SPECIAL BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
Monday, July 20, 2020
4 p.m. Special Board of Trustees Meeting

Join via WebEx:
Meeting number (access code): 160 998 7770
Meeting password: BOTSPMTGJULY20

Join via Phone:
+1-415-655-0002
Meeting number (access code): 160 998 7770

The Board of Trustees will immediately enter Executive Session upon convening
the meeting to discuss the employment and compensation of a public employee.

Any questions may be directed to the Office of University Marketing and Communications by calling 419.350.3879 or via email to meghan.cunningham@utoledo.edu.

The University of Toledo, after consultations with the Board of Trustees, announced Thursday, July 16, that it is postponing the Request for Proposals (RFP) process indefinitely, and will focus our immediate efforts on stabilizing the University of Toledo Medical Center’s (UTMC) fiscal challenges. The RFP was one aspect of the University’s ongoing research to explore all possible options for the future of the hospital.

University officials and hospital leadership have been working tirelessly to address the sustainability of the medical center, including amending UTMC’s medical bylaws, enhancing partnerships with the Toledo Clinic and working on a number of business efficiency and cost reduction strategies.

“There has been much public discussion about the fiscal challenges facing our hospital. This is indeed a challenge we must address, and we will continue to do so,” UToledo Interim President Gregory Postel said. “We recognize the important role of the hospital in our community and are doing our due diligence to address the impact of the hospital’s current financial condition on the University enterprise, while thoughtfully determining the best long-term solution.”

Hospital leadership has made progress in its short-term stabilization efforts which provide an opportunity to focus immediate efforts on caring for the community during the midst of this unprecendented COVID-19 pandemic.

Following the Board of Trustees vote to amend the hospital’s medical bylaws in March by removing the faculty-appointment restriction for practicing physicians, there are now 16 Toledo Clinic physicians credentialed at UTMC. Hospital leaders have been working collaboratively with the Toledo Clinic to explore partnership opportunities in key practice areas, including hematology, oncology, cardiology and infusion services.

“Our hospital serves a critical role in our community as evidenced by the leadership role we’ve played during this pandemic,” UTMC CEO Rick Swaine said. “We were the first location in northwest Ohio capable of testing samples for COVID-19, and continue to be the central testing site for our region.”

“We appreciate the ongoing support of our elected officials and our community. UTMC is your community hospital and we are honored to care for you. As we look to grow our way out of these fiscal challenges, we need your continued support for our services and those of our highly trained physicians.”

As part of the hospital’s ongoing business strategy assessment, UTMC continues to grow its primary care marketshare and anticipates adding two family medicine physicians within the next quarter. UTMC has also recently hired two critical care specialists, an electrophysiologist and a new transplant surgeon. In addition, UTMC is the only hospital in the Toledo metro area that offers kidney transplants, and has been performing these since 1972.

UTMC’s increased focus on safety in recent years has had a dramatic impact improving the care received and overall experience of patients in the hospital. Since 2017, overall infections and infection rates have decreased by more than half and UTMC improved from 80th in 2017 to 8th in 2019 in the overall safety ranking by Vizient, a national network of healthcare organizations working to improve healthcare performance. In the last year alone, UTMC decreased blood stream infections by 90%, readmissions by 10% and overall mortality by 10%.

Additionally, UTMC’s request to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for a rural designation change was approved for FY 2021. This redesignation impacts the hospital’s reimbursement rates better aligning them with the actual cost of care in our region, and is expected to provide $5 million in additional reimbursement.

While ProMedica Toledo Hospital remains the area’s academic medical center as defined in the Academic Affiliation Agreement with the College of Medicine and Life Sciences, UTMC continues to serve as a teaching hospital for UToledo learners enrolled in the University’s many health professional programs.

“There are a number of challenges ahead and we can’t lose sight of our primary role as an educational institution; however, we also recognize that our community needs our hospital and we need them to support us by continuing to use our services. We must increase our patient volume to find a sustainable solution,” Postel said. “This will take all of us, working together, to find the best solution.”

The University of Toledo’s third campus conversation after the death of George Floyd will feature insight from a panel of African-American men.

The Dialogues on Diversity Virtual Town Hall series continues at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 9 with “Black Men Respond to the Killing of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter and Racism” hosted jointly by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Brothers on the Rise.

The free, public event can be accessed on WebEx using the access code 160 804 1384. The meeting password is knYq2a8mta7. Join by phone at 415.655.0002.

“Black men have been impacted by racism and violence for generations,” David Young, UToledo director of Toledo Excel and special projects, and moderator of the discussion, said. “We hope to have a frank and honest discussion with a panel of Black men from a variety of backgrounds, each lending their unique viewpoints. At the same time, it is our hope to begin exploring some solutions.”

Participants also include:

• Demond Pryor, director of UToledo Recreational Services;
• Dr. Jean Paul Amegee, UToledo assistant professor of emergency medicine and University alumnus;
• Kush Baxter, UToledo student;
• James Townsend, clinical counselor at the UToledo Counseling Center; and
• Justin Ingram, UToledo assistant men’s basketball coach.

