UAMS, Wilson Hospitality Collaborate to Bring Unreasonable Hospitality, Outrageous Service to Healthcare
| LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and America’s Village, the hospitality team for Wilson, Arkansas, are collaborating on a movement to bring unreasonable hospitality and outrageous service into the healthcare environment.
Wilson Hospitality and UAMS are working together to set a new standard, positioning UAMS as a forward-thinking healthcare organization that treats the human experience as a powerful strategic differentiator that drives trust, healing, and excellence.
“The highest form of care is combining cutting-edge science with heartfelt hospitality, ensuring that every patient feels like an honored guest, not a number,” said UAMS Chancellor C. Lowry Barnes, M.D. “We are excited to have a group of leaders, “The Devoted Dozen,” working with our consultants to make UAMS CARES a part of our never-ending journey to improve the patient and family experience.”
“This collaboration will help us achieve what we strive for at UAMS,” Barnes added. “It will improve outcomes for patients, cultivate a positive work environment, build trust within the community, while enhancing the state’s only academic health center experience for students and faculty.”
“When world-class hospitality meets compassionate medicine, the hospital room stops being a place of fear and becomes a place of peace,” said Jeff Kmiec, chief executive officer of Wilson Hospitality. “Drawing on the leadership of Wilson Hospitality’s proven service philosophy, this collaboration will translate world-class hospitality principles into practical, human-centered behaviors that elevate what UAMS patients, families, caregivers, students, and the community experience.
“Additionally, this initiative will deepen staff pride and engagement across the entire UAMS enterprise, and empower teams to serve with empathy, ownership, and intention through measurable service culture standards,” Kmiec said.
America’s Village is an American renaissance story unfolding on the Arkansas banks of the Mississippi River. Wilson, Arkansas, is a revitalized farm and craft community welcoming a new era of both homeowners and visitors. Anchored by a picturesque grassy square, the walkable enclave is home to charming retailers and a luxury boutique hotel — The Louis — as well as a range of farm-fresh dining, bar, cellar offerings, golf and sporting clays. The bucolic Delta destination is also a longtime favorite for quintessentially southern live music and hunting. Just minutes from the Mississippi River and Northeast Arkansas’ expanding steel industry, Wilson combines modern amenities with timeless small-town charm.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,553 students and 1,015 medical residents and fellows. It is the state’s largest public employer with about 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###