Latest / Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast / Building a Beacon of Hope: Inside Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s New Arthur M. Blank Hospital with Linda Matzigkeit

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Building a Beacon of Hope: Inside Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s New Arthur M. Blank Hospital with Linda Matzigkeit · Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast

0:00
Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm Chris
0:02
Sosa, the copy chief here at Becker's, and
0:04
I'm thrilled to be joined by Linda Madzeguyt,
0:06
chief administrative officer at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
0:09
Linda, thank you for joining us today.
0:11
Oh, my pleasure.
0:12
As we're off and running here, Linda, could
0:14
you please introduce yourself and tell our audience
0:16
a bit about your background?
0:18
Yeah. My name again is Linda Matzkite,
0:21
chief administrative officer at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
0:24
I've been at Children's,
0:26
nearly twenty three years
0:28
in,
0:29
mostly administrative roles, but spend most of my
0:33
time focused on thinking about strategy, people, culture,
0:37
and engaging with our community.
0:40
Got it. Of course,
0:42
a huge project that the health system has
0:44
put on, developed is the Arthur and Blanche
0:47
Hospital.
0:48
Yeah. It's just a massive undertaking certainly. And,
0:51
Linda, it would be great if you could
0:53
detail the development timeline of the hospital,
0:56
including what challenges have arisen.
0:58
And in line with that, what are some
1:00
of the most exciting aspects of the project?
1:02
Sure. Well, I'll start by saying that Children's
1:05
Healthcare of Atlanta is the only freestanding pediatric
1:08
health care system in the state of Georgia.
1:11
And as our state continues
1:14
to grow, so too does demand
1:16
for pediatric specialty care.
1:19
So just about ten years ago, we were
1:21
starting to see,
1:23
a lot of days where we were full.
1:26
And we have three hospitals.
1:29
At the time, we had Egleston Hospital, Scottish
1:31
Rite Hospital, and Hugh Spaulding.
1:34
And so if you're starting to see your
1:36
hospitals are full
1:38
on a daily basis, then, you know, you
1:40
need to do something.
1:41
So we really started down a path of
1:44
exploring
1:46
what do we need to do,
1:48
to be able to meet the demands
1:51
of the need for pediatric health care in
1:53
our state?
1:54
So the board really challenged us to think
1:56
big, and,
1:58
fortunately,
2:00
we had a piece of property
2:03
that, we were able to
2:05
piece together a lot of different parcels
2:08
and ended up coming up with 76
2:10
acres.
2:11
And so,
2:13
it it really all started in terms of
2:16
planning
2:17
in 2015.
2:19
We started to look at what are our
2:20
options.
2:22
Do we just build one big hospital? Do
2:25
we look at,
2:26
different locations?
2:28
And so, you know, do we keep the
2:30
three?
2:31
And,
2:32
ultimately, we decided that,
2:35
we should keep Scottish Rite and Hugh Spaulding,
2:38
our other two hospitals.
2:39
But our Egleston Hospital
2:41
was very landlocked.
2:43
It sat on seven and a half acres
2:46
and just was not going to be, there
2:49
was no ability to build on it. And
2:52
so we started looking for a new location
2:56
for that third hospital,
2:58
and we came upon our current location,
3:01
which is in Brookhaven,
3:03
Georgia. So it's just north of Downtown Atlanta.
3:07
And
3:08
we,
3:09
again, as I said, began to purchase up
3:11
parcels so that we could create a large
3:14
enough campus.
3:15
And so, really, in 2016,
3:18
our board,
3:19
late twenty sixteen,
3:21
our board approved our plans for this campus.
3:24
And it was really to have
3:26
a new hospital,
3:27
a
3:28
complex and chronic care
3:31
medical office building, and then a support center
3:34
for our support staff that support our entire
3:37
system.
3:38
In February
3:39
of twenty seventeen,
3:41
we announced
3:42
our plans
3:43
to the community,
3:45
and then that started three years of planning,
3:49
obtaining permits,
3:50
working through all the regulatory processes,
3:53
designing the space. And so,
3:56
there was a lot of planning and logistics
3:58
over the next three years.
