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11:55 AM CST on Thursday, November 13, 2008
GALVESTON — Upon learning the University of Texas System planned to cut 3,800 jobs where he works, Thomas McKnight just nodded.
THE DAILY NEWS
Dr. Jason Gregorio, a UTMB pathology resident, said he thinks his job is safe after officials announced 3,800 full-time jobs would be cut.
The systems analyst at the University of Texas Medical Branch didn’t even raise an eyebrow.
“It’s sad, but I can understand where they’re coming from,” McKnight said. “I know they need to cut down on expenses, and we can’t count on the state legislature.”
Hurricane Ike slammed into Galveston on Sept. 13, flooding medical branch buildings and forcing operations at the 550-bed John Sealy Hospital to a halt. The institution, which employs 8,000 people at the island campus, had been losing about $40 million a month, in part by paying workers who couldn’t work. Its cash reserves would be gone in about three months, UT system officials said Wednesday at a meeting in El Paso where regents approved the plan to cut jobs.
News of the layoffs circulated Wednesday afternoon on the medical branch campus, which has been eerily quiet since the storm and occupied mostly by white-clad contractors still cleaning muck from flooded buildings.
Speculation for weeks had been that UT leaders would announce widespread layoffs sometime after the Nov. 4 election. Few employees were surprised about the announcement Wednesday, almost two months after the hurricane and only eight days after the election.
McKnight, who had no way of knowing whether his job was safe, was optimistic the cuts would be temporary and the medical branch would one day recover from the blow dealt by Ike.
That sentiment was shared by many of the employees and contractors who agreed to be interviewed. About half a dozen declined to comment.
David Herndon, a professor of surgery, called the layoffs a “momentary downswing” in the aftermath of the hurricane, which caused $710 million of unbudgeted expenses.
“I’m confident they will rebuild back up,” he said.
Dr. Jason Gregorio, a pathology resident, said the hospital couldn’t afford to continue operating as normal because the patient volume dropped drastically after Ike.
He said he thought when the island’s population rebounded, the medical branch would, too.
“People down here are going to need care,” he said.
Gregorio said he was pretty confident about the security of his job, but was sobered by the thought that some of his friends might be let go.
“I understand why it happens, but it sucks,” he said. “There’s no way to sugarcoat it. With my friends, it’s like ‘Are we going to be here in a week, or are we not?’”
Some contractors fretted the layoffs meant the hospital would scale back its services and they, too, would lose their jobs.
Donna M. Williams, a clinical equipment services technician, said the loss of her contract job would be a big blow after Ike forced her from her Galveston home and flooded her car, parked in at the medical branch where she stayed and worked through the hurricane.
“I wouldn’t know what I’d do,” she said.
Gesturing toward the campus where only a few students, doctors and patients walked between buildings in the late afternoon, Williams mused that the once-bustling place already had ground to a halt. There was little work for contractors to do, she said. As the hospital downsized, the island would certainly change, she said.
Iman Young, her co-worker, nodded in agreement.
“Galveston just ain’t the same,” she said.
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This story is available through KHOU, Ch. 11's partnership with The Galveston County Daily News. |
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