Each month I send out a communication to all Winona colleagues with updates and information across the organization. I end each of these with a personal reflection. As I was considering my topic for reflection several months ago, I decided that with our 125th year milestone I wanted to share specific thoughts about why I am at Winona Health. Our employee engagement focus aligns with our spirit of continuous improvement to ensure WH is not only a world class provider of clinical care, but a great place to work. I thought I would share my responses to core questions we ask of ourselves, with all of you. Are you proud to work at this organization? Yes, I am deeply grateful to be a part of Winona Health. I have many opportunities to compare and evaluate WH against other healthcare organizations and each time I find WH to be a unique, inspiring, and deeply committed organization of people. I could not work for, or in, an organization that I didn’t respect. In my career I have had the privilege to work for great organizations – all of which had great, good, bad and ugly things about them. But I think organizations are like people to some degree – each of us has great, good, bad and ugly facets, too. But the beauty of this is that we see through all of those lenses and ultimately understand and know how wonderful it is to not be perfect but rather a work in process. I would stay with this organization if offered a similar position elsewhere. Given that this happens with greater regularity the answer here too, is YES. As we all know, there are lots of positions open across all industries and the workforce challenges are not going to abate anytime soon. I do get calls, questions, requests to consider positions both in Minnesota and across the country. The turnover rate for healthcare CEOs is just as high as it is for other types of positions. I ask myself, why would I want to go anywhere else when I am at a great organization full of great people and we have the opportunity to innovate and create every day? I don’t need to go anywhere else to have these opportunities. In fact, so many organizations are behind (or not even started) in their care transformation work, why would I want to start over? Bottom line, I am committed to Winona Health. I would recommend this organization to family and friends who need care. Absolutely! I would not choose to go elsewhere personally (unless I had to because we don’t provide the specific service – and even then, I would wonder if we could provide it). I have every confidence in our providers, clinicians and staff. I have used many of our services for myself and my family members, including those from out of town who needed care while visiting. I know what to expect. Frankly, I have more trepidation about getting care from people I don’t know; I want to know they have my best interests at heart. At Winona Health I know this to be true. And while we have our challenges with things like call backs with information, timely access, and the like, I know that every other healthcare organization does, too. We work on these areas to ensure we provide a stellar patient experience. I would like to work here three years from now. I am now in my 18th year at Winona Health. I know that when I first started some folks thought I was a short timer, that I would be here less than five years and then move on. Even now that comment will come up from time to time. I have always found that an interesting comment, as I never gave any indication that WH was a stepping stone to something else, yet people assumed it was. I have also had other CEO colleagues say to me that I could easily go to a bigger place with my experience and background. All that tells me is that people making those comments don’t know me well. One of my core values is loyalty. But I am not at WH out of loyalty, I am here because, despite the hard work and long days at times, I love the creativity, the dedication, the can do attitudes, the ability to innovate, and most importantly the ability to see the impact of the great work done by everyone in this organization throughout our community. I would recommend WH as a good place to work. Yes, Winona Health is a great place to work! The caveat to that is you must want to grow, develop, be challenged, learn, contribute and make a difference. If you want someone else to do all of that for you, then this would not be a good match. The strength of WH is all of the people who work at WH – the attitudes, work ethic, compassion, fun, ideas, ingenuity, care, humor, etc. Healthcare is not an easy field to work in for lots of reasons. However, it is likely the most rewarding because of the impact our work has on people’s lives. We are also people caring for people and we all bring our own lives with us to work – each of us is always balancing a multitude of demands in our lives. WH can’t solve all of those demands but it is a pretty good partner as each of us tries to find our own life equilibrium. Overall, I am a satisfied Employee. On the one hand yes, I am a satisfied employee, on the other hand I am never satisfied because I know I can always improve. That satisfaction factor is an intrinsic quality, meaning I am the only one who can affect a change in my personal satisfaction. This is a constant state of development and one that I relish. It is an honor and privilege to be a colleague to everyone at Winona Health. I count my blessings often. I don’t believe I was put on this earth to coast by with ease. Life’s journey is all of the lessons placed in front of us daily. And those we ignore keep coming back. On this 125th Anniversary of Winona Health I am proud to be a part of Winona Health’s amazing journey.
English 
Español 
Hmong