Connections to the past

I am taking time this week to make contact with some former coworkers at both the hospital and Hart & Cooley. I met with two today and two more tomorrow. The person who is most responsible for health promotions in this area and used to be at HCH and is now with the big HMO up the road. She was marketing director during my employee tenure there and I worked closely with her with some difficult empoyees. So we got to know each other well. Prior to that she was the PR person for the hospital when I was on the board. When Aleene and I went to the health care conference in Palm Springs this person went along. She happens to be a martial arts black belt, gold metal winner. She is married to a Filipino who taught her the MA skills. She happens to be one of the most creative people I know in the area of health promotions. She invented Bee Well, but unfortunately does not have the rights to the big bee. She left the hospital a year ago and is doing well...actually splendidly. She had some interesting observations about the staff there and the issues that confront them. Care is still the best, but wow...I could write another book on how not to develop staff. She is a pro and did not bad mouth any individual, but one could read between the lines. She is going to help me with a Wellness Seminar I am putting together for the HR Assn.

The other person is my "soul mate" from H&C. We worked together for the entire time I was there. She reported to me directly for three years. That was during Gulf I when her brother was in the army and Jeff was in the navy. We leaned on each other during those weeks of doubt. She also gave birth to her daughter during our tenure. Kasidee is now 14! My contact was really sad about the announced loss of 250 jobs at H&C. She had some interesting things to say about how this will play out. We updated each other on family matters...all told we spent 1 1/2 hours chit chatting. She calls me her surrogate father at work. I think of her not so much as a daughter, although that might fit, but as a very hard working, loyal work friend. We happened to be able to talk about family things just as easily as we talked about work things.

So both orgainzation are at a cross roads in their development. After five years out of H&C and two years out of HH...I guess I have let everything go. Both organizations were good to me. H&C during my tenure there gave me the opportunity to try my brand of management with the full support of senior management and we made great strides. The new leadership was not my cup of tea. At HH my fondest memories are when I was on the board. I learned so much about health care during that time, but was there on staff too short a time to impact the culture. I made more of an impact on my direct reports...two of whom I meet with tomorrow.