Team Spotlights: HCHR Week 2021

Covenant Woods

Mechanicsville, Virginia

Nominated by

Carol Anderson Principal and Founder, Anderson Performance “I have been a consultant with the organization, working closely with HR, for six years.”

About the Nominee

The HR team at Covenant Woods is not alone in the challenges faced in 2020 with the pandemic, but I have personally seen their commitment to the CCRC Residents and staff add tremendous value overall to the organization through their unique trusted relationship with leadership. As the pandemic became an issue, the HR team was a strategic partner in making and communicating very difficult decisions about staffing that helped to maintain an unusually low infection rate. This is a team that was used to being in the halls and face to face with staff and was no longer able to do that because of precautions. However, the team maintained electronic contact, using video and Teams, and coordinated all staff communication to ensure that there was no conflicting information presented. It is important to note that, under HR leadership, the organization improved their culture-related satisfaction scores by almost 15% over five years. I mention that because the HR team gained a great deal of trust as advisors to leadership, keeping important programs active even in the face of the obstacles created by the pandemic. Performance discussions continued with help from HR to ensure leader to staff communication remained consistent.  This, along with the many other forms of communication, led to a mid-pandemic high-level satisfaction score from staff, unexpected given the difficulties faced. While each member of the HR Team has a specialty, they have intentionally cross-trained in each discipline. This allowed them to rotate remote and on-site work with no degradation of services to staff. Staffing became increasingly difficult as the pandemic worsened, yet the team partnered specifically with nursing to find creative ways to fill positions as quickly as possible.

About Their Contributions

From my perspective, this team is unique in terms of the trusted partnership with leadership and this has allowed them to effectively mitigate risk throughout this difficult time. They have taken the lead to maintain employee morale throughout the last year through virtual events, and most importantly pitching in to help other departments when necessary, as remote work became more prevalent. In addition to the regular role and the pandemic support, the HR team has completed the cultural and administrative integration of an acquisition, along with the development of new business ventures. HR has developed a comprehensive assimilation process for all new leaders and for employees to preserve the culture, including the assessment of new hires, the orientation, and a multi-week integration plan for new leaders. Emily Endert, the Director of HR, supports the broad Healthcare HR community through her role as Member at Large on the ASHHRA Board as well as bringing education back to her team through in-house learning sessions.

Cary Medical Center

Caribou, Maine

Nominated by

Penny Wickstrom Manager, Human Resources Cary Medical Center

About the Nominee

We are submitting nominations for our fantastic HR team at Cary Medical Center. We have a small group of three supporting an employee base of over 500. First, allow me to introduce Doris St. Hilaire, Benefits Specialist. Doris has been with Cary for 15 years. Her passion for exemplary customer service is outstanding. Doris has infectious creativity. You will always find Doris planning something fun and creative to celebrate a special occasion or simply to bring joy. Jamie Corrigan, the Employment Specialist, has been with Cary for six years. Our employees and applicants are drawn to Jamie’s smile and welcoming personality! Our team is always greeted with a calming and welcoming Jamie. Abbie Caron, our HR Assistant, has been with us for just under two years. However, Abbie has jumped right in as though she has been with us for years. You will find her picking up any task necessary to make our Cary team feel appreciated. This team rallies always to make every employee at Cary feel special, whether it might be dressing up for Halloween and passing out goodies to every department. Donning a Santa hat and pulling together tokens of appreciation to share with our team at Christmas, or adding a small personalized note and chocolate to a thank you for just being you! These are constants from our HR team. This team is fantastic at rallying together to complete a project, meeting a deadline, and it is done with calm, collaboration, and precise excellence. There is never a doubt whether a special event or preparing for a survey. This team is called upon to make sure it is pulled together. Doris, Jamie, and Abbie thank you for all you do, for always making every one of our Cary family members feel special and appreciated.

About Their Contributions

Our HR Team at Cary Medical is amazingly creative, always striving to make every employee feel special, appreciated and this is continuously done with passion and incredible creativity. This held true as our team planned our annual employee recognition dinner. At this event, we honor and recognize those employees with milestone years. Of course, as with everything that happened in 2020, COVID became a challenge. HR was faced with a difficult decision, how we can continue to recognize our team, our Cary family. This team would not allow for a year to go by without continuing to make our Cary family feel appreciated. Especially the year 2020. Doris, Jamie, and Abbie brainstormed and decided we would hold a drive-through event! The team mapped out a route to be held right at the hospital, complete with props, booths, gifts, not one detail left out! The group decided on a western theme for the event. This team worked tirelessly on this event to ensure every detail was complete, safety was in check, and more importantly, recognition was at the forefront, all while fun was to be had. The event was to be held on Oct. 2, 2020. One additional challenge was presented, Mother Nature did not exist cooperating. Rain was in the forecast, however, as with any other challenge. This team held firm and moved the event to our local Wellness Center. This allowed the show to go on and support our community center. The event was continued while maintaining social distancing and keeping with COVID guidelines. This team pulled off an employee recognition like no other! We had upwards of 30 employees honored during the event. Cary’s Annual Employee Annual Employee Recognition dinner will definitely go down in the history books as one of the best, even during a pandemic!

