Case Study
St. Joseph’s Hospital
Making a smooth transition
The Situation
St. Joseph’s Hospital, an affiliate of BayCare Health Systems, is a 497-bed hospital in Tampa, Florida. The hospital was in the process of adding 300 more beds to their Medical Arts building, as well as constructing a new parking garage. High levels of traffic were only made worse due to construction congestion. Necessary employee parking left visitor parking with a limited 300 spaces. Finally, poor communication between the current parking staff and their managers regarding the ever-changing parking situation made them incapable of providing adequate direction to visitors. St. Joseph’s knew that help was needed to handle the critical parking and transportation needs during the construction phase and to develop a strategy for their future as a larger facility.
The Discoveries
A team of experts from Hospital Parking Management (HPM) met with St. Joseph’s Hospital facilities management team to assess their limitations during construction. HPM analyzed their current parking needs for both staff and visitors, and began to develop unique strategies for improving parking during the construction as well as beyond completion. The following recommendations would address St. Joseph’s most pressing needs:
- Relocate employee parking to free spaces for patients and visitors
- Re-route traffic flow as needed to minimize congestion
- Develop and place an effective signage program to assist in traffic flow and identify parking locations
- Implement an IT training program to address overall customer service policies and procedures
- Develop an effective communication link between the On-site Manager and hospital administration
The Implementation
A team from HPM, led by National Vice President Fred Hubbard, redesigned the parking department’s organizational structure. Recruiting began with an Operations Manager and Assistant Operations Managers, then a Front Line Manager, valet attendants, and greeters. The new staff received extensive in-classroom and on-site training on methods of providing superior customer service at all points of contact. This was exceptionally critical considering the inconvenience the construction situation posed at times.
To address the lack of visitor parking, HPM recommended utilizing a nearby off-site lot for employees and using three new fifteen-passenger buses to operate a continuous shuttle to and from the hospital. In addition, the traffic flow was re-routed by predicting peak traffic times during the day. Based on these peak times and number of cars parked per day, each location was staffed appropriately to keep traffic levels under control.
The Results
HPM proved to be a valuable partner throughout the construction phase and into the new era of St. Joseph’s Hospital. The changes HPM made in redesigning the parking services resulted in an additional 150 self-parking spaces and 300 valet spaces for everyday use. In the past three years, HPM has opened four new locations within the medical complex. Much to the delight of hospital administrators, patient and visitor satisfaction scores increased appreciably.
“HPM has done a tremendous job tackling our parking issues head-on. Their passion and drive to provide the best possible experience consistently is second only to their willingness to do whatever it may take to get the job done. We have placed HPM into a difficult situation; their commitment and flexibility have proven to be the keys to our success.”
-Gilbert Leon, Program Manager, Emergency Transport Services, St. Joseph’s Hospital