4:01
In July of twenty eighteen,
4:04
the first,
4:05
major facility on the campus, our Center for
4:08
Advanced Pediatrics,
4:10
opened.
4:11
It is really for chronic and complex kids,
4:15
and
4:16
our offices for those clinics was all spread
4:19
out, so now parents can go to one
4:22
location.
4:23
So that was great.
4:25
Then in
4:26
December of twenty nineteen
4:28
into January of twenty twenty, our support center,
4:32
the first building of that was finalized.
4:34
So we had to move all of the
4:36
employees off our our the space
4:39
where we were planning to build the hospital.
4:42
In February
4:43
of twenty twenty, we broke ground
4:46
on the future Arthur and Blanck Hospital.
4:49
So,
4:50
during that time,
4:51
just before,
4:53
we broke ground,
4:54
we asked Arthur Blank to,
4:58
name the hospital.
4:59
He graciously
5:00
agreed,
5:01
gave us $200,000,000.
5:04
And so,
5:06
we were able to
5:07
announce
5:09
that he would be naming the hospital.
5:11
In May of twenty twenty, we celebrated the
5:14
topping out of Arthur and Blake Hospital.
5:17
And then on September twenty ninth of twenty
5:20
twenty four,
5:22
we successfully
5:23
transitioned
5:24
all of the patients from
5:26
Eggleston Hospital and some from our Scottish Rite
5:29
Hospital
5:30
to the new facility
5:32
in one day.
5:34
That must have been quite a day. Could
5:35
you take us through just that day of
5:38
of what it took to to make all
5:40
those changes?
5:42
Well, first of all, it took, years of
5:45
planning just for that one day, believe it
5:48
or not. The first thing was we had
5:50
to pick a date.
5:52
And so,
5:53
we started the construction
5:55
just before COVID hit.
5:57
But once COVID hit, you know, there was
5:59
so much uncertainty. But we said, one thing
6:02
we do know is that we have to
6:03
pick the date
6:04
and
6:05
created a team that was called the transition
6:09
team that
6:11
literally spent several years
6:13
planning this one day of move,
6:17
in addition to, you know, how are things
6:19
going to operate in the new facility.
6:22
So we had a team called ambassadors,
6:25
and they were really the representative for each
6:27
of our clinical departments.
6:29
And that proved to be an amazing
6:32
success because they were able to attend meetings,
6:36
bring back ideas,
6:38
and and how things were gonna work.
6:40
And it was really an engagement opportunity for
6:43
our staff
6:44
to really be intimately
6:46
involved in
6:48
the design of the hospital, but also the
6:50
transition of of this day. So,
6:53
one of the things as we thought about
6:55
move day, we had to think about was
6:56
the route of movement.
6:58
So what was going to be the safest,
7:01
route? We did pick a Sunday
7:03
because traffic was going to be less, but
7:06
we all had also had to work with
7:08
law enforcement
7:09
to make sure we could shut down roads.
7:12
We had to work with churches because there
7:14
were six churches
7:16
on our move route, and so
7:19
they all agreed to go virtual for the
7:21
day.
7:22
We had to secure enough ambulances.
7:24
We had 56 ambulances
7:27
that we secured
7:29
along with our fleet of ambulance
7:31
so that we could move each patient one
7:33
by one.
7:34
We had a thousand volunteers
7:36
on move day,
7:38
and everything was planned literally down to the
7:42
minute.
7:43
So,
7:44
we began very early in the morning. We
7:47
had about 4,000 employees that staffed the hospital
7:50
that day,
7:51
a thousand of which, were volunteers.
7:55
And
7:55
we did not have any safety issues, I'm
7:58
pleased to report.
7:59
In, less than ten hours, we moved 202
8:02
patients one by one.
8:05
That's terrific to hear mostly in the the
8:07
safety aspect that there are no issues. That's
8:10
very, very good news, certainly. And, also, the
8:13
dedication detail is just astounding really that
8:16
you had it down to the minute, but
8:18
I guess that's just simply what is required
8:20
when you're working on a project of of
8:22
this magnitude.
8:24
Linda, could you tell us what are some
8:26
of the most exciting aspects of the new
8:29
hospital? What makes it stand out to you?
