When she began working for Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital 16 years ago, Diane Rushing was on the frontlines of an initiative to bring pediatric specialty clinics to Jackson, Tennessee. Over that time, she has helped to grow the program to the point it needs a brand new state-of-the-art building that will be home to nine subspecialty clinics held throughout each month. With the new facility, which will feature the signature Le Bonheur heart throughout its design, West Tennessee kids and their families will have easier access to some very special care. With a groundbreaking slated for mid-September and an opening in the Fall of 2017, Rushing’s role is expanding as well.
Rushing, who grew up in Jackson, has spent the past 33-plus years in healthcare in West Tennessee. While she holds an organizational leadership degree from Union University, it was her mom and sister that got her into healthcare. “They were both nurses, so healthcare was just in my family. I found out early in my career how much I enjoyed working with physicians to meet their needs and provide services to them. It has really grown from there,” Rushing said. “My first job was the residency program coordinator for the UT Family Medicine program in Jackson. Interestingly enough I had my daughter while working there and that is the where she did her Family Medicine residency.”
After 17 years with the Family Medicine residency program, Rushing moved into physician recruitment with Methodist Healthcare which led her to her current role with Le Bonheur. “I joined the team at Le Bonheur as their manager of provider relations in West Tennessee. I serve as the liaison between Le Bonheur and referring providers throughout the region,” said Rushing. “One of my first tasks was to grow our pediatric specialty services in Jackson. I collaborated with regional pediatricians who were looking for more access for their patients to pediatric subspecialists. I would take their needs back to Le Bonheur so we could match those with physicians who were best suited to come to Jackson to our outreach clinic.”
Le Bonheur has had specialty clinics in Jackson for the past 11 years and has
experienced significant growth in terms of patients and specialties offered. One other aspect of care provided is a mobile unit, which allows Le Bonheur personnel to travel throughout West Tennessee and provide care in schools to children that may not otherwise have access to it. About a year ago, the need to have a permanent footprint in the Jackson area was identified with the goal of maintaining accessibility to services for patients across West Tennessee without them having to drive to Memphis to receive care.
Rushing has been very involved in the planning of the new facility which has evolved over the last year. In the new clinic, her role will be expanded somewhat since she will be the primary conduit between the clinic and the hospital. “We met with people in the community, medical staff members as well as patient families in an effort to identify what the needs in Jackson and West Tennessee are,” said Rushing. “In our current location we see 5000 patients annually but will double our space in the new facility so we expect to increase that number. We purchased property on Vann Drive in 2015 for the visibility and easy access it affords the new facility.”
The 30,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility will include 20 exam rooms and a community room for educational events. A variety of diagnostic services including lab, x-ray, ultrasound, EKG, EEG, ECHO and pulmonary function testing will be available. The signature Le Bonheur heart will be prominent in the facility both externally and internally. Patients will check in at a heart shaped desk. In keeping with its focus on children, artwork from local children will be used throughout the building.
“Our hospital runs on a patient and family-centered care foundation, so the whole building is designed with families in mind,” said Rushing. “I think our biggest challenge with this project so far has been deciding how the building will sit on the lot. We are incorporating the Le Bonheur heart on it and we want that to be very visible to as many people as possible so we’ve sort of gone back and forth on how best to do that.”
Nine pediatric sub-specialty clinics will rotate through the facility each month. These include cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, general surgery, genetics, nephrology, neurology, pulmonology and urology. “Each of the 15 doctors will be here on a regular schedule, be that weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, and all have been seeing patients in Jackson at our current location. Access to more subspecialists will be available via telemedicine,” said Rushing. “While some specialties will bring in extra counselors and staff that are unique to that specialty, for the most part we will have the same staff each day. Our full-time staff will include nursing personnel, physical, occupational and speech therapists, mobile unit staff as well as support personnel.”
Rushing is ready for the project to be completed because she knows it will be very rewarding to see the children in a beautiful state-of-the-art building that was designed just for them, and provides them the best care there is in West Tennessee.
Rushing’s commitment to children goes beyond her job. She currently serves on three boards of organizations that have children at the heart of their missions; the Star Center, the Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse and the Jackson Boys and Girls Club. “Children are my passion and it is being involved with children that I enjoy the most about working for Le Bonheur,” she said. “As well as helping a doctor find a solution for his patient or a family for their child.”
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