Joey Wahler (Host): It's gone from just 37 beds back in 1946 to more than 300 today. So, we're discussing Jackson Hospital's transition amid its 80th anniversary. Our guest, Arla Chandler, who's gone from one time registered nurse at the hospital to now their VP of Planning and Marketing.

This is Vital Signs, candid conversations with providers who care. Thanks so much for joining us. I am Joey Wahler. Hi there, Arla. Welcome.

Arla Chandler, RN: Thank you. Great to be here.

Host: Great to have you aboard. We appreciate the time. So first, I've got to start with your road traveled because it's a unique one. In a nutshell, how have you gone from practicing nursing at Jackson Hospital to now being their planning and marketing head? Obviously, there was some big steps along the way, right?

Arla Chandler, RN: Yeah. I hear that my journey is interesting to most people, although it feels natural to me. My husband and I moved to Montgomery 1300 miles away from home where we met in Morgantown, West Virginia when he was completing his ear, nose, and throat residency. And I was working as a nurse there when we met. And we traveled pretty much all over the southeast looking for a place to call home. And we found Montgomery, Alabama. And it checked the boxes of all the things that we were looking for" close to the beach, close to a large city, close to a beautiful lake. We took the leap, and here we are. And so, he opened a pr—he joined a practice rather, Montgomery Otolaryngology, which is ENT in the Goode Building on campus on the eighth floor, and that was 24 years ago.

At that point, I just had an eight-month old at home. And he was in four to six hours of daycare for socialization and such during the day. And so, I decided to put my skills to work and go back to the outpatient floor on the second floor of the hospital. And so, I was just a resource nurse and really enjoyed getting to know the people and putting my skills to use, caring for the patients. And really, I believe that's when my connection to this medical community began, and just flourished from there in different ways.

Host: And so, what point do you realize that you can take your knowledge and experience working in the trenches, so to speak, as a nurse, to helping to plan the hospital's future?

Arla Chandler, RN: My undergraduate is nursing, and I have a master's in business administration. So, I've always had sort of a bend for entrepreneurial building assembling teams. And I think that's really where my skillset is, is getting the right team assembled and mentoring them. And they mentor me right back in my leadership style.

And so, throughout the years of being in presidential roles through the Medical Alliance, which is the local Montgomery County, ALGA, Elmore County Medical Alliance. We basically were assembled to support the commitment to improving health in our community and patients and just the broader healthcare community at large.

And so, I became president of that and met a lot of people, remained connected into the community. And then, throughout time, I was invited to serve on the board of the Jackson Hospital Foundation. And so, I've been a foundation board member for 15 years. Still today, a foundation board member, raised lots of funds to improve patient care and delivery at the hospital. And so, again, growing that commitment, and then also engaging in my husband's practice and supporting his partners through different initiatives and advertising and helping them promote their different service lines. And then, we eventually got to a point in our practice where it was becoming more difficult to recruit physicians to be independent. And we joined the band to help our recruitment efforts. And we sold our practice to Jackson Hospital. And so, that was in 2018. Things were going okay for Jackson Hospital then. And over the years where we've faced difficulty in recruitment, they too were facing financial challenges. And last year in February, they filed for bankruptcy, which was very hard to watch everybody go through.

Host: And speaking of which, after in fact going through that, Jackson Hospital is now recently undergoing a financial and leadership restructuring. So, how much easier can staff and patients breathe now, so to speak?

Arla Chandler, RN: So as far as the bankruptcy goes, it was tough for Jackson. No one was really coming to our rescue. There was a process put in place where different organizations could request our financial—I financial, I say our now because, you know, I am their representative. So, I feel very much connected in ownership of this—but request information about our financials to determine if this is something that they wanted to get on board with.

And after several months went by, there was just no one coming to partner with Jackson Hospital, until Rick Jackson decided to step off the sidelines and get more involved. So, Rick Jackson and Jackson Healthcare, we've had a longstanding relationship with Jackson Healthcare for over 20 years, and so have several of the other hospitals in our community and other hospitals.

And so, he basically stepped up to extend a loan to help the hospital sustain operations in bankruptcy. And so, he essentially gave the hospital a $25 million loan. And to this day, he is leading the charge of our financial recovery. And his leadership has nationwide leaders in healthcare that work for some of his subsidiaries, and he has tapped into that talent to send them here and help us, specifically Charlie Evans, who is chairman of our board. And he appointed CEO, ran him out of retirement, John Quinlivan, who was happily in retirement in Fairhope, Alabama. He was retired lieutenant colonel in the army, a 20-year healthcare executive in Rome, Georgia. And he said, "John, I need you boots on the ground. We've got to save this hospital."

