Jonesboro and Texarkana; and movement disorder patients in Batesville, Texarkana, Jonesboro and Fort Smith.
Paul Phillips, M.D., director of the Jones Eye Institute and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, gave a presentation about The Gift of Sight clinical outreach effort in which UAMS physicians performed cataract surgery that restored the eyesight of 21 members of the Marshallese community in Northwest Arkansas. The surgeries, food and transportation were provided to the patients at no cost to them. Several community partners assisted in the effort.
“They were extremely appreciative,” Phillips said. “Many of them were functionally blind. We do this surgery on patients every day, but the unique thing here is how severe the cataracts were. With many patients, we know they are going to get care somewhere. With this project, we knew if we didn’t do it than it wasn’t going to happen.”
As for the continued physical expansion of UAMS, Clark presented updates on several construction projects. The UAMS energy plant on the east side of the main campus is ahead of schedule and under budget. It’s expected to be complete by March 2022, giving the university an opportunity to save money on utilities expenses even sooner than expected.
UAMS broke ground recently for a new Surgical Hospital the south section of the main campus. That project is planned for completion in March 2023. Groundbreakings also are scheduled this summer for two upcoming projects, a new building for the Radiation Oncology Center near the BioVentures building and for the Child Development Center near the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library off Jonesboro Street.
In the planning stage is a new UAMS Health Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine facility in Northwest Arkansas where UAMS orthopaedists and orthopaedic surgeons will provide care for University of Arkansas students on Razorback sports teams.
Work also is under way to fully renovate Barton, the oldest building on campus, Clark said.
Although UAMS has many projects and expansions in different stages of development, their costs have been accounted for and the university’s finances are healthy, Amanda George, MHSA, CPA, said. George is the vice chancellor for finance and chief financial officer.
In part due to $24.2 million in federal CARES Act funding, UAMS at the end of April had a positive year-to-date margin of $19.9 million.
“The last two months have been very promising, and we’re starting to see clinical volumes return. Our margins have been improving, and we’re optimistic about what the future months might hold for us,” she said.