2016Progress.March20

Progress 2016 El Dorado NEWS-TIMES – Sunday, March 20
Looking to the future
Health Education
Rupp looks to the future of MCSA
Lindsay Duncan
lduncan@eldoradonews.com
With more than 10 years of hospital administration experience, Robert Rupp is looking to overcome challenges and build a foundation of health care providers at the Medical Center of South Arkansas. Updated technology, medical specialties and being involved with the community are just a few of the qualities that the med- ical center has to offer.
Rupp, who is the chief executive officer at the medical center, received a bach- elor of science degree in occupational education in health care administration from Wayland Baptist University in San Antonio, Texas. He earned his master of business administration degree from Webster University in San Antonio and most recently, he has served as interim chief executive officer at Helena Regional Medical Center in Helena.
While serving at Helena Regional Medical Center, Rupp said he oversaw physician recruitment and business development. Prior to his time at Helena Regional Medical Center, he served as chief executive officer at Harris Hospital in Newport, for over four years. Under his leadership, he was responsible for recruit- ing several physicians to the Newport community. Harris Hospital was awarded “Top Performer on Key Quality Measures” from The Joint Commission.
“We want to talk to the community and gain their confidence and trust,” Rupp said. “We want them to want to use the (MCSA) facility.”
With 76 active physicians, the Medical Center of South Arkansas currently has 166 licensed beds and 20 inpatient rehab
beds. There are also 36 consulting physi- cians and four courtesy physicians.
Rupp said that he wants to find phy- sicians that want to establish a practice in El Dorado and make this a lifelong endeavor. Recruiting physicians is one of the main challenges, according to Rupp, because there just aren’t enough of them. Also, the medical center is competing with Texarkana, Shreveport, La., Little Rock and many other locations for these jobs.
Specialties of the medical center include
anesthesiology, cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, emergency medicine, oncology, pain management, pediatrics, wound care and many more. The medical center has been accredited by the Joint Commission and Chest Pain Center and the Level III Trauma Center.
Cardiology specialties have been one of the bright spots of the medical center from a health care perspective, according to Rupp.
“Most towns this size probably have a
hospital but they aren’t doing open-heart surgery,” Rupp said. “That’s huge for this community.”
Other than the community aspects that El Dorado has to offer, Rupp said that the open-heart surgery really sets El Dorado apart from other cities this size. There are also good specialists at the medical center, according to Rupp.
One of the goals that Rupp has for the medical center is to stabilize the leader- ship team and gain traction. These phy- sicians want to get out and meet the community and get involved. “We look forward to members of this community wanting to use the medical center,” Rupp said.
Rupp is also looking forward to the future of MCSA. “This institution is big enough to do some pretty cool things.”
As far of technology goes, the medical center is always looking for the “latest and greatest technology,” according to Rupp. The medical center uses electron- ic medical records versus hand-writing patient charts, along with other techno- logical additions that the medical center has added.
“There’s technology that we use in the cardio arena where there are devices that help circulate blood and break up clots,” Rupp said. “Everything we do now is com- puter-driven.”
Rupp said that as far as health care goes, technology will always be evolving and the medical center will keep evolving as well.
“The medical center has a very proud history,” Rupp said. “I would like to get back to the point where the the commu- nity is very proud of the hospital and sup- ports the hospital.”
Smith aims to teach future workers industrial safety
Jessica Stevens
jstevens@eldoradonews.com
“I spent many years of my life with people telling me my skills were worthless,” said Tamara Smith, Strong High School’s Career Pathways teacher. “But yet to be civilized, people want air conditioning, a nice building to live in, a comfortable environment with beautiful floors and walls. You need the craftsman of the world to accomplish this.”
Smith said she has dedicated the last three years to teaching her students how to understand and employ the various skills that she and countless other craftsman had to master to succeed in life. “Craftsman are a dying breed,” Smith said of the trade she is so passionate about. “I want to show them what plant life is like.”
She teaches her students how to work in industrial and construction settings. “They learn what is safe and what is not safe,” said Smith. “The first thing I estab- lish is what normalcy is on a job site.” Hands-on prac- tice, accompanied with Occupational Safety and Health Administration-approved training videos, are vital to her curriculum, she said.
Upon completion of the class, students are OSHA 10 certified in construction and receive their National Center for Construction Education and Research creden- tials, according to Smith.
According to the United States Department of Labor, the OSHA 10 training program for the construction industry provides training for workers and employers on the recognition, avoidance, abatement and prevention of safety and health hazards in workplaces in the construc- tion industry. NCCER credentialing helps to ensure the development of a safe and productive workforce for over 70 crafts, according to NCCER’s website.
Smith said she trains her students for various trades like carpentry, electrical, plumbing, insulation, sheet metal work, painting and welding. “We start with the funda- mentals to make sure they understand the basic skills,” said Smith. “My students clock in and out of class every- day. It’s basic work ethic. If they don’t clock in, they don’t get credit for the day, just like they wouldn’t get paid for that day of work.”
A skill that Smith said she is ardent about her students learning is to read a tape measure at a minimum of a 16th of an inch. “When these kids get out of my class, they can read a tape measure on demand.”
After the fundamentals are established, Smith said she takes a more personalized approach to teaching. “I ask them ‘What are you looking to gain from my class?’ and I tailor it to their individual abilities.” Smith said she allows students to try out various crafts to see what interests them. “These kids on average are clueless when I first start talking to them. I mean – deer in the headlights. Kids are not getting exposed to someone building things, unlike years ago.”
Students are put into work groups in order to learn how to work as a team. “I tell them on the job site, the most important thing you have to remember is that when you’re working construction, you become a family – you are your brother’s keeper. You have to know that you can depend on the guy next to you to save your life and he has to know that you would save his.”
“I teach them to depend on each other. If you don’t know something, ask. There is no shame in asking. There is shame in not asking and making a mistake that could cost you a body part or your life,” she said.
Smith said that there is a high demand for her students coming out of high school in the industrial and construc- tion community. She takes them on field trips to relevant places like Entegra on the Calion Highway and she said that her students have had jobs lined up upon graduation at places like Evers Electric, Milam Construction and Systems Contracting.
Along with job placement, Smith said she also helps students by setting up mock interviews, assisting them with ACT paperwork and college applications, and also makes sure that boys and girls alike know how to properly tie a tie. “We don’t do clip-ons,” said Smith. “If I’m going to teach them how to work, I have to teach them how to nail the interview.
“I’m just trying to fill the need,” Smith said. “I want these kids to know that there are opportunities for them out there. God asked me to take care of His little lambs and I’m doing my best.”