Demand and Supply Video
The Laws of Demand and Supply Demand and SupplyMarch 3, G: Please describe your role at Gifford and who works with you in Materials Management. I manage purchasing, shipping and receiving, and the mail room, and work with a wonderful team. Teresa Bradley is our purchasing specialist; she deals directly with vendors and places orders.
Supply and demand
Carol Wakefield is a materials specialist; she primarily manages supplies and fills orders for our clinics and hospital. Each department has a storage area and supplies that staff use on a regular basis, and there are supply exchange carts in the Emergency Department, Operating Room, Birthing Center, and Howell Pavilion. Staff members expect what they need to be there, and Carol works to ensure that it is by checking the carts and restocking as necessary. Last but not least, our courier, Rick Demand and Supply, is responsible for all incoming and outgoing mail.
Every day he distributes mail and delivers supplies to offsite clinics. G: Why do you abd to work at Gifford?
LA: The position attracted me. I quickly fell in love with the Gifford community and my coworkers.
I love being a part of the culture here and contributing every day. G: Tell us why Materials Management is so important. LA: Without the essential supplies, whether it be cleaning Demand and Supply for Environmental Services or medical supplies for General Surgery, no one can do Demand and Supply job. Materials Management is really integral to the organization.
We manage costs, purchase on contract, and manage vendor relationships. We generally maintain a two-week supply but are constantly replenishing. The pandemic really changed that due to supply shortages. Now, we bring in a three- to six-month supply to make sure we have what we need to sustain us. That is mainly personal protective equipment PPE. When I first started hearing about the pandemic, I anticipated increased need for PPE and started ordering extra Suplpy make sure we had supply on hand.
Very soon after, our distributors started putting everyone on allocation and limiting how much we could purchase in any given month. So, it has been a year of purchasing what I can, in the quantities that I can, and always trying to stay one step ahead and anticipating what may be Demand and Supply next shortage.
To date we have not run out of anything.
We have been able to maintain supplies by staying informed, acting quickly when new information is released, and listening to our vendors. G: Tell us about your role on Incident Command. LA: I am on Incident Command to bring updates about our supplies and inform leadership of any areas of concern that we may need to address. I take back an understanding that helps drive my purchasing decisions. G: How have you met any specific challenges you have faced in terms of keeping Gifford supplied over the course of the pandemic? For example, we made changes to the way staff uses PPE, extending its use and reuse. We also Suppy to washable isolation gowns instead Demand and Supply disposable.]
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