“COVID & Community Health” with Michael Ugwueke

Shownotes:

Healthcare institutions are an essential part of a community’s fabric, and each healthcare facility has a civic responsibility to each member of its community. At this moment in history, our nation’s healthcare system is facing insurmountable challenges with COVID-19 cases spreading rapidly among citizens, in addition to the PTSD and fatigue experienced among hospital staff. To help us gain a greater understanding of the healthcare system’s nature right now, we decided to bring in one of the top healthcare professionals in our community to provide his expertise and perspective. In this episode, Chris and Eddie are joined by Michael Ugwueke, President & Chief Executive Officer at Methodist Le Bonheur Hospital. Driven by a deep passion for individuals to thrive, Ugwueke desires a more proactive approach to spending and preventative care. They discuss Ugwueke’s role as a minority executive in healthcare, the social determinants of health, and the role of the healthcare system in the health of the community.

Full Transcript:

Eddie Rester 0:00

I'm Eddie Rester.

Chris McAlilly 0:01

I'm Chris McAlilly. Welcome to The Weight.

Eddie Rester 0:03

Today our guest is Michael Ugwueke. He is the President and CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. This is an interesting moment to be talking to someone in healthcare.

Chris McAlilly 0:13

Today is August, we're recording this on August the 13th of 2021. So we're in the midst of a global pandemic and the Delta variant surge that is happening across the midsouth. And we wanted to bring Michael on to talk a little bit about his work in healthcare, some of the pressures that he and his team are facing in the midst of COVID. But then also just some of what he sees from his vantage point.

Eddie Rester 0:41

He's an interesting man, has an interesting story. He grew up in Nigeria, and part of really the impetus of his entry into health care comes from what happened to him and his family in Nigeria. And so I won't spoil that. But it really kind of spurs his story forward. And what I find in him is really the ability to cast vision, but also to see the needs and how to direct resources to meet needs.

Chris McAlilly 1:09

We talked about his role as a minority executive in health care. We talk about the social determinants of health and some of the ways in which, you know, civic and political engagement can be on the preventative side of health care, rather than on the reactive side. And I found it to be a great conversation.

Eddie Rester 1:31

And this is a personal conversation. For me, my family had the opportunity to spend almost three weeks at Methodist Le Bonheur with one of our children, and they are one of the premier places for health care, really, in the south east. Definitely in our region. We met people from all over the United States, bringing children to Le Bonheur. So what they do is significant and important. And I hope you'll give this a listen and think about health care in your own community and ways that maybe you can have conversations about improving the reach and the partnerships of health care where you are.

Chris McAlilly 2:05

Yeah, I think the thing for us to say at the end is just for those of you working in healthcare, we thank you. We are incredibly grateful for the weight and the burden that you're carrying for the rest of us. We acknowledge how hard it is. I know how weary it is in our household. My wife works as a social worker in a healthcare setting. It's been a long, long season, and we're incredibly grateful. We hope that you feel honored in the conversation. We're grateful for the work that you do. If you like the episode, you can subscribe, you can share it. We're grateful to have you in the conversation on The Weight.

Chris McAlilly 2:45

[INTRO] We started this podcast out of frustration with the tone of American Christianity.

Eddie Rester 2:52

There are some topics too heavy for sermons and sound bites.

Chris McAlilly 2:56

We wanted to create a space with a bit more recognition of the difficulty, nuance, and complexity of cultural issues.

Eddie Rester 3:03

If you've given up on the church, we want to give you a place to encounter a fresh perspective on the wisdom of the Christian tradition, in our conversations about politics, race, sexuality, art, and mental health.

Chris McAlilly 3:15

If you're a Christian seeking a better way to talk about the important issues of the day, with more humility, charity, and intellectual honesty, that grapples with Scripture and the church's tradition in a way that doesn't dismiss people out of hand, you're in the right place.