8:32
Well, we designed the hospital
8:34
with our patients and families
8:36
in mind.
8:38
And one of the things that we did
8:40
was a lot of listening to the kids
8:43
in particular. And we asked the kids
8:46
what, you know, what would the best hospital,
8:50
look like? And they had things like a
8:52
roller coaster in the lobby, a swimming pool,
8:55
but they also wanted light. And
8:59
their parents wanted washers and dryers on every
9:02
floor.
9:03
And so we really listened to what the
9:07
parents
9:08
and the kids said. We also went with
9:11
a nature theme for the hospital. So,
9:14
we know that nature heals, and
9:17
we wanted to make sure that it was
9:18
very open and lots of light, and we
9:22
wanted nature inside and outside. So we have
9:25
beautiful gardens.
9:27
We have floor to ceiling,
9:29
windows in every patient room,
9:31
and the views of the city of Atlanta
9:34
are extraordinary.
9:36
I think we have one of the best
9:37
views,
9:39
of Downtown Atlanta, anywhere in north of the
9:42
city.
9:43
But it really was this,
9:45
connection to nature,
9:47
which, studies show
9:50
is, healing.
9:51
The
9:52
interesting thing is, we had a rare snow
9:55
day this past winter, and many of our
9:57
young patients has had obviously never seen seen
10:00
snow.
10:01
But through the windows and through our gardens,
10:04
our patients were able to to see snow
10:08
for the first
10:09
time. And, we even had one nurse that,
10:12
brought in a cooler with some of the
10:14
snow and had a little snowball fight with
10:16
her patient.
10:18
We obviously have a lot of amenities
10:21
for our,
10:22
patients' families and their siblings because a lot
10:25
of our, you know, particularly our cancer patients
10:28
that are there for a long time, they
10:29
bring their siblings.
10:30
So we have a Seacrest studio,
10:33
radio station,
10:35
and we have
10:37
different,
10:38
musicians come in, actors. We've had the Atlanta
10:40
Ballet.
10:41
We've had, the Atlanta Falcons, the Atlanta Braves,
10:45
the Atlanta Hawks.
10:47
So we have this radio station,
10:50
Seacrest Studios, where talent can come and they
10:53
can broadcast to the rooms,
10:55
and the kids can also come there. We
10:58
also have an area called The Zone, which
11:00
is an indoor outdoor
11:02
play area.
11:03
It has a lot of STEM activities.
11:06
It has places for arts and crafts. You
11:10
can cook.
11:12
It really is a great place for patients
11:14
if they're able to come down and interact
11:18
with our child life specialists. It's a great
11:20
place for the siblings.
11:22
And so we've just tried to create a
11:25
lot of
11:26
of fun distraction areas for the kids. We
11:29
have a beautiful chapel.
11:31
We have beautiful gardens, and we have walking
11:34
paths
11:36
that are the equivalent about three miles throughout
11:38
the campus.
11:39
We have 20 acres total of green space.
11:43
So it's a very lush and beautiful and
11:45
healing campus.
11:47
I think another thing that stands out is
11:50
research is an important,
11:52
part of
11:55
of our system.
11:56
And so through ongoing collaboration
11:59
with Emory University
12:01
and Georgia Tech and many other,
12:04
research organizations,
12:05
we are able
12:07
to have wonderful breakthroughs, cures, innovations.
12:11
And just last year, we got a grant
12:13
from the late Bernie Marcus
12:15
and the Marcus Foundation,
12:17
and we're getting ready to open the Marcus
12:19
Center for Cellular Therapy
12:22
that will offer a full range of cellular
12:25
therapy treatments
12:26
for not just cancer, but a broad range
12:29
of diseases.
12:31
So,
12:31
we are very fortunate
12:33
to have this cellular therapy lab inside the
12:36
hospital
12:37
that our researchers
12:39
have access to. And so that is something
12:41
we have never had, and we're excited about
12:44
that. I think the the other thing I
12:46
would point out is that
12:48
we are the most technology
12:50
enhanced health care system right now. It's like
12:53
a stadium, I suppose, though. The next one
12:56
they build, it will, outdo us. But we
12:59
have a fleet of 90
13:02
autonomous mobile robots.
