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This is Chris Sosa with the
Becker's Healthcare Podcast.

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I'm pleased today to be
joined by Dr. Robert Root,

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associate Chief Medical Officer of
Michigan State University Healthcare. Dr.

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Root, thank you for joining us today.

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Thanks for having me.

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Can you please introduce yourself and
tell us a bit about your background?

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Sure. While I'm a
pediatrician by training,

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went to medical school at Michigan
State University College of Osteopathic

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Medicine,

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and I did my residency
training through msu EW

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Sparrow Hospitals pediatric
residency program.

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Practiced a general pediatrician
since graduation, and, uh,

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and over the last three years, uh,

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been serving as the Associate
Chief Medical Officer for
MSU Healthcare. And, uh,

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in that role, wear a variety of hats,

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but engaged in various aspects
of patient access to care,

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quality peer review among other duties.

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Uh, what are the biggest issues you're
following in healthcare in 2023?

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Yeah, I think we're coming
off the heels of the,

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the COVID 19 pandemic, and
particularly in pediatrics. We're,

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we're also in the midst of the
viral respiratory infection

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surge that we've seen through the
fall and the winter. And I, I think,

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I think that's really highlighted access
to care issues and a need to continue

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to evolve our care models to
best meet those needs, uh,

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for our patients and our
communities that we serve.

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I think that's one of the biggest
things I see in, in 2023 going forward.

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That's gonna be a big, big important
thing to tackle. I think that's,

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that's created more strain on our
healthcare systems. Um, I think, uh,

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not only in the hospital, but in
the ambulatory settings, you know,

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so I think we need to look at
some priorities around, you know,

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how do we, um, enhance access for
our communities and evolve here.

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What has the discussion revolved around
in regards to increasing that access to

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care?

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Great question. I think it's gonna
be, have to be multifaceted. Um,

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we're gonna have to look at
leveraging different technology to

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help meet patient needs, uh,

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whether that's via telehealth
platforms or partnerships with

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different healthcare entities.

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I think that's also expanding our
partnerships within the community.

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One of the,

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the kind of the growing
concerns amongst that care has,

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has been mental health concerns.
And so I think working on,

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um, expanding partnerships
with the community,

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helping our patients tap into the
community resources to seek out

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mental health care needs is
gonna be an important piece here.

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And so that's part of that
conversation. Uh, I think as we,

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we move forward here.

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Uh, what are you most excited about
in the healthcare space right now?

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What makes you nervous?

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Well, <laugh>, I think, you
know, I'm up here in Michigan,

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uh, so I'm kind of excited, uh,
about the spring, um, and just, uh,

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trying to get some warmer weather.

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We still got a good amount of
snow on the ground up here. Um,

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I'm hoping that as we, we go
further in the spring, we see the,

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the surge of viral respiratory
infections subside,

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and we can kind of pivot to
some warmer weather here and,

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and, and,

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and that may actually help allow a
little bit of better access to care just

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because of the, the, the virus
respiratory surges is so overwhelmed, um,

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our ambulatory care providers
and, and hospital settings.

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So I'm excited about that. Um,

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I'm in general just very excited about
the future of pediatrics and seeing

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how we tackle the evolving care
needs that exist in our community.

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Yeah, so I think those are
things that kind of excite me.

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The things that make me nervous is
just continuing to support our care

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providers, our RNs,

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our care managers and social workers are
healthcare receptionists and healthcare

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assistance supporting all the
care providers of our team as we

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continue to kind of tackle all
the, the needs of our patients.

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Uh, Dr. Ru, I'm Michigan State students,

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were victims of horrific
shooting in February.

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Any another latest hosted listening
session in the wake of the tragedy.

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On that note, what steps are
most important in advance
in the healing process,

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in the wake of such a tremendous event,

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and how does Michigan State Healthcare
help its personnel handle these

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situations?