Eddie Rester 3:31

Welcome to The Weight. [END INTRO]

Chris McAlilly 3:33

Well, we're here today with Michael Ugwueke, who is the president and CEO of Methodist Healthcare in Memphis, Tennessee. Michael, I hope that I pronounced your name right. You can make fun of me if I didn't. But we're so glad that you're here.

Michael Ugwueke 3:47

Thank you, Chris. Yes, you did pronounce it right. Appreciate that.

Chris McAlilly 3:52

We're so glad to talk with you today. We are talking on August the 13th, 2021. And I wonder, I know that you guys I'm sure have been navigating the world that we live in from the perspective of a health care organization. I wonder how you guys, how you and your staff, are holding up in the season.

Michael Ugwueke 4:20

Thank you for really asking, Chris, it's been very tough. You know, it's been the longest disaster one has dealt with, to my knowledge obviously. Started last year, almost 16, 17 months, we're still dealing with the same issue. Oftentimes when you have a disaster, whether it's a fire or whether it's a hurricane or whatever it is, you usually have a week and then the board come together and address it and move on and really they ought to do whatever they have to do.

Michael Ugwueke 4:54

Our team are really fatigued. Some people call it post traumatic stress disorder. This has been going on for a little longer than we all expected. And we are at the point right now with this new Delta variant that people are just upset for various reasons, because we have a remedy, which is in the form of vaccination. And the thought that we're back into, you know, potentially shutting down elective procedures, or potentially trying to navigate patients coming into the hospital is just very disturbing. So I really appreciate you asking. And that's really the message we're giving our teams to be able to weather the storm and still provide high quality care that we're known for.

Chris McAlilly 5:47

Well, I'm grateful in such an environment and season and know that you've taken the time to be with us today. I know that the scope and the dimensions of your work are vast. So we're grateful for your time. I wonder if you could tell us a bit about kind of how your journey into healthcare. Where did that start for you?

Michael Ugwueke 6:08

Good question. Thank you again for asking a question. So as I'm sure you know, from trying to pronounce my last name that I was given [audio cuts out] Orange Mound. I am originally from Nigeria, been in the United States now for almost 40 years. So my journey into healthcare actually started when I was a kid growing up in Nigeria. It was at a time that was very civil unrest. There was a civil war going on in the country. And we are, my family became refugees during that war back in '67. And moved out from, you know, various refugee camps along the way.

Michael Ugwueke 6:55

My younger brother died in one of those camps, what are considered to be a preventable illness. At that point was when I decided as a kid that I wanted to be a medical doctor. I wanted to be able to... I wish I could have saved him. And wanted to be in a role that hopefully I'll be able to, you know, take care of people, particularly those that may or may not have access to care. So that drive and that passion drove me through elementary school, college, I mean high school in Nigeria.

Michael Ugwueke 7:31

And then after that, I wanted to go to medical school. There wasn't that many opportunities at the time. I decided that I wanted to come to the United States to go to medical school. So I got accepted to several schools in the US. Came to US for that and did undergrad pre-med. When I finished, was trying to get into medical school. Unfortunately, I realized that you need money, right? Imagine that. Y ou need money to go to medical school, which I didn't have, because I pretty much self-funded my college education working separate jobs.

Michael Ugwueke 8:10

And at that point, I was, you know, didn't know what else to do. Because that was always what I wanted to do. And I was advised by one of the professors to consider public health option. And that was how I got into healthcare. So I got an admission at Emory to study public health. Then after that, I was thinking about going back to Nigeria, which was really, my interest was to get the education and go back. And there was several military crews back in the 80s. And, you know, at some point, I got the opportunity to work at a hospital in Atlanta. And that was how my healthcare journey started.

Eddie Rester 9:00

As I think about where you are now, at Methodist Le Bonheur, my daughter spent basically three weeks at Le Bonheur several years ago during December and it's an amazing health care facility, amazing group of physicians and partnerships around the city there in Memphis. Really, I was impressed with just everything about the entire work of Methodist Le Bonheur. How do y'all think of yourselves as a part of the community? What's the role for Methodist LeBonheur or in your mind any healthcare system in the health of its community?

