I’ve been thinking about it for a few months. What do I want to say in my last blog as president and CEO of Children’s Minnesota? How do I wrap up almost eight years at this remarkable place? It’s been an incredible honor to lead an organization that touches the lives of so many kids and families. And to work alongside such passionate, talented and dedicated people. I’m so proud of the work we’ve done together, and I’m excited to see what the future holds for Children’s Minnesota.
Some time ago, I read a book called “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.” There are a lot of leadership advice books out there, some great, some not. I didn’t agree with everything this book offered, but it did have at least one thing that resonated with me. That’s what I’d like to leave with you in this blog.
The book’s premise is that the skills you need at one level of your career may not serve you well at another level. That you need to develop new skills, and let others fall by the wayside, as you progress through different professional roles. Sounds reasonable enough. But what struck me is that the opposite is true when you’re talking about core values – who you are deep down as a person or an organization.
To me, who we are as an organization is beautifully summed up by an anecdote Patsy Stinchfield mentioned in a guest blog post about her 30+ years working at Children’s Minnesota. During the AIDS crisis in the late 1980s, some said we shouldn’t open an HIV clinic, because parents would stop sending their kids to our hospital for fear they might get AIDS. Patsy vehemently disagreed and so did our then-CEO Brock Nelson. Patsy quotes Brock as saying, “Our mission says we care for the health of children. There is no ‘comma, except children with AIDS.’”
There is no comma. There is no qualifier. It’s as true today as it was back then. The first entry on our list of organizational values is Kids First. That means all kids. Over the past eight years, I think we’ve hit on three great ways to translate this value into our daily work.
Our commitment to continuous improvement
When it comes to caring for children, good enough is never good enough. There are always ways we can make their care safer, more timely, effective, efficient, equitable and patient-centered. Continuous improvement is the name of a process we use at Children’s Minnesota to find solutions to complex problems that affect patient care and experience. The process requires us to first analyze the current state (what’s not working and why) and then guides us in solving the problem to its root. Everyone is empowered to be a problem solver. We use the continuous improvement process at all levels of our organization and it’s making us better at what we do.
Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
Diversity, equity and inclusion are not buzzwords at Children’s Minnesota. They are vital to putting kids first. More than half of our patients are Black, Latino, Asian or Native American. Evidence shows that patients become healthier when working with caregivers who look like them because there’s better communication and increased trust. So we work hard to recruit and retain staff that reflect the diversity of our patients. We also need diversity of thought, knowledge and experience to solve the complex challenges we face as one of the largest independent pediatric health systems in the country.
Our equity work pushes us to be a health care system that meets the needs of each individual patient, so no one is left behind. We also work to be a place where everyone – patients, families and staff – feels welcome, respected and included. That’s what people expect and that’s what they deserve.
Our commitment to patient experience
You could say that patient experience is the reason Children’s Minnesota was born. It used to be that children in the Twin Cities were only treated in adult hospitals. