March 16, 2007 — The president of a St. Thomas hospital will represent the United States in an international health care conference next weekend in Switzerland.
The conference, “A Call to Action: Ensuring Global Human Resources for Health,” will take place March 22-23 in Geneva, Switzerland, focusing on solutions to the worsening worldwide shortage of health care workers. Rodney E. Miller Sr., president and CEO of Schneider Regional Medical Center (SRMC) on St. Thomas, will address the conference audience, according to a news release from the hospital.
Miller will appear in a program that will also feature speakers from the United Kingdom, Morocco, India, Thailand and Nigeria.
“Being invited to represent the Caribbean region, and indeed the United States, at this conference is an honor and a distinction,” said Miller, who joined SRMC in May 2002. “We will be asking the most fundamental questions behind our situation, and it’s time we asked them of ourselves — the health care institutions that most urgently need answers, and that can bring about solutions.”
The meeting comes in the midst of SRMC’s 100-day recruitment drive, targeting registered nurses in several cities on the U.S. mainland to relocate to the territory and jobs at SRMC, the news release said. “The fact that we’re currently engaged in this effort to find short-term solutions to the worker shortage simply highlights the need for long-term change,” Miller said.
Miller received the American College of Healthcare Executives’ Early Career Healthcare Executive Regent’s Award in 2000, and was named to Ebony Magazine’s list of 30 “Leaders of the Future” in 2001, the news release said. In 2002, Miller received the Young Healthcare Executive of the Year Award from the National Association of Health Services Executives.
The Louisiana native was the 2006 recipient of the Wilbur “Bill” Lamotta Community Service Award from the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce and recently was named one of the Top 25 Minority Healthcare Executives in the nation by Modern Healthcare Magazine.
“A Call to Action: Ensuring Global Human Resources for Health” is sponsored by the Health Research and Education Trust, a Chicago-based organization affiliated with the American Hospital Association. The conference is supported by the World Health Organization, the International Hospital Federation, the International Council of Nurses, the Commonwealth Secretariat, Academy Health and the Global Health Workforce Alliance, the news release said.
To learn more about SRMC, please visit its website.