Michael Ugwueke 9:42

Very good question. I appreciate the compliments as well. We have incredible associates and physicians that are really dedicated and committed to providing care for not just this community, but for the entire region. As I'm sure you know, LeBonheur Children's Hospital, the US News ranked our hospital system with almost eight sub-specialties recognized at a national level. So you don't find that too frequently.

Eddie Rester 10:12

We ran it to a family at the FedEx house that were bringing their kid from Arizona, and they came every three months for treatment there at LeBonheur. Just, they couldn't say enough?

Michael Ugwueke 10:26

Yeah, thank you. Yeah. So that's the kind of institution LeBonheur and Methodist Health system really is. But to your question, healthcare systems, particularly ourselves, we view ourselves as an anchor institution. So what does that mean? That means that without us, a lot wouldn't go on in this community. So we feel that we are privileged to have the opportunity to serve our people, which is why, you know, with the challenges of COVID, becomes very frustrating when we have backlogs of people coming into the hospital, that couldn't get in because of that availability.

Michael Ugwueke 11:07

We truly, truly view our role as a privilege, because think about it for a second, nobody goes to hospital for vacation. Nobody wants to go there. So people come out of desperation, and a very, very low time in their lives when they are, you know, in need and worried and not sure what's going to happen to them. So they come to you, and you have the opportunity to meet them during those difficult times and being able to work with them, comfort them, and hopefully get them back to their homes. That's truly a privilege. And that's the way we look at it.

Michael Ugwueke 11:43

So as anchor institutions, we have obligations, right. Methodist has been in this community for over 100 years, as you may or may not know. And for that same period of time, obviously, we have grown quite a lot from one hospital. But we intentionally have hospitals located in every quadrant of this community, because we wanted to make sure that every member of this community will have easy access to high quality care. So in any community, the first thing people look at is do you have a hospital? Do you have a school system, maybe a house of worship? Those are really the fabric of every community. And that's the way we look at ourselves.

Michael Ugwueke 12:29

And secondly, we also see ourself as a major employer. You know, we're the second largest employer in the Memphis community, second largest private employer in the community. So we see ourselves also, we have a civic responsibility, one is the ability to create jobs, and ability to improve life and opportunities for people by creating living wages for them. So that's the way we view ourselves.

Chris McAlilly 12:59

I wonder if you could talk a little bit about some of the challenges that I mean, that could be COVID. I mean, the COVID challenges are very, I think, acute at the moment. What are some of the other challenges facing healthcare in in this particular environment that we're in?

Michael Ugwueke 13:19

So obviously, to your point, COVID is a major, major pandemic that is killing a lot of people across the country, now over 600,000 people. Imagine that. They've all lost their lives. In Memphis, we have in our system, at least we have close to 900 people that have died. And, among other challenges that we're facing this time, besides COVID, is really staffing. Critical is nursing in particular. That's always been shortages. But this is the most dire, you know, situation that I've seen, in my over 30 years of being in healthcare today.

Michael Ugwueke 14:04

We have an aging population, as you know, and we don't have enough nurses or doctors in some cases even, to take care of patients. So right now, every health system in the country is going through that. And that's the biggest challenge we have. So when you have COVID on top of that, because of the isolation that has to happen, and the segregation that has to happen, makes it even much more difficult to staff hospitals as you would like to do. So COVID is definitely number one challenge we're facing but also with COVID comes obviously fatigue right now for our caregivers. But on top of that, not enough to go around and take care of patients.