13:04
So we have robots
13:06
all throughout the organization. Can you imagine 90
13:09
robots
13:10
to help us with transporting equipment, medication,
13:15
trash,
13:16
linens?
13:17
And so these robots are just, a part
13:19
of our staff.
13:21
And so it helps with our clinical staff
13:23
having to spend
13:24
as much time,
13:26
chasing down things like linens and
13:29
medications and even food service.
13:32
So those are just a few of the
13:34
things I would highlight in the new hospital.
13:37
It is 19 stories
13:39
high, so it's a high rise, and, and
13:42
that's new for us.
13:43
But, really, it stands as a beacon of
13:45
hope
13:46
for our community.
13:48
If you drive down the highway system, you
13:51
can't help to see it from far away.
13:54
And a lot of our patients and families
13:57
said that as it was being built
13:59
during COVID,
14:01
it was a beacon of hope for them,
14:04
hope for our community. And I think it's
14:06
turned out to be just an unbelievable asset
14:09
for Atlanta and for the state of Georgia.
14:13
Linda, you're certainly a terrific ambassador for this
14:16
complex.
14:17
And to me, as just a a layperson,
14:18
it sounds like you've built a bit of
14:20
a this is almost science fiction health care
14:23
utopia
14:24
with all the that
14:26
the hospital
14:27
can provide for all these patients. It's just
14:29
wonderful.
14:30
And I'm certainly with the kids in that
14:32
as a lifelong midwesterner,
14:35
watching snow from the inside is great. It
14:37
all looks very pretty.
14:39
So I'm glad. On some level, I got
14:41
to see that. And, you know, if you
14:42
build a roller coaster in a swimming pool,
14:44
I mean, I don't know what you're really
14:45
missing at that point.
14:47
That's right. That's right.
14:50
Shifting, you mentioned how
14:52
important the staff has been in this whole
14:54
process.
14:56
What have you heard from them in terms
14:58
of their feedback, not only related to the
15:01
move to the new hospital, but,
15:04
their current
15:06
work situation,
15:07
for lack of a better term. And and,
15:09
you know,
15:10
how how are you working to maintain and
15:12
engage your workforce?
15:14
Yeah. Well, one of the first things was
15:16
we wanted to make sure that our staff
15:19
was engaged in the process
15:22
to design and
15:23
really, you know, lay out the hospital in
15:26
in a way that would work for them.
15:29
So,
15:30
early on
15:31
in 2019,
15:33
we rented a warehouse,
15:35
and we created what we call Cardboard City.
15:38
And it was
15:39
a hundred thousand square foot warehouse,
15:42
and
15:43
we mocked it up in cardboard
15:45
into 20 different departments.
15:47
And then we allowed,
15:49
more than a thousand clinical staff to come
15:51
through. And so we had the rooms mocked
15:53
up where the equipment was, where the sinks
15:55
were,
15:56
and allowed our staff to give us
16:00
feedback to say, well, don't put the light
16:02
switch there, and don't put the sink there,
16:05
and make sure we have,
16:07
you know, a cabinet here. And so
16:11
a lot of ideas came out of that.
16:14
And so we kept reinforcing,
16:17
we're hearing you. We're listening you. We are
16:19
designing this hospital
16:20
based on your feedback. And so I think
16:23
that was a really
16:24
positive first step because then it was
16:27
was theirs.
16:29
The other thing is, you know, we were
16:31
moving from a hospital that was a mid
16:34
rise to a high rise, and a lot
16:37
of people had never
16:39
worked I mean, that that then requires
16:42
a lot of elevators.
16:44
It was a bigger space. And so there
16:47
was a lot of training
16:49
that occurred up to
16:51
the opening of the hospital. So the summer
16:54
before,
16:55
we trained nearly 2,000 physicians and 7,000 staff
16:59
that were actually going to be either moving
17:01
into the hospital permanently
17:03
or would, in some ways, work there or
17:06
or come there. And so the training
17:09
was
17:10
literally months and months and months.
17:12
The great thing is,
17:14
we were finished with the hospital in March,
17:17
and so we were able to start training
17:19
months ahead of the opening.
