The inaugural White Coat Grady Gala on Saturday, March 19, to honor a select group of health care heroes surpassed the expectations of the fortunate patrons who attended the black-tie affair held at the Georgia Aquarium. More than 650 well-heeled supporters and prominent health care professionals attended the fundraising reception, dinner and dance to support the hospital’s operations. Grady, the metropolitan region’s only level one trauma center and the state’s largest public hospital, has been plagued by economic woes that have threatened its survival.
Julia Jones, chief operating officer for Hughes Spalding Children’s Hospital, spoke with rolling out about her involvement with the effort to keep Grady’s doors open and provide quality health care for young patients. –roz edward
What is Hughes Spalding’s role in providing health services to children at Grady Hospital?
We manage the children’s services. Grady was having its challenges, and they very strategically decided that they were either going to have to close the children’s entity, which nobody wanted to see happen — these are Atlanta’s most vulnerable kids — or they were going to have to move [children’s services] back into the adult facility. So, they needed a partner to provide financial stewardship, and that’s how the relationship began.
Has it been a successful partnership?
Yes. The whole goal was to make sure that these children receive the same level of care as any child in Atlanta, and I think we have more than accomplished that goal. We have Emory [University] and Morehouse physicians, so we have great physician talent. We just built a new children’s hospital, and it’s beautiful. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta brought the pediatric differential to the hospital, and that’s the stuff you don’t get reimbursed for, but is absolutely necessary for taking care of children, like a child life specialist at the hospital to deal with children’s anxiety issues. That’s to calm them and to calm the parents.
What are the impediments to children getting proper health care?
It’s always an access problem, and that can be from insurance coverage to transportation. We try to get as many uninsured children as we can on Medicaid. At certain periods of time, even at Hughes Spalding, we were seeing a percentage of kids uninsured, like 17 percent. Now, we have gotten that down to eight percent.
How is Grady doing now?
Grady takes on these challenges amazingly well. Grady understands that they have a mission to take care of those who are in need, especially from a financial status. But I also think that they very much know it’s hard to do [financially], which is why we are having an event like this tonight. By being here at this gala fundraiser, these people are saying they want to be part of the solution.
