Notes from Steve

I was talking to my friend yesterday.  She said she needed to be "coached" through a midlife crisis.  She was feeling anxious about change and wanted to move (from one big city to another) for various reasons. Still, mostly, she wanted a new outlook.  I told her that my coach said you can't change your outlook by changing geographies.  Whether it's a new city, or job, or relationship - figure out what's going on and fix that - then you can move.  We worked through the "whys," and hopefully, I helped to clarify what she was really looking for.

When I came to Clarion thirty years ago - my goal was to stay 3-4 years and move to a bigger hospital, bigger town, more stuff.  But instead, I didn't find a compelling reason to leave. The draw of moving up in the corporation* was countered by a challenge to dig deeper and create something not seen in rural healthcare**.  One thing I remember hearing when I got here was "Clarion is just a band-aid station - I go elsewhere if I really need care."… I didn't like hearing stuff like that.  The culture when I started wasn't great, but there were really dedicated people, and that made all the difference.   

So, we changed stuff, and challenged the norm, and pushed all the envelopes.  We expanded and got awards, and were and are the example for how rural healthcare should be provided.  We went from Community Memorial Hospital to Wright Medical Center to Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics.  We grew in every sense of the word.  

But … in the end, it's not about growth or awards or being seen as the example … it's about doing the best we can, building great relationships, and taking care of our communities.  A lot of our "anxieties" are just fear of the unknown.  

Unwrap and face your fears - then and only then can you successfully change.

*Unity Point (Iowa Health System)
**Obviously, not by myself - I somehow had that Tom Sawyer ability to get people to "paint fences" and make it look like a lot of fun.