Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / Ascension Sacred Heart’s Rick Metzger
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- Rick Outzen: Ascension Sacred Heart has a new boss, president and CEO, Rick Metzger, and we've got him with us today. Rick, thank you for joining us. The we have something in common. We when I was 19, I was an orderly in King's Daughters Hospital in Greywall, Mississippi. You started as an orderly in OR, became a registered nurse. How has that shaped how you are as a is in charge of a hospital? Rick Metzger: Well, when you look back gosh I'm I'm getting old, Rick. When I look back on my career Rick Outzen: That's why I because I I got this keep cut down the shine. Rick Metzger: understatus. Wish I had one on too. No, so y you know, when I look back at my journey, it's really been a blessing all the experiences I've gotten to have. It did s I did start in a very large level one trauma center, much like Sacred Heart, Pensacola, up in Huntsville and it did sh it does shape you. You get to have experiences, you know, whether it's walking walking through a very difficult time with a patient or you know, all the all the the incredible business opportunities you have working in a in a a very busy hospital, those kinds of things, it really does shape you. But but I see th I see life through a clinical lens that I think a lot of administrators may not have. And I think it it helps me to communicate with my staff, communicate with my physicians and have discussions and conversations with them maybe in a little different way than a lot of administrators can. And so I I hope what they see in in me is is a person that they can quickly develop trust with and 'cause trust is such a big part of what we do in running hospital. Rick Outzen: Well it a hospital is like a miniature city, isn't it? it it it's you have your own power, you have it it it's it it's you know you know, it's it's just such an operation that has to operate no matter what's going on in the world. Y'all have to be open. Rick Metzger: Right. And we just saw that through hurricane. Right. We had a little discussion around that and and it is we you know, people look at look to us and depend on us to be there no matter what. And we were. Sacred Heart Pensacola was there through the storm and taking care of patients and doing what we do best. Rick Outzen: Gosh, how much has the hospital has grown so much? I know you were with Ascension Providence. this is sort of a homecoming coming back to Ascension. Why come back and and what's changed since you left? Rick Metzger: Well, one one of the reasons I spent most of my career in North Alabama at Huntsville Hospital. It's a very large community hospital, but I always had a curiosity about faith based hospitals. And that's what really kinda drew me to Ascension in the first place and and you know, had great experiences through Ascension. They really they really sew into their their leaders and had we we we call it formation, Catholic formation and learning about Catholic health care and and it really just drew me in. And so, you know, we you know, our our hospital, you know, was purchased by the University of South Alabama f you know, about three years ago. And but I had that draw to come back to the to really serve the mission that Ascension serves. And one of the great things about working for a faith based organization, you can bring your whole self. Right. And so, you know, my faith and is with everyone's faith, whatever that is for them, is v is very meaningful. to me and to be able to exercise that at your place of work is very important to me. Rick Outzen: Yeah, Ascension Sacred Heart is the major provider of charity care in Northwest Florida, particularly in Scambia County. Almost half of all charity care is done by Ascension Sacred Heart, which is goes back to just what you said, Rick. but th the issue has always been and we still have an access issue for people. I d I n I know that's probably gonna that's one of your goals to really work on. What what are your some ideas? Rick Metzger: It is. Yeah, so when you kinda look at the healthcare needs of Ascambia and Santa Rosa County, they're you know, one thing Ascension has Ascension Sacred Hearts has done a great job of is build our freestanding emergency departments. We have four of them. one in Pace, one in Nine Mile, one in Navarre, and and then gosh it's slipping my mind, but one more. And and what that's done, I've already seen stories like I I stay connected through social media with Ascension and Sacred Heart. I've heard Amazing stories of how meaningful our freestanding emergency rooms have been to those outlying communities because what we're seeing really across the country in a lot of ways is a collapse of rural health care. Right. And so we're having to reach out into those rural communities. And one big mechanism is through our freestanding emergency rooms to bring the care to the patients and really provide that access, that truly life-saving access to those patients and those communities. Rick Outzen: W what's the f top of your list right now? You're you're getting to know your staff. What's next? Rick Metzger: well, I think one thing we have to address in healthcare is our mental health crisis that we're faced with in this country. I was very passionate about that in my last role. what we see you know, just sometimes getting into emergency rooms can be difficult and we all emergency rooms across our country are dealing with a lot of mental health crisis type patients. And I think we've got to work to advocate for resources from from government and other other other people. on cre on creating avenues to to take care of our mental health patients before it becomes a crisis. So so I think that's something I wanna lean into and see where we're at in in this community and really push that through some of the Florida legislator opp legislative opportunities that I have. Rick Outzen: Yeah, we're we're coming up on the break, but w but I've I read your press the press release that was put out. Steve did a great job with that, Neesome. what's something in the press release that wasn't in the press release that you'd like people to know about? Rick Metzger: wow. So this is really a dream come true for me and my family to move here. We fell in love with the Gulf Coast like so many people do through vacations and those kinds of things, have a lot of ties here. My best friend from high school has lived in the Navarre area for years and we we decided a long time ago that we wanted to live in this community. And so I think I think for me it's really just that personal you know love for this community that I've developed over really the past thirty years or so, that that really is a dream come true for us. So this is this is not just a a job for me. we're looking forward to becoming deeply rooted in this community. We've already purchased a home here in this community and moving fast on those types of things because I think it's important for for the person that's leading the largest healthcare provider in the community to be a part of the community. And so for me that's that's really meaningful. So Rick Outzen: What is it about Pensacola that that pulled you and your wife here? Rick Metzger: Life I I would just say broadly everything, but that's not to like. So I I like to fish. We fish a lot. My family fishes, my son, my daughter, my wife, we do that together. all that Pensacola has to offer culturally, the you know, everything. The Blue Angels, the the Wahoos, the Ice Flyers. I'm a big hockey fan, so we're looking forward to getting into all those things. Rick Outzen: great. Well Rick, thank you so much for coming on. I look forward to working with you more. Sigurd Heart's a big part of our family, and we've had two of our children were well one of them was that we've moved around a little bit, but Sigar Heart's been a part of our family. So thank you for coming on. Well go ahead and take a break. I'm Rick Allison. This is Rick's Blog Live. Stay with us.