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Healthcare Journal of new orleans
I
NOV / DEC 2014
23
more family-centered care goes on here than
youmight even have the capacity to provide
at a regular adult hospital.
Editor
With regards to children’s health what
are some of the current health issues you are
facing and howmight patterns be changing?
Mary Perrin
Childhood obesity is something
that we all hear about now. When I was a kid,
nobody talked about childhood obesity. It’s
a tremendous problem for children in gen-
eral and certainly a problem in our com-
munity. We are now seeing childhood dia-
betes on the rise because of it. We have a
very full and unfortunately, popular, diabetes
clinic and program as a result of it. So that
is an issue that I think as healthcare provid-
ers we are adjusting to, accommodating for,
and beginning to try to think ahead of the
game in terms of not just treating the child as
they present to us and they are sick, but what
do we need to do to get out in front of that?
One of the things I think we all, as
healthcare providers, have evolved to is
that we’re not just places that treat sick
people, but we are in the business of health.
And being in the business of health is very
different than being in what used to be the
business of treating sick patients. So what
that means is that we need to think about
programs that can prevent childhood obe-
sity, whether it’s through nutrition or exer-
cise, or whether it’s through psychology and
howwe partner in the community to do that.
I think that’s a big one. It’s a flashy one. We
all hear about it.
Editor
What about the issue of vaccinations?
I knowwe are starting to see a reoccurrence
of childhood illnesses in clusters that some
attribute to children not being vaccinated.
Mary Perrin
Certainly that is something that
is occurring, but not in large numbers in this
community. I think there are beginning to
be larger factions of individuals who doubt
whether vaccines are really the right way
to go and without commenting necessarily
on why that is, it certainly does bring up the
issue that there are some reoccurrences of
some things we haven’t seen in a long time.
But fortunately the majority of the popula-
tion is vaccinated and so those outbreaks are
very few and far between.
Editor
You have been with Children’s Hospi-
tal a long time, but you are new to the CEO
position. What are your impressions now
that you are seeing things from a new per-
spective? Is it what you expected?
Mary Perrin
It’s some of what I thought and it’s
also different. I have been here a very long
time—30 years—but I am new to this role
as of April, 2014. I think that many people
work in an organization and wish they had
the ability to guide things—so it’s truly a privi-
lege to have that opportunity. When you are
on the other side of it, frequently you have
input, but it’s different when you can call that
decision. I was telling someone not too long
ago what a tremendous privilege it is for me
to be here at this point in time when somany
things are happening and I have the ability
to influence what goes on. LCMC Health is
a new system. We are part of the system, but
Children’s is the founding member of the sys-
tem, which I think speaks volumes about us
as an organization. That’s new and develop-
ing and very exciting for us.
We are participating in a strategic plan
for the system. Of course every hospital and
every provider plays a role in that plan. We’re
beginning to say, “Immediately, three years,
five years down the road here’s what we see
as a system priority.” And I get to be a very
vital part of that. In addition to that, we have
just acquired the property across the street,
the old NOAH hospital. We call it the State
Street campus and we’ve hired nationally
known architects who have a lot of expe-
rience in healthcare to come here and help
us plan what that facility will look like as we
marry it up with our main campus here on
Henry Clay. To be able to be at a place and
time where all that is going on and again to
have the ability to influence it is just very
exciting. I honestly feel like I could pinch
myself. It’s just that it has all come together at
a point in time and I happen to be in this role.
Editor
Can you tell us, just initially, what that
new campus is intended for?
Mary Perrin
We’ve been on this site for a very
long time and have curtailed some of our
expansion ideas and needs. We have done
some renovation, but not really expanded
because we’re limited. Our footprint really
takes up much of the square footage on
this site. In terms of expansion of clinics,
as healthcare shifts from an inpatient to an
outpatient role, we do need more clinics.
We have more physicians who come on
all the time. The therapies that we provide,
physical, occupational, speech, those have
all grown significantly and so we see a real