UToledo is a community that celebrates and respects people of all backgrounds and experiences. As an institution, we remain committed to building an inclusive environment free of racism, sexism, bigotry and other negative influences.

Every summer millions of people visit parks and protected areas along the shorelines of the Great Lakes to camp, hike, swim and explore nature’s beauty.

While COVID-19 has impacted staffing, operations and budgets at the parks, tourists this year also may notice changes if recent record-high water levels persist on Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie and Lake Superior.

A new study by a graduate student at The University of Toledo zeroes in on how coastal flooding and erosion in 2019 damaged park facilities and roads and interrupted visitor experiences, as well as examines the financial cost of the high water levels.

Eric Kostecky, UToledo graduate student earning his master’s degree in geography, at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

The research presented at the 2020 Great Lakes Virtual Conference, which is hosted by the International Association of Great Lakes Research, was completed by Eric Kostecky, a graduate student earning his master’s degree in geography, as part of a course in environmental planning he took last fall while completing his undergraduate degree in geography and planning.

“A humbling statistic is that 75% of the parks indicated that continued higher lake levels in 2020 and beyond would further impact park operations and infrastructure,” Kostecky said. “Future management actions would be to improve parking lots and roads and to move hiking trails, campgrounds and public access locations.”

To gather information, Kostecky surveyed 50 parks along the Great Lakes, both federal and state parks in the United States and provincial parks in Canada. Twenty-nine responded.

“Even though Great Lakes parks and protected areas have experienced impacts from shoreline erosion and flooding during previous high water-level events in 1972-73 and 1985-86, this study is the first comprehensive attempt to catalogue those impacts,” said Dr. Patrick Lawrence, professor and chair of the UToledo Department of Geography and Planning and Kostecky’s faculty advisor.

Golden Hill State Park

The study shows 50% of the responding parks were impacted by both shoreline erosion and flooding, with the most common type of damage being to boat launches and building structures that were flooded, and roads near dunes washed away by waves.

Total cost of damage for 55% of the parks was $50,000 or less.

As a result of the damage, parks implemented a variety of changes for public safety last year: sections of the park were closed, select park operations were canceled, and some visitor education programs were suspended.

Great Lakes water levels peaked in July 2019, with increases varying between 14 and 31 inches above their long-term averages; Lake Superior was at 14 inches above its average, while Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario were at 31 inches above average, Lawrence said.

Indiana Dunes National Park

“The water levels in the Great Lakes fluctuate, but they don’t fluctuate rapidly, so it’s hard to say if we’re still in the upswing or on the downswing,” Kostecky said. “We won’t know if we’re continuing to rise or if waters have started to recede for the next couple of years.”

The Great Lakes shoreline stretches 10,000 miles around eight U.S. states and Canada.

“Many parks and protected areas in the Great Lakes have struggled with the economic costs and interruptions of their operations, including services and programs for their visitors, and are concerned that as this period of high water levels continues this summer, they will face ongoing challenges in delivering the levels of public access and services to their visitors so eager to explore the parks and enjoy the nature and environment provided by these special spaces,” Lawrence said.

The University of Toledo has developed its second diversity plan with engagement from more than 3,100 campus and community stakeholders to advance the progress made during the inaugural strategic diversity plan.

“Diversity, inclusion and equity are core values of our University infused into every action we take,” Dr. Willie McKether, vice president for diversity and inclusion and vice provost, said. “We are proud of the strategic ways we have strengthened the environment throughout UToledo campuses over the last three years, and we must continue our critical efforts.”

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion was established in 2016 with the development of UToledo’s first Strategic Diversity Plan, which expired at the end of 2019. The mission of the office is to ensure every member of the campus community feels included, respected and free from discrimination. It also works to promote a diverse and culturally aware environment that prepares students for success in today’s global world.

The goals in the updated plan, which has a timeline of 2020 to 2023, focus on leadership and accountability, education and awareness, recruitment and retention, and community engagement.

The goals are similar, but not exactly the same as the first diversity plan. For example, the new plan establishes supplier diversity as its own goal rather than it being part of the community goal as it was previously, McKether said.

This second plan also has a greater number of strategies focused specifically on the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students.

“Since 2016, we’ve added two key positions, one in enrollment management and one in the provost’s office, that focus specifically on these areas and reflect the University’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity,” McKether said.

Accomplishments during the first three-year diversity plan include:

• Increasing student, faculty and staff feelings of inclusiveness, according to a campus survey;
• Increasing the African-American student retention rate by 8 percentage points and the Hispanic student retention rate by 5.4 percentage points;
• Reducing the equity gap by 7 percentage points;
• Increasing the African-American six-year graduation rate by 6 percentage points and by 2 percentage points for Hispanic students;
• Expanding the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to include an office on Health Science Campus;
• Establishing diversity plans, committees and leaders in all colleges; and
• Implementing a Dialogues on Diversity initiative.

View the diversity plan on the Office of Diversity and Inclusion website.