Welcome To Our Family

I’ve been in healthcare for quite awhile and I know that every healthcare organization of any significant size does formal orientation. I firmly believe that orientation is a great opportunity to have a conversation with people when they are first forming their impressions of the new workplace.  New people don’t yet know the ways of their new organization so they are kind of a constant opportunity for change.  I believe if you can get to the new people they can make change happen faster, whereas someone who has been in your organization, although they may be a wonderful person, they kind of accept the way the organization operates and it’s harder to see opportunities for change.

Every two weeks I give the opening welcome for the GBMC HealthCare system orientation. I start by talking about our mission, vision and values and our plan for the future. I talk about the fact that we are not just a hospital, we are a wonderful healthcare system with a great hospital and a great hospice (Gilchrist) and a great physician company (GBMA), and now a great new physician company (GBHA) to embrace private practicing doctors in the pursuit of the Quadruple Aim of Better Health, Better Care, Less Waste and More Joy. I underline for the new staff that we are a system of care, and explain that if we could get the kind of coordination that Dr. Tony Riley and his colleagues in Geriatrics get for frail elderly patients for example, for every patient, we’d be a marvelous healthcare system.

I often have a great dialogue with the new staff at orientation about what doing it the way you would want for your own loved one every time actually means. The experience every two weeks has been invaluable. It's probably the best interaction I have with employees about where we are headed as a company.

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I want to take a moment to thank all of the GBMC HealthCare system private practice physicians, employees, volunteers, and board members who help us in one way or another provide outstanding care around the clock for our patients.  Healthcare is a 24/7/365 enterprise, and we recognize that many individuals make personal sacrifices during the holiday season in order to help care for our community.

Speaking of our community, Joe Hart, GBMC’s chaplain and Spiritual Support Director, recently suggested that we ought to get to know our religious neighbors, so we have launched a "visiting our neighbors" series.  Joe and I recently visited the School Sisters of Notre Dame at Villa Assumpta on North Charles Street.  There are nearly 60 sisters who live in retirement at various stages of life.  We met with members of the provincial council and discussed the healthcare needs of their community. I explained our philosophy of care and asked how we might assist them in meeting their healthcare needs/goals.  Knowing the community well I was able to speak to the spiritual support offerings we have when their members come to GBMC for care.  It was nice to hear the many complimentary things they had to say about GBMC and how well the sisters have been cared for recently and in the past.