MEDICAL CENTER STAFF ADVISORY COUNCIL

MEDICAL CENTER STAFF ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING
July 21, 2004

Attendance: Ferguson, Bettie, Sammons, Barbara, Warren, Rita, Staley, Janet, , Manassee, Mark, Troupe, Marcell, Hunter, Karen, Rudge, Nancy, Thornton, Linda, Warren, Rita, Campbell, Linda, Damon, Lynne, Keim-Trewyn, Debbie, Mondos, Carlos

Absence with regrets: Sharon Smith ,Lisa Ellis

Call to Order: 1404

Guest: Susan Snider, Gina Wey, Sylinda Littlejohn

Speakers: Ken Browning and Gene Ornes discussed parking. Susan Snider discussed the crafts fair.

Susan started the meeting talking about the plans for this year’s crafts fair. They are getting responses from vendors and will send out confirmation letters to vendors soon. They have secured the third floor connecting hallway and the mezzanine on the second floor and the first floor of the cancer research center. They will also have two spaces in the cafeteria. Most of the vendors will be on the third floor. They will limit the number of applicants for particular types of items for sale. This will allow the vendors to make more money when the competition is not so stiff. When this happens they get unhappy. The start time of the show will be moved earlier to let third shift have a chance to browse at the crafts fair. This is an experiment, and will get feedback from the vendors. They want to expand the fair to pampered chef, Partylite, and Tupperware. Janet Staley interjected that we can not have manufactured items at the crafts fair. This has not been done yet, this will be discussed latter. There is a lot of work to be done to set up for the crafts fair. Most vendors have there own displays and if they want tables they will have to rent them. They will be given a packet with questionnaires to offer feed back as to how we can improve the fair for next year. They have already made contacts with the university to get the word of the sale out to more people. The silent auction is under way. They will contact all representatives to ask people in their department to make baked goods and chili. Ask department members to donate monies or paper ware to help off set our overhead. Sign up sheets will go out to each representative. There are team leaders in place to help with questions and set up with the vendors. They will also be responsible for signing people up to work. Advertise the crafts fair on the MCSAC web site. They would like to next year give Vanderbilt staff the first option of being in the show. The show will be October 7 and 8. Has any consideration been given to the fact that if you increase the size of the show where will all of those people park? They are working on this. They will not advertise outside of Vanderbilt. They would probably have to park in the visitor’s garage and pay that rate. The vendors will have to sign a waiver releasing Vanderbilt from any liability. Susan and Linda will get together to get the WebPages updated with the craft fair information.

Gene started off by talking about all of the changes going on at Vanderbilt. We cater to all of our patients and patient visitors, not other visitors who come for special conferences held at the medical center. We keep growing every year. There are 50-60 locations that would like to validate parking for patient and visitors. Places like the Burn Center or CRC are not located close to validation checkpoints. This would be done by a wireless system. You enter the ticket number into the system and the reader will read the ticket and allow the patient or visitor free parking. Any clinic can have it that wants to do this service for their patients. The system requires an Internet connection. It would be nice to have a scanner to read the nine-digit number on the ticket so you don’t have to manually key the numbers in. If faculty or staff comes to visit their doctor they give them a 5-hour limit to see the Doctor. However many times a Doctors visit can take longer the 5 hours and they continue to work on this problem. This is based on the parking stickers on the car. They know that staff members are parking in the south garage as visitors and walking to the medical center. Vanderbilt Psych has problems with people parking in their lot and then there are no spaces for the patients. Many staff members feel they are treated second rate when they choose to get there health care at Vanderbilt but then they get a ticket while parked seeing the doctor or visiting a loved one in the hospital. It is hard to get control of the real violators of the parking at Vanderbilt.

Leaving a note that asks them to call the office so that they can verify whether you are violating the parking regulations or if you have a legitment use of the parking areas. When there is not a high demand then they don’t enforce the regulations as strictly. Central parking staff is not supposed to park in the hospital garage. There are some people who are assigned to park in the hospital garage for second shift and shuttle lots on the weekends. So those become there assigned areas.

They are looking into cameras that will take a picture of your license plate and then they can look at the data that is generated for how long you are there and how often you are there. Then they can tell if you are an offender of the parking regulations. This camera will be moved probably to the south garage.

They have installed a system on to the shuttles so they can see where all of the shuttles are and where they are going. They use this to help them plan shuttle routes and adjust them as traffic flow demands.

MTA is collecting data on how many people are using the free ride program. It appears that they have double the number of riders. MTA may add more routes to accommodate more of Vanderbilt staff. There is a policy being drafted to address people who abuse the free ride system.

They are about to start construction on the parking link garage. It is a 4 million-dollar project to gain 129 spaces. There are other parking projects drawn up and will be put into effect at the right time. The Link garage will take about 12 months to build.

A handout was distributed at the meeting showing where you could go to register your vehicle.
The cost for parking will not change this year, it will remain the same. There will only be a change if you move. Last year the rate went up even if you didn’t register. It was an automatic deduction increase from your paycheck. The MTA free ride is like free parking, the parking department is paying for the free rides.

Will we ever have free parking? The answer is no. There are many reasons for this. We have a larger number of employees. We have a large number of patients that seek specialty care. There are special conferences, visiting fellows. Projections for growth, project we will double in size in the next 10-15 years. If we had a better Mass transit system people would not want to drive to work. Norman Urmy would like to offer free parking for staff before he retires, probably in 2-3 years. Ken said he wouldn’t make that goal. People who park downtown pay even more money than we do. They want to keep parking at a constant rate.

OLD BUSINESS:

Traffic and Parking: No meeting to report on.
Campus Security: No meeting to report on.
Employee Hardship: No meeting to report on

Meeting Adjourned: 1512

ANNOUNCMENTS:
None

NEXT MEETING:
August 18, 2004
Room 512 Light Hall
2:00 PM

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon Smith
Secretary