Eddie Rester 14:50

Someone shared with us, I think last week that Mississippi is short 2,000 nurses which is staggering for a state the size of Mississippi, and I would imagine a state the size of Tennessee, it just multiplies the number and the need. I wonder if you could wave your magic wand, if COVID wasn't here right now, what would be some of the, in your mind, some of the things that we need as a country, as a community, that we could actively do to improve health care for our citizens? I know that I think our health care in the United States rates 11th in the world, and yet, we're spending double, I might be wrong on that, maybe double what other developed countries are spending. And so there's obviously something that's not connecting. So from your view, what is it that we need, as a country, as communities, to be about to improve healthcare and healthcare spending?

Michael Ugwueke 15:52

Very good question. So we spend more than any country in the world. And to your point, we rank about 11 in the in the world. So there's a disconnect there, right. You would think the more money you spend, the better care you provide. But that's not necessarily the case. And most people have forgotten this, right before COVID hit, guess what was number one issue that everyone in the country were talking about? Opioid epidemic. Remember that?

Eddie Rester 16:22

Vaguely. I don't remember a whole lot before COVID these days.

Michael Ugwueke 16:25

So opioid epidemic was killing people across the country. Every state was dealing with that opioid epidemic. We're looking for ways to create behavioral healthcare services, to address that pandemic at the time. But no one talks about that anymore. So the biggest problem for us as a healthcare system and country is not how much we spend, it's what we spend it on. We know, but with data, and everyone knows that the biggest area of opportunity is what is called social determinants of health. So social determinants of health are those variables that can be controlled and prevented, but failure to do those things results in higher expenditure on creating more chronic conditions, whereby lifestyles impact people's lives and, you know, obviously impacts life expectancy.

Michael Ugwueke 17:27

So when you have what is food insufficiency, what is access to transportation, what is, you know, literacy by itself creates a barrier for people to get the adequate health care. So, as a country, we don't invest a whole lot in preventative, but we spend a whole lot of money in trying to fix people up or patch people up at the last stages of their life. More people, quite frankly, we spend more money in healthcare the last week, two weeks of people's lives than we spend any other time along the way. Because we're a country that has a whole lot of high technologies. And we use them, you know, to keep people alive.

Michael Ugwueke 18:16

I mean, our typical ICU room has all the gadgets that you can think of in the world to keep people alive. But you start question, what is their quality of life? Could we have prevented some of this ahead of time? You have diabetes running rampant, you know. Those can be prevented. And a lot of it is caused by lifestyles, right? But we don't have enough investments, you know, to reward and prevent those things before they become a major problem, before people go into dialysis, which is very costly, you know, very poor quality of life as well. So, yes, we have a huge opportunity to really direct our investment and spending to areas that I believe, if appropriately invested in, could result in better quality of life, preventative care. But those things take time, you know. They're much more longitudinal, right. Can't wave a magic wand and change it overnight. And that is really the fundamental reason why we are lagging behind other countries.

Eddie Rester 19:27

When I was in seminary, ages and ages ago, when Bill Clinton was president and they were working on a health care then and it was the same conversation in the mid 90s, that if we could focus on preventative care. One of the studies showed that if you provided free health care for all women when they were pregnant--regular checkups, medicine, nutrition along the way--the amount of money would actually save low birth weight babies, or other issues that could have been discovered during the pregnancy that are only discovered to late after the birth. And it's just a fraction of the spending. I don't remember the numbers.

Michael Ugwueke 20:12

Yeah.

Eddie Rester 20:12

Couple weeks ago, we talked with the CFO of Medtronics Labs, which is part of their foundation work. And it's really interesting that they're partnering with folks in other parts of the world to do some interesting things with diabetes or heart attacks, hypertension, those kinds of things, doing a lot of preventative care, and they're partnering with governments and government agencies. Do you find any partnerships there that y'all are working with that are interesting, that seemed to really be moving the needle with any of the preventative care, helping people find their place in the healthcare system?

