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Carle Health Way to Be! winners reflect organization's patient focus, Values

Carle Health Way to Be! winners reflect organization's patient focus, Values
Quickly onboarding a surgeon to avoid a weekend lapse in patient coverage.

Inviting several teammates to work in her home when their residences and offices were without power for four days.

Singing to a child to calm the patient during an emergency, after-hours procedure.

These are three examples from the six Carle Health Way to Be! winners for the most recent quarter of 2023.

Way to Be! is the Carle Health peer-to-peer program that recognizes team members, from all parts of the healthcare system, who live the Carle Health Values of Excellence, Integrity, Inclusivity, Compassion and Accountability.

Team members may nominate colleagues at any time. Each quarter, a Reward and Recognition Committee reviews nominations for each Value and selects a winner for each category.

“It’s inspiring to see so many of our Carle Health team members living our Values every day by creating exceptional experiences for our Carle Health patients, Health Alliance and FirstCarolinaCare members and fellow team members,” Dana Meek, manager of Carle Experience, said. “Our Way to Be! quarterly winners represent all of our Carle Health colleagues who live our Mission to do our very best each day for our patients, members and each other.”

Proof that Carle Health team members are living the organization’s Values is in the number of Way to Be! nominations received during the first half of this year. During the first six months of 2023, the Reward and Recognition Committee received 12,589 nominations, Meek said. That compares with 10,300 nominations during the first six months of 2022.

“It’s gratifying to see many of our team members at Carle Health are taking time to share stories of their colleagues’ dedication to the patients, members and their fellow team members,” Meek said.

The latest quarterly Way to Be! winners, and a summary of their colleagues’ nomination letters, follow:

CARLE HEALTH LEADER
Tami Wright, practice manager, Carle West Physician Group

A surgeon was called out of the office unexpectedly, leaving the office without surgical call coverage for a weekend. Wright reached out to a physician and to operations leadership and worked with Credentialing, Medical Affairs and Provider Enrollment to get the physician onboarded by the weekend. She worked with the Occupational Medicine director to get the physician scheduled first thing in the morning for a physical and stopped by Occ Med at 7 a.m. to introduce herself and thank the physician for helping on short notice.

ACCOUNTABILITY
Gina Carpenter, health-care tech, Carle Foundation Hospital (CFH) Observation T6

When she’s on the unit, Carpenter is cleaning rooms, giving baths and ambulating patients. Her nominator said “I cannot count the number of times I have asked Gina if she wants to give a bath to a few of our patients and she replies ‘Oh, I already gave them a bath.’ Gina is always thinking ahead … For instance, I had a patient with an alert blood glucose level. She called me immediately and proceeded to grab orange juice and extra supplies and met me in the patient’s room.”

INCLUSIVITY
Eriana Williams-Davis, health-care tech, CFH Observation T6

“Eriana has a way of meeting patients at their worst and making them feel good about themselves or their current health situation,” her nominator wrote. “One occasion she spent time talking with a patient about their dogs. The patient had been in the hospital for a few days and they were worried about their dogs. She had the patient talking about some of the funny things her dogs do. After the interaction, the patient was noticeably less anxious. Her welcoming demeanor makes patient feel at ease.”

INTEGRITY
Saundra Williams, supervisor, Environmental Services night tech, CFH

Williams took time to listen to concerns about what needs to be done to ensure the cleanliness of the operating room suite. She also took time to explain what’s expected so the OR staff would know what would happen if the situation arose again.

COMPASSION
Janice Troxler, utilization management coordinator RN Medicare – FirstCarolinaCare

When Moore County, NC, experienced a massive power outage, more than 40,000 people were without power for as long as four days. That included both FirstCarolinaCare offices in Moore County and the residences of several FirstCarolinaCare employees. Troxler’s residence did not lose power and she invited several of her co-workers to come to her home and work remotely.

EXCELLENCE
Renee Denning, radiologic technologist, Radiology, CFH

Radiology had an emergency case involving a pediatric patient on a Friday evening. “There were surgeons, parents and a radiologist present during the case,” Denning’s nominator wrote. “It was a tough case and the patient was crying. I was holding the patient as still as possible and trying to ensure I was following the radiologist’s request. As I looked up, I heard Renee singing to the patient. Before I knew it, the patient’s eyes closed. If Renee stopped, the tears would start flowing again. She helped keep the patient calm as she could. She was thanked by the parents for showing this kind of care toward their child … Together, we were able to support our radiologist to ensure the patient did not have to go in for surgery or further testing.”

“We know there are many more stories of team members living our Values every day,” Meek said. “Our team members understand that, at Carle Health, our patients and members come first.”
 
Each and every team member at Carle Health makes us better and stronger so we can take care of our patients and our communities. From clinical to professional and technical careers, our team changes lives. Interested in a career at Carle? Click here.
 

Categories: Culture of Quality

Tags: awards, culture, healthcare, team, values, winners