As part of his role as Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at Morehouse School of Medicine, Dr. Lawrence Sanders Jr. spends much of his time working to ensure that Grady Memorial Hospital maintains a “clean bill of health.”  Since 1984, MSM has had close ties with the Grady Health System.  Many of MSM’s faculty members see patients at the hospital.  As Sanders—also president of the Atlanta-based Georgia State Medical Association, Inc. (GSMA)—discusses, Grady faces great challenges, but unquestionably offers great value to all Atlantans.

Q:  You and Grady go way back.  You completed your residency there and later served as medical director for Managed Care.  Now you are MSM’s Grady liaison.
A:  From an MSM perspective, it’s our principal hospital and our major affiliate.   A great deal of our education and clinical services occur at Grady.  We build our reputation by what we provide there.  It is my job to ensure that MSM’s clinical services at Grady are aligned with MSM’s mission as a medical school.

Q:  What are the current challenges facing Grady?
A:  Grady is facing severe financial challenges.  The population it largely serves is uninsured.  Working together with Emory University School of Medicine, we want to get Grady out of its financial crisis.  I think it’s probably a three- to five-year horizon.  It may reshape Grady in ways we don’t even know.  But it’s important that we sustain Grady for patients and students.  We have to educate the next generation.

Q:  That’s going to take some innovative thinking.
A:  Yes.  It’s going to take thinking outside the box.  We will need to communicate ideas without getting into personal issues and stay respectful.  We need to reach out to the political community and the business community and draw in every community interest group.  We all have to be committed. 

Q:  You are talking about investing the stakeholders.
A:  Right.  I think of it like a symphony orchestra.  Every individual has a role and has to achieve excellence.  I believe if we focus on the questions and continue asking ‘how?’ we can be successful. 

Q:  Why does Grady matter?
A:  There are times when we really need Grady, when we are stressed as a community.  We all may come upon challenges such as an automobile crash.  Time and again, Grady demonstrates its true value, and not only to Fulton and DeKalb residents, but to those that travel through our city. 

Q:  As in the case where some of those students from Bluffton University were taken to Grady?
A:  Yes, the most seriously injured were taken there.  Grady has unmatched expertise in trauma, whether it’s burn victims or accident victims or victims of unexpected national or even manmade disasters.  Anybody in the city ought to recognize it’s an outstanding public hospital in terms of delivery of services.  It’s the backbone of our response. 

Q:  Tell us more about who Grady serves.
A:  Well, Grady is recognized as the top trauma center in Atlanta, whether you are living in Buckhead or in public housing, and operates one of the busiest emergency rooms in the Southeast.  It’s the safety net — and not just for poor people.

Q:  I’m thinking that many middle-class people who are in job transition or unemployed could use Grady.
A:  Part-time, contract, self-employed — there are many people for whom health care is not associated with their jobs.  The quality of care is excellent.  Just take a look at the longevity of some of the physicians and nurses and social workers — some of them have been there since I was a resident!

Q:  Plus, it benefits all of us to have a healthy population.
A:  Right.  We are together in the malls, on the trains, in restaurants with people.  We can put up all kinds of fences and install burglar alarms, but ultimately we all share the same space.  Grady plays a role in our communal health from surgery and internal medicine to OB/GYN and pediatrics.

Q:  Are there any national models you are looking at in this process?
A:  I keep coming back to Parkland Hospital in Dallas.  It strikes a balance between the political components and the business community; educationally it has a good working relationship with two medical schools.  It’s rated as one of the 100 best hospitals in the country.  I think at Grady we can aspire to be more than just an academic hospital.

Q:  You speak as someone who is both a physician and an administrator.
A:  I spend about 70 percent of my time with Grady and its affiliates:  South Fulton Medical Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Georgia Regional Hospital, Tuskegee Veterans Administration Hospital and the VA East Point Community-Based Outpatient Clinic.  I consider myself a physician manager and I can’t manage what I don’t know in real time.  The clinical services mission must align with the education mission and the mission of the research school.  

Q:  What’s the bottom line?
A:  Grady is important—It’s going to take all of us working together.  We all benefit from a healthy Grady!