And so, we're working through it. And we are keeping the staff pumped up. The dedication is there. The story inside the walls is one that no one really gets to see. And I'm so excited to be here and be the chosen one to tell their stories and change the narrative and the headline, and let the leadership figure out the finances, but really keep the people pumped up and excited. They deliver exceptional patient care every day. And the resilience is palpable. And I love it. And you can feel it in halls and through the walls that this is a real sense of community in this hospital campus. And I'm real excited to be the one that gets to tell their story outside.

Host: And that is quite a story already, just to this point. Think about it, Rick Jackson helping Jackson Hospital. Even a great marketer like you are, can't script it any better than that, right?

Arla Chandler, RN: The irony of it, right? There's affiliation in the Jackson name. It's just coincidence.

Host: Absolutely. But a very helpful coincidence to say the least indeed. So, let me ask you about what you just touched on. Along the way here, the hospital staff continuing to focus on providing what's clearly obviously the number one goal—devoted patient care. So, what's behind that resilience do you think?

Arla Chandler, RN: Well, healthcare is very demanding in the best of circumstances. When you're working in an environment where there's constant of late scrutiny in the headlines, that level of stress on a healthcare worker—imagine we just came of COVID, right? It feels like it. I know it's been six years, but it feels like yesterday, I think to so many. And our staff is so dedicated. One of the things that I'm working on is just kind of going through how long people have worked at the hospital. And our longest term employee at the moment is 51 years and there isn't like a big gap from 51 to 10. It's like 51, 42, 35, lots of 20 years. And so, it's about understanding how much they care about being in those hallways with those people for all of those years. And I get to watch it interact throughout the day. It's a real brotherhood and sisterhood of people that is unique. And it's really the culture that's been formed over the years and by leadership in the past, and this is why I'm real excited about the leadership of John Quinlivan coming in because he gets the culture.

And what makes Jackson Hospital unique is it's always been about the people. And I think even me stepping into this role, they became my family 24 years ago. And we set the example for my children—my husband and I's children, not just mine—but my husband's a physician, I'm a nurse, they were used to coming onto campus and visiting his office, getting to know the people at the surgery center and on campus throughout the years. And they both have chosen healthcare careers. And so, we're real excited about that. So, it's not just about my journey, it's really about the family that's behind the journey.

Host: Absolutely. And I know you say that hospitals are not just institutions, they're communities of people serving their neighbors. So, what do you mean by that?

Arla Chandler, RN: So in our hospital, specifically in our county alone, our workforce is 51% combined of people who live in Montgomery County. And so, it's people you see at the grocery store. It's that connection. They're just not strangers in a diluted environment. It's a very close cultural connection. And so, having worked in this environment, my phone rings daily with, "Hey, can somebody see me? Hey, do you have a recommendation?" And this doesn't happen just for me, but it happens throughout our entire workforce, because they know that we've been here for 80 years serving the community. And it's not an institution, it's a culture. And people want to be part of our culture. There's a distinct difference in business culture, right? Your leadership sets the culture. And we've been lucky that our leadership throughout the years has connected with the staff to help guide decisions. They have made them feel listened to, part of the decision, part of the growth. And I do too.

So even in my planning, I'm connecting with the staff to get ideas of "What do you see? And what's your pain point today and how can we make it better?" Very few institutions do that. that. So from the bedside out into the community, it's really about that culture of staying connected to the staff at all levels, and for leadership to be visible. And I know myself, I love to walk the halls. There's a story on every corner. And sometimes I'm just meeting someone new. And I'll say, "How long have you worked here?" And, you know, "Twenty-five years." I'm like, "What is your greatest memory?" And I mean, we just start—and I'm like, "Let me take your picture, put you on social media. What do you think?" "Yeah, great." You know, so it's just been easy to promote what's happening on this campus, despite what you might be reading about the financial restructuring and things like that, the positivity is real.

Host: Yeah, definitely sounds like it, for sure. So, what does the hospital's restructuring now mean going forward for both patients and staff? Anything new and different? Any changes that those joining us right now should be aware of?

Arla Chandler, RN: Well, I think what we've all learned through the uncertainty over the years is that this community needs Jackson Hospital. And the community has spoken loud and clear that Jackson Hospital needs to stay open. That we are a critical need safety net hospital. And I don't think people realize that before, the importance of the volume that comes through our ER, that our neighboring hospitals would really struggle if we were to close. Strokes are delayed, heart attacks don't get care. You can't have a hospital like us close.