Michael Ugwueke 20:54

Yes, we are. I'm sure you may or may not know this, we are. We have what we call Congregational Health Network. So the Congregational Health Network is a group of churches and faith-based organizations, particularly in Memphis and Mississippi, that are part of our what we call congregations. They all have signed covenants with our healthcare system. And the goal is really to help them navigate our healthcare system. So we have liaisons that are assigned out to those churches, and we have those churches have them help the liaisons as well. So if members of those churches that are connected, any of their members were to come to one of our emergency rooms or facilities, then there is a person that will not only recognize them, but make sure that they have what they need. Because we know that a support system is essential for people recovering very quickly and going home very quickly. Oftentimes, most people just don't have that support network. So if they are a member of a congregation that we, you know, through this relationship, the congregation becomes the support network for them.

Michael Ugwueke 22:11

That's one area that we've partnered with the community to improve health. We also have another partnership with Shelby County school system, through what we call a BookNook program for third graders to make sure, because we know that reading is essential, particularly at the third grade level. And we have through that program, partnered with them to provide like tablets, you know, to every kid that is part of the program, and helping them to read--particularly during summer and holidays when we know from studies that they lose those skills for not following up. So that's another partnership that we have there.

Michael Ugwueke 22:57

And through our Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, we have various partnerships through our community health workers, where we are providing care for what is the asthma, kids with asthma to help them stay in school, and being able to reduce emergency room usage from asthma exacerbation that these kids go through. We, through that process, are trying to partner with the University of Memphis in the legal aid department that helps to hold landlords accountable. As we know, part of asthma is caused by toxic environment, what is dirt in the carpet or what is pests and other things in the house, making sure those houses are clean, and kids can live there. So we create a number of partnerships, which you wouldn't necessarily see with typical hospitals, but given our mission and what we believe in, particularly in the preventative side of things, if we're able to do those things very well, hopefully, we can keep the kids at home, keep them in school, and at the same time, prevent unnecessary costs for healthcare.

Chris McAlilly 24:14

My wife is a is a social worker in a hospital and so before I met her I didn't have a full grasp of the importance of a discharge plan that includes, you know, the full range of support and how important that can be to a person recovering and getting healthy. And from her vantage point, it's interesting. It's been interesting for me to learn kind of from that perspective, what a hospital looks like, and then also to get the perspective of doctors, nurses, and administration and staff. I wonder from your seat, what is it that an executive leadership position allows you to do? What are the opportunities that come with executive leadership in a healthcare system? And then what are some of the limitations? What are some of the frustrations that you have because you're constrained by your role?

Michael Ugwueke 25:11

Good questions. So again, I come from a position of passion, compassion, as well as purpose. So I have been very lucky. I can tell you that I got into this, being an executive in healthcare was not one of the things that I was thinking about. It was a matter of how can I give back? How can I hopefully prevent another kid from dying, just like my brother died? And that was really the motivation for me. So being in this role, although I'm not a medical doctor, has truly allowed me to fulfill that vision and that dream beyond my even expectation, or what I could have done from being an individual provider. So as you can imagine, we have six hospitals, we have 13,000 associates, we have 226,000 physician partners, that's just an extension of what we can do.

Michael Ugwueke 26:09

So in my role, my primary role really is how can I support our team? And how can I provide resources for them so they can do the work that they do extremely well? And there are challenges as you know, because you're juggling multiple things, particularly these days, when you think about COVID. You're juggling, you know, challenges related to constraints in the hospital. You're juggling staffing challenges, resource challenges, and trying to make those things available. And you're, you know, sometimes dealing right now with a lot of associates that are totally fatigued, that are completely tired, you know, have emotional issues relative to, again, what is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which typically happens in a battlefield.

Michael Ugwueke 27:06

But, you know, some days, it feels like a battlefield, what we're doing today. So those are the kinds of things that one does, the challenge, as you can imagine, obviously, you feel like, you know, everything is resting on your shoulders, so to speak. And you have to work with your team, trying to comfort them and support them, and make sure that, you know, they realize, regardless of how hard this work is, the purpose and the reason that we're doing it outweighs everything else. So those are the things you worry about.

