• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
  <DOWNLOAD PDF>
  
  
• Jefferson County <CLICK HERE to view/dowload>
  
  Other Resolutions that have been passed
  
• National Association of Social Workers <DOWNLOAD PDF>
  
• City of Galveston <DOWNLOAD PDF>

On Wednesday, November 12, 2008 the UT Board of Regents unanimously approved a reduction in force of roughly 3,800 employees at UTMB- Galveston. The majority of these employees work in the hospitals at UTMB. The regents cited the lack of funds in the UT System, the fact that UTMB Galveston was losing money, and that changes were going to be made at UTMB regardless of Hurricane Ike.

It is unacceptable for the regents not to seek additional funding from the legislature and to explore other funding options to bridge the gap until UTMB Galveston could be more functional. By attempting to refocus the mission of UTMB Galveston to be mainly in the areas of research and education, the regents have moved to radically change the healthcare landscape of Texas.

The decision to layoff 3,800 employees and move UTMB Galveston in a completely new direction should be reversed. Legislators should be allowed the opportunity to address the funding issues that UTMB Galveston faces. UTMB Galveston is to important to the healthcare needs of Texans to allow the appointed UT Regents to abandon the healthcare services it provides.

While the regents stressed the need for world-class research and education facilities and programs, they are trying to anchor these facilities to a much smaller, regional hospital with less than half as many beds. UTMB Galveston became a widely respected institution because of the clinical “enterprise” that worked hand-in-hand with the medical school, nursing school, and research endeavors.

Hello, my name is Judy Lugo. I am president of the Texas State Employees Union. I am here today to urge the regents to support UTMB Galveston by rebuilding the campus and restoring all services. UTMB Galveston is a vital part of Galveston and the entire state. Scaling back UTMB Galveston, slashing services, and changing the role it plays in providing healthcare to all Texans, will have a devastating impact. The economic impact alone is staggering- UTMB adds $1 billion dollars to the Texas economy. It employees 12,000 people directly, and supports over 29,000 jobs total.

As one of only three Level 1 Trauma centers in Southeast Texas, UTMB Galveston is able to handle everything from broken arms to large-scale industrial accidents. On November 5th, the National Trauma Data Bank announced UTMB Galveston had the highest survival rating of any Level 1 trauma center in the nation. The wide range of services available at UTMB Galveston are important for a number of reasons. The role UTMB Galveston plays as a research institution and a hospital bridges the gap between the laboratory and treatment. The education that UTMB students receive is very comprehensive because of the diverse set of patients. Researchers, professionals, and students are drawn toward UTMB Galveston because it treats patients with so many different healthcare needs. By scaling back the healthcare services that UTMB Galveston provides, the research that can be conducted by the institution will be limited.

The impact of services cuts on the healthcare for vulnerable Texans is very troubling. As a safeguard of the health of Texas, UTMB Galveston works with almost every county in the state to provide the specialized care that is otherwise unavailable to insured, uninsured, and underinsured patients. These services seem to be the issue at the core of the movement to reduce capacity at UTMB Galveston. We are urging the Board of Regents to work with stakeholders to find a better solution than reducing services and capacity. UTMB Galveston’s commitment to the medically underserved should not be abandoned. The people of Texas deserve a commitment from the board of regents to find a viable funding solution that will not limit access to healthcare for current and future patients.

Yes, the damage caused by Hurricane Ike will be costly to repair, but we don’t have to look far for an example of how to recover from a natural disaster. The Texas Medical Center in Houston suffered huge losses due to flooding from Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. The institutions responded by examining their infrastructure and architecture, and then invested the resources to make the necessary improvements and changes. We should be looking at ways of making UTMB Galveston better able to withstand strong storms and flooding. We can even borrow ideas from the newest building on campus, the Galveston National Laboratory, which didn’t suffer any damage.

Rebuilding can’t be done overnight, but there are steps that can be taken now that will improve the long term efforts to restore services. First, extend the emergency weather leave for staff whose work site has not been reopened yet. Second, facilitate the temporary transfer of UTMB employees to comparable positions in other UT institutions and ensure pay and benefits remain comparable. Finally, should any RIFs be necessary, follow UTMB Operating Handbook of Policy Procedures regarding any Reductions In Force.

The people of Texas need for UTMB Galveston to be rebuilt and for services to be restored. Hurricane Ike caused some serious problems for Galveston and for the State of Texas, but the obstacles to rebuilding can be overcome. We urge the regents to make a commitment to restore UTMB Galveston as a premier institution, and start the next chapter in its’ proud history with the recovery efforts. Thank you.