So, just the fact that Rick Jackson saw the critical need before even anyone in our community did and brought together a plan along with our governor to save Jackson Hospital is just a miracle in and of itself, that someone from outside of our community could recognize the need to serve our community and step in and do something this great and support us when no one else would lend us a penny or either extend a loan or any of that. He saw the vision and the need, and that's a true leader right there. That is selfless and highly respected, and I don't think people understand really. They think he bought the hospital. He did not. The hospital will remain a not-for-profit. it will not be owned by Rick Jackson at this moment. He is just giving the loan when no one else would. And along with his loan, he's bringing his expertise to the hospital, and we need that. We needed it desperately, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

And he continues behind the scenes to fight for Jackson Hospital for the long-term, not just in the short term, not just to get the restructuring done, but he's really fighting for longevity for our community. And he doesn't even live here. And I mean, I just think that's just amazing and I want to work hard for Rick Jackson and for our people and save this hospital and keep it up.

Host: And the fact that Mr. Jackson is involved in the healthcare industry himself, obviously a big part of what he's been able to do there. Now, as mentioned, Jackson Hospital is celebrating its 80th anniversary. So, you're obviously doing something right here, Arla, right? What's been the key to that longevity, do you think?

Arla Chandler, RN: Well, we've always done great leadership. We really have. I think I love leadership. It's one of my favorite things to study, and leaders can inherit things, right? You see sometimes coaches inherit Super Bowl champion teams, but they can never really get to the Super Bowl themselves. Because during challenging times, that's when true leadership comes out. What are you made of? What's your grit? You know, how do you lead, how do you motivate? And I think we hit a stumbling block a few years ago. And we didn't really have the right team ready to help us navigate challenge and advocate for longevity. And I think this is just my opinion, I think that came down one on top of the other. And next thing you know, it steamrolled us into a real big problem.

My hope and what I am fighting for every day is that we recognize that as a mistake. And we never have this problem to deal with ever again. I've been involved with this hospital obviously for 24 years, raising money for this hospital. And raising money was not a challenge. It was easy because the projects were fun. We were redecorating and rebuilding cath labs and family birth centers and really good heartfelt projects that were easy to get people on board with. We've got to start over now. We have an empty pocket book, and rebuilding that is also going to be a challenge. But there's a lot of trust in Jackson Hospital in the 80 years. And That is something that I have found to be very true. I thought, "What am I inheriting here to start promoting? Have you ever marketed a bankrupt anything?" "No, I have not." But when you get inside and you start navigating that, the path forward to me is very simple on how you market a bankrupt hospital. And it's really the people that are natural, and they feel genuine and they are genuine and they're caring and they're loving. And I still feel that Jackson Hospital is very much trusted in our community. And we're just going to build upon that.

Host: And speaking of building in this 80th anniversary year, how do you and yours, Arla, planned to celebrate since you've been open since 1946? Not a lot of hospitals can say that.

Arla Chandler, RN: I'm really excited. I have so many ideas. So first of all, ideas. I have till September. So, I've been writing ideas down. But one of the ideas that I have, it's a podcast basically. And I want to contact the retired physicians and ask them about their days on Jackson campus and get their stories.

 Years ago, there used to be a restaurant on Jackson campus called The Pot Rouge, and That is the first thing that these physicians want to tell me about. "Oh, back in the day, 50 years ago, there was the Pot Rouge. I don't think it closed until the late '80s." We had a beauty shop. Our patients get their hairstyle before they went home. And you start thinking about how healthcare has changed. These stories are amazing. Physicians used to go home and get their spouses dress up and come back to The Pot Rouge on Jackson Hospital Campus and have dinner. It was like a fine dining experience. And the stories that come out of that, I would love to do a podcast as one of those celebrations to get the stories of the physicians that have retired and have so much love for Jackson Hospital. So, that's one of the things that's on my list with several others that I'll have to reveal as as time rolls on.

Host: Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, because it's obviously a rich history that should indeed be celebrated. In summary here, Arla, what do you most want those joining us to know about Jackson Hospital's exciting future now?

Arla Chandler, RN: Well, first and foremost, we're here, we're available. We're open and we're delivering the same high quality care that we have for over 80 years. And we're fighting hard to make sure that that is continued for generations to come.

Host: Well, folks, she says the passion continues at Jackson Hospital, of course, through the walls and in the hall. Sounds like a bumper sticker. Arla, maybe you can get your staff working on that. Huh?

Folks, we trust you are now more familiar with Jackson Hospital's new exciting chapter. Arla, very exciting indeed. Good luck with everything. I'm sure we'll speak again with you and yours as things unfold. And I've got to ask you before we let you go, very important question that I'm saving for last, if an extra nurse is ever needed in a pinch, can you still jump in and help?

Arla Chandler, RN: A hundred percent. Once a nurse, always a nurse. I'll never let go of that license. You always keep your license.

Host: I had a feeling that was going to be your answer. Great to hear. Well, folks, for more information, please visit jackson.org. Now, if you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media. And thanks so much again for being part of Vital Signs, candid conversations with providers who care.