TODAY news - Feb 20, 2003

Thursday, February 20, 2003 TODAY

Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center news

Access Center moves to new location on Redlands Boulevard

Access Center moves to new location on Redlands Boulevard

The writing on the wall shares a powerful message with all Access Center employees, inspiring them with the words of Christ.

The Access Center for Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center has moved to a new neck of the woods. And a sunnier one at that.

Recently the department packed it all up at their old offices in the Professional Plaza building on Barton Road in Loma Linda and trucked over to their new home: 245 East Redlands Boulevard, Suite A, in San Bernardino. Nestled between Surfer Joe’s pizzeria and Nevada Bob’s golfing supply store, the new office suite has been renovated and offers two huge advantages above the last location—space and sunlight.

“ We moved from the Professional Plaza where we had 3,000 square feet and we now have roughly 7,600 square feet,” smiles Rhonda Martin, director of the Access Center. Just more than twice the square footage of their former residence, the new office space offers room for expansion.

“ It allows us more space for development,” agrees Jodi Beardsley, manger of the Access Center. “We had totally run out of space. We were using the hall for all of our development activities,” she continues. “We are a department that can be off-site.”

There are more than 30 workstations prepared and unfilled. Spaces for new access counselors, those wonderful people who handle calls from patients, doctors, and the public.

The Access Center serves the entire enterprise with its five lines of business: physician referral, consumer response to all marketing activities, physicians access, the physician’s direct referral and consultation line, and centralized patient appointment scheduling. Services are implemented one department at a time to ensure that a high level of proficiency is achieved prior to subsequent implementations.

The central registration department and services will be integrated into the Access Center in March, and by July all of the extra workstations, in fact all of the new space, is expected to be filled. And it will be filled with quality.

There is a constant reminder for everyone in the department to remember the compassionate legacy that is the foundation of Loma Linda. “...Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Go and do likewise.”

The Bible passage from Luke 10:25–37 rests on the wall next to the break room and the window looking inside the conference upstairs, to cement that tradition every day. Ms. Martin and Ms. Beardsley painted the verses on the lower level.

The north and south glass walls allow for brilliant sun exposure inside the office space. This is a plus to help keep the access counselors bright and cheery throughout the day.

“ [Ms. Martin, Ms. Beardsley, and Liviu Imbir] have done a phenomenal job here,” says Garry Fitzgerald, MD, executive director for business development for University Health Care, the managing corporation for the Access Center. “Their attitude is such a natural extension of the Medical Center’s mission, it is fabulous.”

The downstairs area is dedicated to the access counselors, consisting of their workstations, a fulfillment room for processing follow-up mailings, and the break room.

The break room offers an industrial-sized refrigerator, complete with a cold metallic luster. The room is also equipped with couches, a table, and a small kitchen area with a sink.

The administrative offices are located upstairs, where Rhonda Martin, Jodi Beardsley, and Liviu Imbir, information systems operations manager for the Access Center, are central to the additional square footage that will accommodate Access Center’s second phase of growth later this year.

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Thursday, February 20, 2003 TODAY