St. Michael Medical Center

Silverdale, Washington

Nominated by

Sharon Royne Senior Vice President, Human Resources Virginia Mason Franciscan Health

About the Nominee

The HR team supports St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale, Washington. St. Michael Medical Center is part of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health’s system of eight hospitals. St. Michael is the only medical center on the peninsula and serves a region of seven counties. The HR Team consists of an HR Market Director, two Senior HR Business Partners, and an HR Assistant. They are supported by external centers of excellence but they are the team on the ground working independently with the hospital leadership and employees. They are a highly motivated professional HR group who pride themselves on in making a difference. This HR Team supports the St Michael Medical Center, four Urgent Care Clinics, and several outpatient specialty clinics. St. Michaels has a unionized workforce of about 1900 employees in four unions. The medical center also includes a Level III Trauma Center, a comprehensive cancer center, a nationally recognized heart center, comprehensive cancer center, orthopedics, sleep disorder center, inpatient and outpatient diagnostic imaging centers.

About Their Contributions

This team successfully managed four major challenges simultaneously this year. Moving an entire medical center in Bremerton, Washington, into a brand new medical center in Silverdale, Washington, is a once in a lifetime event. This HR team had to do it in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to transition work for the move, they managed integration work for a merger into a new national health care organization and negotiated and settled two difficult union contracts. The HR work for the medical center move was critical work. They supported the logistics for staffing and assisted managers with staffing needs and plans for the new facility. They handled 27 department re-bids, managed union expectations and communications, developed multiple new positions and managed layoffs. The HR team assisted over a weekend to help transfer 300+ patients into the new hospital. In addition to working on moving operations and transition planning, the HR team supported staff and managers during a time of severe pandemic-related staff shortages, managed/tracked COVID absences, quarantines, employee’s fear and emotions, increased turnover and labor concerns with PPE and COVID related issues. Hospital delays and system blackouts for integration converged and created an extremely stressful time for the HR team to scramble to ensure that all 1900 employees were properly moved into the correct positions, departments, and cost centers to be paid properly before and after the blackout and the move. The St. Michael Medical Center HR team managed all of this with grace, without complaint, and they are still smiling. Their contribution to St. Michael’s Medical Center this last year has been immeasurable.

The George Washington University HR Team

Washington, D.C.

Nominated by

Erick McGee Assistant Director, Human Resources The George Washington University Hospital

About the Nominee

We have a 12-person department that supports a 385-bed tertiary care, academic medical center located in downtown Washington, D.C. Featuring a Level I Trauma Center and a Level III NICU. We provide strategic and tactical HR services to the GW Hospital.

About Their Contributions

Despite the challenges of COVID and political unrest in D.C., the team was able to recruit and onboard 500 employees, including over 200 RNs. In addition, a full performance cycle was completed, including merit increases for incumbent employees. A new applicant tracking system was implemented and a full compensation review of bedside nursing was completed and increases implemented. Our team showed up to the campus everyday to support our patients and their care givers during a unique year in the U.S. capital’s history.

Renown Health

Reno, Nevada

Nominated by

Michelle Sanchez-Bickley Chief Human Resources Officer Renown Health

About the Nominee

This team went above and beyond in not only all things HR, employee relations, labor relations, leadership development, team building, succession planning, and coaching others, they went well outside the normal HR role. Many on this team were involved in HICS staffing and also served in patient care roles when needed. This team worked very closely with nurses and our ancillary staff side by side taking care of patients and learned first hand the work our front line care givers do. This group set up staffing and logistics for our COVID vaccination events and even volunteered to staff themselves, giving up their own time including weekends. They helped with our remote workforce which was a new strategy and never once did they complain. Over the years this team has grown and worked together very closely. They have laughed, cried, held each other, supported each other, celebrated each other and their families and have now an even stronger bond.

About Their Contributions

Our HR Business Partner team sees it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly, and yet they always pick others up around them. They work tirelessly to see that all employees are cared for through our organization and also work to mentor others both within and outside of HR. They are always helping where needed from planning events, employee relations, crisis management, multiple competing projects, and never complain. They are our unsung heroes. With this nomination they likely will be humbled and embarrassed as they never ask or expect any recognition for their hard work. The leaders and staff they support always give high examples of praise and recognition. The members of this team have pursued higher education and all of them either have or are pursuing their HR credentials and continue to ensure they are learning in their career. I am proud of this team for the perseverance on the front lines they have had over this year, often giving up things within their own families to help others.