I, and a couple of others from Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics, gave a talk in Des Moines this last week. We talked about sustaining a path to excellence in an environment that gets harder to operate on a daily basis. This isn’t the first nor the last time we’ll struggle with hardship; if it’s not the finances and reduced reimbursements, it’s recruitment or morale or competition … It’s always something, huh?
I realize this isn’t how to start an article on “what’s awesome at Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics” but it is the truth. I tell people that in situations that are less than ideal, we can see the glass as half empty or half full; we can see opportunities or we can see problems.
The years 2008-2011 were full of strife and bad stuff for me. My dad, and my cat, and some really good friends died. The stock market tanked. At Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics, a lot of providers left and we saw our paradigm shift fairly dramatically. But when I look back -- what I feel and appreciate from that period of time is not strife and negativity, but love and compassion and a sense of team that was nothing short of amazing. Friends, family, community, and the team at ISH came together and pulled off this Red Rover* team that was impenetrable.
THE “AWESOME AT ISH” PART
Last night I hosted a dinner at my house with a lot the crew that will staff the new Garner Clinic. It was great - laughter, visioning on wellness, stories of kids and life and work and … it was fun. Even though it has and is being announced by healthcare organizations everywhere – everything from closure of an entire hospital to closure of OB or Orthopedic services – our wheels keep spinning. As much as I would like to claim a huge amount of luck or a healthy dose of incoming funds, pretty much it’s hard work and determination.
A strong positive culture coupled with a solid, collective vision makes for a unified force of committed citizens who can and will change the world. I’m not saying that others didn’t have the same vision or work hard enough to have their hospitals or services survive, but something was different. Why were/are we successful? I did a lot of soul searching over this past couple of weeks to try and answer this question.
An explanation that resonated with me was every time we test fate - we push our own decision because our ego says it was the right decision, and then we are too stubborn to change, we fail. Over the past 15 years, this has happened over and over. The ability to push away our ego and become humble in the face of impending failure is a sign of maturity on all levels. (This was a hard lesson for me. I’m getting better at saying “I’m not always right.”**) When you have honesty, transparency, and genuine caring for each other, opportunity + half full glasses, life shines favorably on you.
2019 is getting closer and we’re excited at shifting our paradigm once more. We’re shaking things up, we’re reimagining ourselves. We’re dancing harder, whooping louder, and listening hard to what you all are telling us. Stay tuned, it’s going to be awesome.
*The kid game (I’d pull out my shoulder or worse if I tried to play it at my advanced age) where you interlock your arms and invite an attack from the other team. “Red Rover Red Rover, send Steve right over.”
**Reminds me of Maynard G. Krebs inability to say “WoRk!” … look it up.
