Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic with Johnese Spisso, President of UCLA Health

10/27/20 • 37 min

Johnese Spisso is the President of UCLA Health, CEO of UCLA Hospital System, and Associate Vice Chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences. In this episode, she discusses her experiences managing a major hospital system through the COVID-19 crisis, and her outlook for the fall.

Ms. Spisso explains that successfully managing a pandemic relies on the three S’s: sufficient staffing of hospitals and healthcare facilities; the right supplies or PPE to keep patients, staff, and families safe; and a hospital’s ability for surge capacity. In the case of COVID-19, she details the stress of training staff and preparing facilities in light of changing information regarding the transmission of the disease. Now UCLA and other hospital system will have to apply these difficult lessons as America reckons with a potential resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

Previous Episode

A Conversation with Howard University President Wayne Frederick on the Changing Landscape of Higher Education

Dr. Wayne Frederick was appointed president of Howard University in 2014, before which he had served as Provost and Chief Academic Officer of the university. He is also the Chair of Surgery. Today, he will discuss the role Howard University is playing in the racial climate in the country and in higher education.

Dr. Frederick discusses the unique challenges and objectives of Howard University in representing the black community and educating students who might otherwise not have access to higher education. He goes on to explain how Howard is attempting to rethink the education plan in order to minimize student debt, with an increase in the minimum credits necessary per semester and reconsidering requirements to graduate.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

Next Episode

A Lesson in Negotiation with William Ury

William Ury, a co-founder of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation and one of the world’s leading experts on mediation discusses his impression of the country's current problem-solving methods and what needs to change.

William Ury notes that a key to productive problem solving is finding solutions that work for both parties, and in the case of national issues, he calls it a “win-win-win” - a win for both sides of the aisle is a win for the country as well. He believes achieving these win-win-wins requires leaders to build bridges across aisles and avoid personal anger. But it also requires the engagement of what he calls “the third side” which is born of his insight that it takes two sides to fight, but that it often takes a third side to stop the fighting.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

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