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Yeah, thanks for asking that.
Obviously it was a horrific event,

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very tragic and sad
experience for our community,

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and we continue to pull for
all the families who were

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impacted by this. You know,
from MSU healthcare standpoint,

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leaders within our team and within
the Department of Psychiatry

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really pivoted, quickly,
mobilized a lot of community,

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uh, resources for all members of
our community, but our students,

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particularly our faculty and staff,
because this is such a traumatic event,

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and in order to have healing,

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we need to be able to kind
of tap into those resources.

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So we've been working hard to
ensure that our community has

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all those resources. Our students
have access to those resources,

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whatever they may need as they continue
to grieve and heal during this period

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of time. Um, we've focused on just
trying to have some strategies amongst,

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you know, talking to our younger
patients, our pediatric patients,

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and how to talk to younger
kids about those things.

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So we've created some dialogue, uh,

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examples and stuff like
that to help support them.

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And Dr. Root,

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where do you even start when you're
trying to explain to a young person

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what has happened in
a situation like this?

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Well, I think where, where you started,
you, you check in with where you're at,

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kind of processing this thing and make
sure you're in a good space there,

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kind of understanding where you're at.

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I think you start with with simple
open-ended questions and you,

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you're checking in with your
child or your patient, you know,

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asking what their thoughts
are, what they're feeling,

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kind of trying to tap into
those emotions from there,

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I think you give them
space to, you know, and,

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and time and maybe silence even to
give them an opportunity to kind of

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say what they're feeling. I think that
as we continue to move forward, we,

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we don't forget that we keep kind of
circling back to that and seeing how those

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emotions and those feelings are evolving.

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I think that's an important
part of it as well. You know,

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making sure our patients,

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our children know they have a safe
space to talk about these things

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anytime they want. I think it's an,

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an additional important
element to that conversation.

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One month after this horrific event.

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What is your sense of how the
Michigan State Healthcare, um,

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system as well as this
community at large is,

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how do you sense that
they're recovering from this,

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and how resilient do you
see the community being?

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I think the first thing I would say is
our community came together in a way I've

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not really ever seen,
but it was so positive.

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And I think that will
only serve to drive our

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resilience here. And, and I've seen a,
a great sense of resilience amongst, um,

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everyone in our community. I think we
still have a lot of healing left go,

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and I, I think that's
the expected, but again,

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I think our community
really pulled together,

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really bonded it around a spartan strong

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mentality to support one another,

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to acknowledge how challenging and, and,

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and how tragic this
experience has been. And,

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and that has stood out to me
in a way, you know, that I,

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I could never have kind of
imagined. Um, and so, uh,

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I'm optimistic with that kind
of community togetherness, uh,

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that will continue to show great
resilience in the wake of this strategy.

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Obviously, no one wish any
of this upon anyone. Uh,

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but now that you have, uh, gone through
this with your other healthcare leaders,

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what advice do you have for
others in your position?

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So I think this harkens back
to trying to be prepared.

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You can never predict this. You
can never imagine it happening,

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but being ready for it,

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thinking through that process will help
a community be ready if there is an

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event like this.

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And I think that entails how
do you mobilize resources to

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support the community, particularly
mental health resources,

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mental health providers,
counseling, therapy, et cetera.

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I think those are critical
aspects to being able to respond

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effectively and efficiently
and quickly in the wake of

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any kind of event like that. And I
think it goes back a little bit again,

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this is going, I guess a little deeper
here, but I, I think, you know, again,

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it goes back to, to access to care,

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especially with the mental
health crisis I that we're,

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we're experiencing, I think
in our country right now,

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I think that the mental health crisis
has really put us on our heels a little

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bit,

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and it's forced us to be a lot
more reactive than maybe we would

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like to. And in, in medicine,

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we always want to try to be preventative
and provide preventative care.

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So I think as we move forward,

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one of the things we should be looking
at and prioritizing is how do we pivot to

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a more proactive strategy to address
some of the mental health needs,

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you know, in our communities,
particularly with our pediatric patients.

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That's something I really have an
eye on, um, as we move forward.

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And I think it's a,

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it's a critical step that we need
to take as pediatric providers.

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Dr. Ru was a pleasure speaking today.
Thank you being so open with us.

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Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank
you. Uh, thanks for having me.