Nearing Year End– A Few Random Thoughts
As we approach year-end 2022, a few random thoughts come to mind….one is heartwarming, and the other makes me chuckle!
The heartwarming story jumps to mind as we are in the thick of this holiday season. I thought of a client this weekend as I challenged my granddaughter to BELIEVE in “HoHo”. Surely a tough concept for a little one, but Buddy the Elf reinforced her belief as her parents hid him in a new spot in the house every day. This story is about believing!
I worked with a client in Georgia for over two years to assist them in implementing a PCI program without open heart surgery on-site. They faced some grueling challenges throughout the process, and I will describe just a few of the obstacles. First, they found themselves in a Certificate of Need (CON) battle as other regional competitors challenged their organization’s ability to meet regulatory diagnostic cath and projected PCI volume thresholds. The CON challenge was contentious and required a significant amount of attention and legal resources. It certainly was a distraction from the energy and focus it takes to implement a new clinical program.
The next challenge was COVID. The pandemic was certainly a challenge for ALL hospitals, but COVID was particularly challenging for this small, rural community hospital. A few of the challenges they faced included an overflowing emergency room that was triaging and boarding patients, an at-capacity ICU that forced the cath lab/IR pre- and post-area to transition to ICU beds, and staffing issues that challenged cath lab staff to step into house-wide staffing roles.
The icing on the cake, so to speak, was when their health system acquired their nearest tertiary cardiac provider. Wow!!—lots of new priorities and shifting dynamic market forces. But through it all, the cath lab staff and their leadership team rose to the challenges and persevered!
Fast Forward to Today…
I was so pleased to receive a text last week from our client’s cath lab manager. Her message was that in the year since Corazon helped initiate PCI services, they had since completed their 1,000th diagnostic cath. Along with the text, was a picture of her and the cath lab staff and cardiologists with balloons celebrating that milestone. (Here is the link to their announcement on LinkedIn.)
I immediately thought back to my first visit there. The ever-positive cath lab manager had her office and the hallway decorated with balloons proclaiming their 326th diagnostic cath volume achievement—a real feat in the face of the challenges I described above. The jump from this initial diagnostic volume to 1,000 diagnostic cath cases since they implemented PCI is a testament to their hard work, their new cardiologists dedicated to the community, and a history of unmet needs for cardiology service in the community. So here comes the heartwarming part…. Her text ending with “Thanks for believing in us!” The message almost brought me to tears. It was really their hard work and commitment that allowed them to achieve these results, but I guess it is important to acknowledge that someone believing in you can make a difference. KUDOS to this team. I am proud to say that I played a small part in their success!
Diet Partner or Dyad Partner?!
Now, here comes the funny story. Corazon hosted our fall conference in Nashville in October. I had the privilege to lead a panel presentation at the event. Prior to our scheduled session, I was talking with my co-presenters, and one said he had to briefly excuse himself to take a call with his “diet partner”. I joked with the others in the group that I wish I had a diet partner given all the barbeque and other goodies we had been eating in Nashville! When he returned to the group, I asked how the call went with his diet partner. He laughed explaining that the call was with his DYAD partner. Now it all made sense!! Our panel discussion was about Service Line structure and governance. It really made sense that he lived and breathed the model—talking regularly with the physicians that he partnered with to lead the program—even from a conference in Nashville.
Now every time I speak with a new client about their service line and the dyad leadership model that Corazon promotes, I think about my faux pax. I still BELIEVE I need a diet partner! I challenge you to evaluate the addition of a DYAD physician partner on your leadership team. I firmly BELIEVE it can make a difference!
Remember, I started this blog about reinforcing beliefs. Some positive thoughts as we head into a new year…Believe in yourself… believe in the power of hard work, perseverance, and enthusiasm… and believe that what you do at work every day can make a difference in people’s lives!! Wishing 2023 brings you many blessings and maybe even a diet partner!
Author: Susan Heck, Senior Vice President
