Dear Supporters of Shriners Hospital for Children – Spokane,

Greetings from lovely Spokane!  I thought I would take a bit of time to share a few thoughts on things that are “Top of Mind” with me and the leadership team right now. 

• 2009 Budget:  We wait anxiously to see what headquarters will support with respect to our budget submission for 2009.  We asked for roughly $13.9 million dollars, a 1.11% increase over 2008.  These are difficult times however for the endowment.  At last report from headquarters the endowment had lost $2.7 billion dollars.  We all know that what goes down must eventually come back up, but these are very big numbers and they are cause for concern.  We trimmed nearly $400,000 from our budget for 2009 in a good faith effort to help.  We now wait to see if this was enough.

• Productivity—Key To Our Future:  After reading the first bullet why would I be talking about increasing volumes and concomitantly costs as a future strategy for our hospital?.  In short, if we do not produce more workload for the amount of staff we currently have, we will be forced to reduce the size of our hospital staff.  If we really believe that we are in a temporary downward trend with respect to funding and growth of the endowment over the long haul, then it makes sense to plan to grow going forward.  The question is, will we be allowed to pursue this strategy or not based upon funding?  If we are not prepared when funding improves then we will be caught flatfooted with no strategy for increasing patient volumes.  The fact is 70% of our costs are fixed, so every additional patient we see reduces our cost per case.  The marginal cost of purchasing supplies to meet increased patient volume is negligible compared to the fixed costs we are already paying for in the way of staff and bricks and mortar.  I have said it before but it bears repeating here.  Lack of patients will drive the reduction of services at this hospital long before lack of funding does.  This is why I continue to ask for your assistance in finding and sending us more patients.  For those Temples that support us I thank you and the people that work here thank you.  For those Temples assigned to us by Imperial but choose to support other Shrine hospitals in our region I ask you to please give us another look.

• State of the Hospital:  As my second full calendar year draws to a close and I begin my 3rd year of service to this hospital, our staff, Shriners and the families and children we care for, I must say we are operating like a fine watch.  Recently Dr. Paul Caskey, Chief of Staff, Lynda Vilanova, Director or Patient Care Services and myself met for a half day offsite to discuss our progress this year and contemplate what the new year will bring.  We hold this round table meeting twice a year (spring and fall) to make sure we are all on the same page.  Although there is always room for improvement and we are working on any number of issues in the hospital we are well pleased with the remarkable performance of our staff.  We have a fantastic team of professionals that live, breath and put into action our Core Values each and every day.  The teamwork, attention to detail, stewardship, camaraderie, and “can do” attitude permeates the building.  More than one visitor has noticed and commented on the energy in the building and the pride exhibited by our staff in what they are doing here.  It is gratifying to see and be a part of.  I see my job in a very simplistic manner - to take care of the staff and they take care of the mission. 

• Fracture Clinic:  Because we are optimistic for the future and we know increased productivity is the key to our continued success here in Spokane we have formed a fracture clinic working group to explore the possibility of expanding this service to the community.  I say expand the service because we already provide support to the community for a limited number of stable fractures that need surgery (mostly elbow).  We know there is more demand for this service and we want to meet it within reason.  I chair this working group and expect we will be able to report our findings and recommendations to our Board of Governors in the March-April timeframe. 

• Thank You!  As this year draws quickly to a close I want to thank all of you for the fantastic support you provide our hospital.  To the visitors, contributors, fund raisers, greeters, volunteers, Divan members, Nobles, Ladies, Units and Clubs thank you so much for all you do and the countless hours you spend raising funds and donations with us in mind.  We want to be a source of pride for you and make sure you know that we are so proud of all of you for what you do each and every day.

In closing I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, full of joy and hope that the season brings.  The challenges we face could be overwhelming if we did not have faith that together we can solve any problem we put our minds to.  We have just that type of team here.  The mindset that something “Can’t be Done” is not part of our culture.  We do not despair during this current financial crisis—we see it as a challenge to meet head on, and with your support and the grace of God we will do so.