Michael Ugwueke 27:42

On top of that, as if that wasn't enough, you worry about cyber attack and security. And I'm sure you guys have read that healthcare systems are targets for cyber criminals, where you have ransoms, you know, houses have been held ransom. So you're worrying about that at the same time. But you also worry about the livelihood of your associates, how they're mentally dealing with, you know, not just the patients come in here, their own families that they're worried about taking this virus to. So there's a lot that goes on there on a day-to-day basis.

Chris McAlilly 28:18

I wonder, you know, one of the things that, in reading your biography, that it is of note is that you've been named a couple different times to to kind of a top 25 of minority executives in the country and in modern healthcare. I wonder, how does that perspective as a person of color in executive leadership in healthcare, what is your perspective in engaging in the work from your particular social location?

Michael Ugwueke 28:53

Good question. So again, I've been very blessed and lucky to be recognized for the work that my team and I have done over the years. I say that there is, there is no general without an army, as they say. So I don't take those things lightly. But I don't take full credit for all of that. But suffice it to say that we know that minority population suffers the most in every category, as you can imagine, including healthcare. And that was, you know, we saw it in action, if that was even any doubt, at the height of the pandemic, the group that was adversely impacted the most were primarily the minority population.

Michael Ugwueke 29:43

So when we talk about social determinants of health, it's also mostly impacted the minority population. So the importance of having people such as myself and others in this kind of role is to address those inequities that are abundant in our society. So for example, we know that we need to improve access to minority providers. We know for a fact, based on data, that people of color feel comfortable with physicians that looks like them, understands their cultural challenges, and being able to not only empathize, but not judge them. And it improves compliance with the care that they provide. So that's the area, that's where I come from.

Michael Ugwueke 30:42

And unfortunate then is across the country, we still have a huge disparity, both on the diversity side, but on the leadership side as well on the healthcare side. So I believe that healthcare systems should, starting from their board, given our role in the community, as I said earlier, to improve the health status of our community. You cannot improve the total health status of your community if you don't have maximum representation of various groups, not only in the leadership role, but also on your board, as well as caregivers in the community.

Eddie Rester 31:27

You talk about caregivers, and I'm still caught in just the conversation of how many nurses we've lost to hospitals. And some of those nurses have stepped out to private clinics, out of the pressure of the hospitals. But I also know that, again, going back to when my daughter was there at Le Bonheur a couple of years ago, that the nurses were the key piece of it. They were our advocates. They were the ones that made sure that doctors understood exactly what they needed to tend to and when they needed to tend to it. I know right now, y'all are just thinking, "how do we patch things together to make sure we're providing the best care we can?" Have y'all begun to think forward to how do we begin to recruit them back? What do we need to do to for the next generation of nurses? Any thoughts on that right now?

Michael Ugwueke 32:25

Yes, there are some thoughts on that. An average age of a nurse today, it's about 44, 45. Okay, so, then there is a huge shortage of nurses as I said earlier. We have an aging population, growing population. I remember back in the 90s, and some of you may remember this, as well, we went through such a dry spell one time with nursing shortages. And there were nurses being recruited from Philippines, India, Africa, various other parts of the world to make up for all of that. We are in a different stage now. It's gone beyond being recruited from all those countries, because every other major industrialized country also recruited from all those places, given that there's a worldwide shortage of that.

Michael Ugwueke 33:21

One of the things that we're doing and we're continuing to do is obviously trying to increase the new graduate numbers in our community. So we partnered with the University of Memphis, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Union University, in their nursing programs, to be able to provide not just a place for those nurses to train, but you know, connect them to the system where before they even graduated from school, so they will more than likely commit to work. Everyone is doing some form of that kind of partnership for that, but it's just not enough. And so you don't have enough tutors or faculty to increase the class sizes, because there's a huge number retiring that are professors and college teachers from School of Nursing. So it's a cyclical process and a problem that you try to patch on one side, it pops up on another side.

