At this time of year, there is usually much anticipation for the kids to go back to school, college football to kick-off and the last days of summer celebrated over Labor Day weekend. This year, not everyone is so eager, or even allowed, to crowd into a football stadium with thousands of fans. School classrooms will look and sound very different than last Fall as remote learning and social distancing are enhanced. Despite all this change, the kids are anxiously awaiting to see their friends again. Their resilience should be our motivation.

Our journey of lifelong learning continues. As such, ACHE has also been diligently working to provide updates and new templates for virtual Face-to-Face (F2F) education events. Our ACHE Regional Director – Phillip Shaffer has been sending weekly updates as the virtual learning continues to evolve. MCACHE’s Program Committee has been working through these new options in order to provide our members with the most opportunity to acquire virtual F2F credits while still offering trending topics most relevant to our Chapter. Please continue to look for the latest updates in the MCACHE Executive Bulletin emailed weekly.

Our sponsors play an important role in our programming as well and on behalf of the Executive Board, I would like to thank all of the MCACHE 2020 Sponsors for their continuing support. We look forward to implementing some innovative ideas with you to maximize our partnerships throughout 2021.

Thank you to all of our colleagues, families and friends who work and support the healthcare industry across various sectors. The road to recovery may be long but together, our vigilance will persevere and we will come our stronger than we thought possible.

In June and July, ACHE held several seminars with Regents and chapter Presidents to outline the opportunity to attend and host Virtual Face-to-Face (F2F) credits for our members. Virtual F2F programming will be offered until 12/31/20 and will be evaluated for 2021 in the coming months. Virtual F2F Courses are being offered on a variety of timely healthcare leadership topics and consist of pre-course surveys and assessments, discussion board conversations, and scheduled virtual live sessions. You can find more information on ACHE F2F courses following this link https://www.ache.org/learning-center/education-and-events/virtual-face-to-face-courses.

Individuals who are currently Exam Authorized with an application expiration date occurring in 2020 have been extended and will expire on December 31, 2020.

·     2019 Recertification Class Extension is Dec. 31, 2020

·     2020 Recertification Class Extension is March 31, 2021

The online COVID-19 Resource Center is updated regularly with new COVID-19 Front-Line Leader Series webinars and podcasts, along with numerous other free resources for healthcare leaders. Please feel free to review and share this information.

It was late March and Lynn Torossian, founder and chief executive coach at LMT Advisors, was on a call with a surgeon client who was being called in to do additional clinical and administrative work related to the pandemic. Torossian recalls joking with the client, “Thankfully I don’t have skills that could be used in COVID,” to which her client said, “Don't be so sure!”

Lo and behold, days later, Torossian would receive a call from her former boss, Bob Riney, Henry Ford Health System COO. The State needed help getting the TCF Field Hospital up and running. At this time the Army Corps of Engineers were called in to stand up the facility but the expertise of setting up and running hospital operations was needed.

When answering that call from Riney, Torossian expressed initial concerns, stating “The thought of going into the fire was overwhelming . . . [when] she had protected herself mostly from the public.” She was torn, wanting to be in service to the community, and yet fearing the unknown – one thing led to the next and Torossian found herself on the phone with Tricia Foster, COO of the State of Michigan.

Torossian recalls Foster explaining to her “We like strong women. We hear you’re a strong woman who knows how to run hospitals . . . we need you.”

The very next morning, after Torossian answered that initial call, she answered phone calls after phone calls with State leaders, regional hospital leaders, Michigan National Guard, and more. Operationalizing the field hospital for Torossian was done so virtually while she partnered with an onsite operations leader, Marine Dan Medrano, a system executive from McLaren and an onsite clinical leader, Dr. David Strong, a physician leader from Henry Ford Health System, along with many others.

The TCF field hospital was fully operational only 10 days from that initial call. Torossian remarked “We were so focused on the singular goal of getting the hospital up and operational to decompress the local hospitals . . . everyone saw the goal, knew the goal, and knew their part.” She found there was “not a lot of wasted energy or time.” If we made a mistake it was identified quickly, and appropriate corrections made. When we had a success we celebrated quickly, and moved on.

Most of us know the course from there for the TCF field hospital and the eventual demobilization. The remarkable context to this story is what took place behind the scenes. Most of the people that worked on this endeavor never met in person, had not worked together previously and wouldn’t even know what each other looked like. Torossian said “we didn’t have that time to get to know each other” at the onset and noted they joked about the “voices behind the curtain”.

As Torossian reflected back on the spring events while being interviewed after the dust had settled in July, she identified the phenomenal lessons in leadership presented. One of these is the overarching role of the leader to “create a vision, enlist others in that vision, listen to others’ perspectives and remember that no matter the level or role [someone held], their perspective matters.” She said it was “not that the CEO was any more important than anyone. It was just that we had different jobs to do.”

These key lessons and findings are the marks of a true leader, which Torossian would know something about being in the business of an executive coach. Prior to becoming a coach, Torossian had started her career in healthcare finance before moving to operations in 2006. From there she transcended the career ladder to President and CEO at Henry Ford West Bloomfield hospital from 2013 to 2019.

As advice for those emerging leaders, Torossian appropriately shared, “Accept new opportunities people present to you.” Answer the call.