17:21
And I credit that to the fact that
17:24
all of our employees
17:26
had at least three touch points in the
17:29
hospital
17:30
before the first day they came for their
17:31
shift.
17:32
So they had an orientation,
17:35
to the building, an orientation
17:37
to their area,
17:39
and then really some simulations
17:41
in their area to see how is this
17:43
really work. And so I think all the
17:45
preparation
17:47
really helped
17:48
as
17:49
move day came, opening day came for the
17:52
staff to feel comfortable.
17:54
And I think that was really critical to
17:56
the success, not only of move day, but
17:58
how smooth of a transition
18:01
it has been
18:03
in the last six months since we've been
18:05
in.
18:06
I think one of the other things
18:08
that,
18:10
we have continued to do is, you know,
18:13
monthly updates. You know, anytime you move into
18:16
a new house or a new facility, there's
18:18
a punch list. And so, certainly, there were
18:21
punch list items. And so, you know, some
18:24
of them were small. Some of them were
18:26
bigger.
18:26
But doing a monthly newsletter to say, alright.
18:29
Here's what we have fixed. Here's what's still
18:32
on deck to be fixed so that
18:34
everyone
18:35
at Arthur and Blake Hospital
18:37
knew, okay. They're working on that thing that's,
18:40
problematic for me.
18:42
The other thing,
18:43
we have a group here at Children's called
18:46
Culture Champions,
18:47
and,
18:48
it's a group of frontline employees
18:51
that,
18:53
represent all of our different clinical areas. And,
18:56
basically, we come together, and it's the safe
18:58
space for them to say what's going well
19:00
and what's not going well. And let me
19:02
tell you, they do not hold back. It's
19:04
a safe space.
19:06
They can say whatever they, you know, whatever's
19:09
on their minds,
19:10
and it's something that I facilitate, but then
19:12
I share that with our executive team.
19:15
And I think that's also helped foster trust
19:19
and to get some of those things
19:21
that, you know, aren't working just right,
19:24
you know, to surface and so that I
19:26
can escalate them to our entire executive team.
19:30
You know, again, I think part of
19:32
the change management
19:34
was, you know, we we trained everybody on
19:36
the facilities and the space, but the virtual
19:39
size of it
19:40
is so much bigger than our previous facilitator,
19:44
facility that it is it's just
19:47
it's hard. You know? Our our staff certainly
19:50
are getting their steps every day, I would
19:53
say.
19:54
And so it's just those kind of things
19:56
that are a little bit of some growing
19:59
pains.
19:59
The last thing I would mention is we
20:01
just launched a new program called walk and
20:04
talk with leaders.
20:05
So a member of our executive team
20:08
takes a group of employees basically on a
20:10
walk around the campus, and they can ask
20:12
that executive team member
20:14
anything.
20:15
And it's really been a great way to
20:18
utilize this campus, which as I said has
20:20
20 acres of green space, three mile trails
20:24
to hear, you know, what's going well and
20:26
what are some things that we need to
20:27
continue to improve on.
20:29
So, those are just some of the things
20:31
that I would highlight.
20:33
I absolutely love the level of detail that
20:35
you're sharing with us, Linda. If we can
20:38
track back to the warehouse
20:39
mock up for a second, that's it's not
20:41
something I've heard before. Is that something adapted
20:44
from another system, or was that a a
20:46
brainchild of Children's Healthcare Atlanta?
20:49
You know, I think that there had been
20:52
other organizations
20:54
that did,
20:55
did mock ups, but I think we put
20:58
our own twist on it of, you know,
21:01
this hundred thousand square foot, warehouse
21:04
and,
21:05
how we did it. I think we we
21:06
built on ideas from other systems
21:10
and kinda, you know, put our own twist
21:12
on it of, you know, the number of
21:15
simulations that we did. I think we kinda
21:17
took simulation
21:19
to a whole new level
21:20
on our cardboard city.
21:23
Shifting a little bit, Linda. So you mentioned
21:24
that you've been with the health system for
21:26
twenty three years. Congratulations
21:28
on that.
