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Curb appeal
Hospitals use valet parking as customer service tool
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
For many patients at area hospitals, customer service is provided before they even reach the doors.
Valet parking, a service typically provided only by finer restaurants and hotels, is becoming standard fare at many medical facilities.
Roper St. Francis began its valet service in May 2006.
“Roper wants to welcome patients and visitors to our beautiful new lobby and admitting offices, and what better way than to provide valet service,” said Karen Slanker, a patient representative at Roper. “Everyone I have asked about the valet service has had a positive comment.”
At Trident Medical Center in North Charleston, the service began as a means to minimize frustrations during renovations a few years ago.
“We started doing this when we were renovating,” said Nicole DeMarco, Trident’s director of marketing. “We knew the renovations disrupted the ability to park, and there were fewer places to park, so we did this to help the patients. It was such a hit with the patients that we just kept doing it.”
Trident provides the service at its facility in North Charleston and at the Summerville Medical Center.
At the Medical University of South Carolina, valet parking has been provided at the Hollings Cancer Center for several years and at the Rutledge Tower since March 2006.
“We were trying to improve services to the patients here at Med U, and we thought this would be a nice service to provide,” said Dave Neff, MUSC’s ambulatory care services administrator. “The people who come to the Hollings Center are not always ambulatory. They might be in a wheelchair or on crutches or handicapped in some fashion. It’s easier for the family member to bring them to the door and have someone take their car and park it for them.
“Then some of the Hollings Center patients who also go to the Rutledge Tower said it would be nice to have the service at that facility, so we decided to add the service there as well.”
None of the hospitals would reveal what such a service costs each of the organizations; however, all of them pointed to the service as a worthy expense in the name of customer service.
“It’s definitely a patient-oriented service endeavor,” said Neff.
The program currently is being reviewed and prices may change, but for now the cost to patients and visitors is $2 at the Hollings Center and $4 at the Rutledge Tower, he said.
“The service used to be provided for free at Hollings, but it’s a very expensive venture,” he said. “When it was instituted at Rutledge, we needed to add a fee, mainly because there are storage capacity issues (inside the parking garages). Even with the fees, it’s definitely subsidized.”
At Roper St. Francis, parking is free to patients, with a “small charge” for visitors.
“I talk with a lot of patients everyday,” said Diana Sherridan, a patient representative at Roper Hospital. “Some are coming in for procedures or tests that may be a little scary, but having the valet service is one less thing they have to worry about. The convenience of driving right up to the front door and being so warmly welcomed really shows how compassionate Roper is to our patients.”
The service at Trident’s facilities is free to both patient and visitor, DeMarco said.
“People are pleasantly surprised, and somewhat shocked too, that we have this,” she said. “It’s certainly is a wonderful customer service tool, and people recognize and appreciate our going the extra mile like this.”
At the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, valet parking is being explored as an option for both customer service and increased efficiencies.
“We’re preparing a study of top alternatives for parking here,” said Tonya Lobbestael, public affairs officer for the RHJ-VA. “Parking is a serious issue here, and we’re exploring ways to alleviate it as well as provide better customer service for our patients.”
Several other VA hospitals across the country provide valet parking, Lobbestael said.
“We believe it provides better access to the clinics,” she said. “And that can get the patient in to see the doctor in a more timely fashion, which not only helps the overall schedule for both patient and health care provider, but also increases efficiencies in the system.”
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