Michael Ugwueke 34:27

The key, my view, is really trying to simplify the work that nurses do to create additional layer, if you will, additional layer of caregiver, to be able to offload some of the work that nurses are doing, and be able to allow them--to your point because they serve as your advocate, they serve as your connector to the doctors and a sounding board to whatever issues that you're dealing with on a day-to-day basis--and allow them that time, because if they're in a hurry trying to serve, you know, 10, 20 patients at the same time, it's just not going to be as a personal as you know, as one needs during that difficult time. So that's part of it. Also looking for where to use technology where you can to augment some of the work they do so that they're not, taking out a lot of the manual processes that are embedded in some of the work they do. But at the end of the day, somebody's got to hold somebody's hand, look at them in their eyes, and be able to comfort them. And that's the compassionate part of what nurses bring to the table.

Chris McAlilly 35:40

Yeah, I think that there is an embodied, incarnational dimension to the work of caregiving that can't be automated. Yeah, I cannot imagine a situation in which hospitals have an army of robots running around offering. You know, I mean, there is certainly going to be ways in which technology can be quite helpful. I think telehealth in the midst of the pandemic has been an incredibly useful tool and one that I think particularly in rural communities, in communities that are far away from facilities that have adequate health care, those can be helpful as a part of the the toolkit. But I don't think you'll ever be able to get away from the compassion and the embodied presence of real human beings.

Chris McAlilly 36:31

I mean, that's, that's a part of what is essential to caregiving beyond the function of medicine. I wonder? You know, it seems like healthcare is I mean, a, there are a lot of different industries that that involve problem solving. But it seems like as you talk through your work, it just requires an insane amount of problem solving and innovation on the fly, at a large scale with a big team. I wonder for you, what are some of the ways that you continue to step away from the day-to-day, your pattern or your rhythm of life? How do you step away from the sheer weight and burden of responsibility that that you bear? To think clearly, and maybe even critically about what's going on there in the hospital? How do you get that space or that margin?

Michael Ugwueke 37:29

Yes, there's not much, obviously. Typical, you know, we tell ourselves this: "You got to take care of yourself first, before you can take care of someone else." And it's important, both mentally and physically, especially now that we're drowning so to speak, with number of cases that are coming in, and people desperate, you know, at this critical juncture. My routine that I've adopted for quite some time, I try to take care of myself as much as I can. So my routine is I get up every morning about 4:30. And I have about an hour and a half to myself. And that's my workout period, because that's the only time that I can do it before getting into work. And that's really when I process stuff, about what I'm wanting to do at work, but also it gives me on the start time to myself. So that's one of it.

Michael Ugwueke 38:32

So that's very, very helpful for me on a number of fronts. It clears my head but also reduces stress. Because I feel rejuvenated, after working out for about an hour and a half, two hours every morning. So that, to me is essential. The other piece that I've tried to do, to be honest, is you know, occasional meditation, just trying to spend some time. But also, I listen to a lot of books on tape. So that's my time of reading and learning. And if you call it distracting myself, from time to time, from reality, so I enjoy that. I'm not a big movie or TV person. I try to spend time with the family as much as I can. I have two kids. So that's also very, very important to me. And at the same time, obviously, I'm very mindful of what I eat, and that kind of stuff.

Eddie Rester 39:33

I know you've also got a great team around you. One of your vice presidents is one of our friends, Albert Mosley. How is it that you have found over the years, as a leader, to best utilize--what you have is a really high qualified team around you--how do you utilize them best?

