GALVESTON —The University of Texas Medical Branch campus, where a chorus of ambulance sirens once was constant and thousands of workers conducted the daily business of keeping a 550-bed hospital running, was somber and quiet Tuesday as the first of 3,000 people learned they no longer had jobs.
Most had worked at John Sealy Hospital, where workers will take the brunt of the massive cut.
Many had never worked any place except the medical branch.
Some who had held out hope their jobs would be spared sat in disbelief at the news. Others, minutes after being dismissed, attended classes to brush up their job-seeking skills.
Then, there were those who didn’t yet know. They waited in dread to enter rooms where their supervisors would deliver the news.
The University of Texas System regents last week authorized cutting up to 3,800 full-time equivalent positions after Hurricane Ike devastated the island campus that had employed 8,000 people.
The storm, which struck Sept. 13, flooded campus buildings and severely damaged John Sealy Hospital, which likely will reopen with only 200 beds.
Tehran Allen, 36, sat on a bench Tuesday afternoon outside an “employee help” center 20 minutes after losing his job. Allen had earned $28,500 a year working for contractor Morrison Dining Services, which ran the hospital’s cafeteria. He was waiting to attend a résumé-writing class.
Allen, who grew up on the island, already had lost his apartment to Hurricane Ike. He had been living in Webster since the storm, hoping to return to the island. But with his job of four years gone, he likely would find work elsewhere, he said.
“I’ve got a family to feed.”
Allen worried about what the layoffs would mean for his hometown.
“There’s no jobs and no place to stay,” he said. “This island is almost going to be dead.”
The father of three children — ages 4, 12 and 13 — was among 450 people dismissed Tuesday.
Another 2,500 or more will no longer have jobs at the island institution by Monday.
Manuel De La Cerda, 65, worked more than four years for the medical branch’s police department.
When he reported for duty Tuesday, he and four other officers were called into a room and told their jobs would be cut.
“They told us what the situation was,” De La Cerda said. “They were real gracious, real polite.
“We had worked with each other for a long time. I felt bad. Some of my fellow officers, the best ones — some were there for 12 years — and they got hit just as hard as me.”
It was a difficult day, said Martha Livanec, who works in human resources. Livanec was helping people write résumés, search for new jobs and practice interviewing skills.
Many had never worked anywhere else, she said.
“They’ve never needed résumés before,” Livanec said.
The medical branch set up two employee help centers, one on the second floor of the Administration Building on the island, and another at 20740 Interstate 45 on the mainland, where most employees live.
Pamela Langham of Texas City was packing her car with personal belongings Tuesday. Langham, 50, is a nurse at the Rebecca Sealy Hospital psychiatric unit. She’s worked at the medical branch for 30 years. She didn’t get laid off Tuesday but Rebecca Sealy Hospital, which before the storm was treating about 20 patients, won’t be reopening any time soon.
Langham and co-workers worried about their patients now in Houston hospitals.
Langham said she’d probably retire.
Paulette Roberson, 46, also a nurse manager at Rebecca Sealy, had been with the hospital since 1988. The Dickinson resident said she’d hoped to find work in another medical branch unit.
Ray Hale, who worked in audit services, carried out a plant and personal belongings Tuesday after learning his job was cut.
Hale, 46, said he wasn’t shocked by the layoffs. The Seabrook resident said he’d find another job.
Administrative and professional employees will receive a minimum of 60 days notice with full salary and benefits. Nontenured faculty will receive six months notice with full salary and benefits through Aug. 31, the end of the fiscal year, officials said.
Layoff notifications will continue until Monday, ending with faculty positions.
“It’s hard to believe that a little storm could cause so much damage and heartache,” Hale said.
