PLANNING AIN’T PERFECT. That’s what the folks at UPHS Marquette have discovered as they prepare to open the brand new $300 million hospital next month.
Turns out, there won’t be enough parking spaces for employees at the hospital.
“In the process of preparing for our move to the new hospital, we have discovered a significant oversight concerning parking capacity at the new campus,” marketing director Victor Harrington explains. “At present, we do not have enough parking spaces to accommodate all of our employees.”
The company contracted to determine the parking needs for the new hospital made a miscalculation. Namely, the company was figuring that many hospital employees would arrive by public transportation, as they do in city hospitals, and therefore, fewer spaces would be needed.
No. We like our cars. Bus service is limited. Subway service hasn’t reached Marquette yet.
So.
UPHS is working on it. “We are currently evaluating several short-term solutions to address this issue and help minimize the impact for our staff,” Harrington says.
He’s expecting to have those solutions in a week or two, before the official opening of the hospital. Off-campus parking? A shuttle bus? Ride-sharing?We don’t know yet.
Point of emphasis: This will not affect parking for patients and visitors. Plenty of parking for them.
How many spaces need to be added? Uncertain but it could be in the hundreds.
UPHS Marquette has about 2000 employees. On any given day, 1100 of them might be working. Then there’s anywhere between 140 and 200 patients, along with a couple of hundred visitors.
That’s 1500 people. A lot. A lot of vehicles.
And before we go dumping on UPHS–a favored activity here–we should acknowledge that companies, institutions and governments make mistakes every day. Boeing’s 737 Max? Car recalls? Chipotle’s food poisoning outbreak? Facebook’s privacy breach? The Larry Nassar scandal at Michigan State? The Flint water tragedy?
At least here, UPHS owned up to their mistake and no one’s getting hurt by it. Just inconvenienced, and let’s hope, only temporarily.