Michael Ugwueke 39:57

Very good question. As I said earlier, No general without an army. I am truly blessed to have the team that we have here at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, Tou know, no one, obviously no one, but in general, no one goes into this line of business because they want to make a whole lot of money. So they're coming in with the same mission, mentality, and passion to truly help be an advocate for those that may or may not have the voice. So we attract a different type of mentality and a different type of leaders. So I am blessed with 11 people, 10, 11 people, that report directly to me, that are all mission-driven and committed to our mission of, you know, improving everyday life that we touch here in Memphis.

Michael Ugwueke 40:46

So Albert Mosley is one of those individuals and a very rare one, to your point, you know. He was trained as a clergy and has pastored churches, but also has served in an educational role, and has truly adapted extremely well in the healthcare field. If you didn't know, one didn't know his background, you know, you'll be hard pressed to not believe that he was always in healthcare. He understands. He leads our effort in what we call our mission, specifically as it relates to social determinants of health, involvement in the community, partnerships, and truly serving as an anchor institution in the community. That's his primary role. But he goes just far beyond any of those things. And among all my leadership team members, they all come with different backgrounds, but they all are truly incredible in their own rights.

Chris McAlilly 41:45

And, you know, just I kind of want to turn the focus one more time before we end today to, I know that you've recently taken a journey back to Africa, I assume to extend the kind of the work that you're doing in strategic ways in that direction. Am I am I right in that assumption?

Michael Ugwueke 42:07

Yes, you are also right. Obviously, I have African ancestry, as you know. But there was an opportunity to actually go to places in Africa, one was Zimbabwe, which I've never been to. I was privileged to be asked to give a commencement address at Africa University in Zimbabwe. And I was really, really looking forward to it because I've never really been to that country or to the university. I've heard, obviously, it's a Methodist affiliated university. And I've heard so much about that. So that was a disappointment, again, due to COVID. it was canceled at the last minute. I had to do the commencement address virtually, but I'm still looking forward to going to visit them.

Michael Ugwueke 42:55

Then instead I pivoted to Nigeria, which is my country, primarily to spend some time with family. My mom is still there. But I had an opportunity to meet with the vice president of the country, just to explore ways that we can work with them to really begin to reimagine the healthcare system. Every country in the world has been devastated by the impacts of COVID pandemic--even, you know, strong countries like the United States and Britain, other developed countries. You can only imagine third world countries, what they went through. So, yes, I extended that opportunity. And I'm hopeful that we will have an opportunity to do something together.

Michael Ugwueke 43:43

But as a healthcare system, we are partnerships beyond Africa. In fact, we partnered with three hospitals in China, developing a relationship in UAE right now. And also look into Africa and other places. In fact, we have a partnership in Bangladesh as well.

Eddie Rester 44:04

Wow.

Michael Ugwueke 44:05

Square hospital there that we have an exchange opportunity for their, you know, physicians or nurses to come and train here as well as administrators to come and train here. And I've also visited them in Bangladesh to lend some hand to the work that they're doing there.

Eddie Rester 44:26

Michael, I want to thank you for your time today. Know that we are so thankful for your work and the work of Methodist Le Bonheur in Memphis. It's an anchor, not just for Memphis, but really for our area of the world as well. Y'all are doing good work. We'll be praying for you and all of the health care providers during this season, that we might all get to the other side, that your folks can get some rest. So thank you for taking a little time out of your day to be with us today.

Michael Ugwueke 44:54

Now, thank you guys for the opportunity to share what we're doing here in Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, and I look forward to continuing this conversation.

Chris McAlilly 45:04

Thanks so much.

Michael Ugwueke 45:05

Thank you.

Eddie Rester 45:08

[OUTRO] Thank you for listening to this episode of The Weight.

Chris McAlilly 45:10

If you liked what you heard today, feel free to share the podcast with other people that are in your network. Leave us a review. That's always really helpful. Subscribe, and you can follow us on our social media channels.

Eddie Rester 45:22

If you have any suggestions or guests you'd like us to interview or anything you'd like to share with us, you can send us an email at info@theweightpodcast.com. [END OUTRO]