21:29
Can I ask you, though, how how this
21:31
community's needs changed in that time in addition
21:34
to the level of the number of patients,
21:37
serial number of patients that have been added
21:39
over that time period, and how has the
21:41
health system adapted to that?
21:43
Yeah. Well,
21:45
it's
21:46
Atlanta has had exponential growth, you know, as
21:49
with many areas in the Southeast. But,
21:52
when I started,
21:53
we had approximately 5,000 employees. We're now at
21:56
15,000.
21:58
Don't quote me on this, but,
22:00
I believe we had around 400,000
22:04
to 500,000
22:05
patient visits. We now have well over a
22:08
million.
22:09
So,
22:10
I mean, our patient population
22:14
has doubled and our employee population has tripled.
22:18
And
22:19
Atlanta continues to see growth
22:22
even though the pediatric population
22:24
is pretty stable.
22:26
We saw, you know, a little bit of
22:28
a dip during COVID and after.
22:30
Hopefully, people will start having children again. But
22:33
just being in the South and sunny warm
22:36
weather, lots of people wanna move here.
22:39
So we definitely
22:41
have seen a need for increased capacity,
22:43
hence,
22:45
building this hospital.
22:47
Our current so Arthur and Blake Hospital has
22:49
446
22:51
beds with lots of room for
22:53
for additional capacity.
22:55
At, our previous Eddleston Hospital, we had 330
22:59
beds.
23:00
There was no opportunity to expand. It was
23:03
just landlocked, nowhere to go.
23:05
I think that the
23:07
probably one of the most pronounced changes
23:10
is the,
23:11
the behavioral mental health crisis that we're seeing
23:14
in our country today, and it is impacting
23:16
kids,
23:18
equally.
23:19
And so,
23:20
twenty three years ago, we did not we
23:22
may have had one psychiatrist,
23:25
consult
23:26
psychiatrist
23:26
on staff, and now
23:28
we have 400
23:30
staff members in our behavioral mental health
23:33
division alone.
23:35
And,
23:36
we've hired a 33
23:38
providers in the last
23:40
couple of years to help support
23:43
that need. We've also seen, you know, obviously,
23:46
advances in cancer,
23:48
in
23:49
cardiac surgery,
23:50
and neurosciences.
23:52
So there have been a lot of advancements.
23:55
Interesting. One of the one of the things,
23:58
on one of my first days in 02/2003,
24:02
we selected Epic.
24:04
We implemented Epic, you know, twenty three years
24:07
ago. So,
24:08
pretty amazing to see the evolution
24:11
of both our community
24:13
and our health care system.
24:16
Linda, you mentioned
24:18
all the different things, and it's a long
24:20
list. I'm sure you only scratched the surface
24:22
of what it takes to build
24:24
a hospital from scratch. And thank you again
24:26
for all of that. Looking forward,
24:29
now this hospital is built and seeing patients
24:31
and has since September, how do you see
24:34
your role and the role of your team
24:35
evolving over the next five years or so?
24:38
Well, you know what? We are not ones
24:40
to, to stand still. So we are currently
24:44
developing
24:45
our next
24:46
system strategic plan.
24:48
So we are going to be looking at
24:50
what's
24:51
next five years,
24:52
and the next ten years look like.
24:55
So we're already thinking about,
24:57
what does our community need? Again, Atlanta continues
25:00
to grow.
25:01
So I think that looks like how can
25:04
we take care of all of the children
25:06
that need our services in the state of
25:08
Georgia,
25:09
and,
25:10
how can we continue our prevention work, and
25:13
then what new research and cures
25:15
are on the horizon that are gonna be
25:17
game changers
25:19
for the kids
25:20
that we care for.
25:22
So I'm excited.
25:23
Maybe we'll have a follow-up podcast once our
25:26
strategy is done.
25:27
I would certainly look forward to that, Linda,
25:29
and I think our audience would definitely agree.
25:32
Linda, then we can wrap things up there.
25:33
Thank you be for being so generous with
25:36
all your time and, again, all the delightful
25:39
details that you shared about the new hospital
25:41
and everything going on at Children's Healthcare of
25:43
Atlanta.
25:44
We can't wait to share them, and we
25:46
hope to hear from you again soon. Great.
25:48
Thank you so much.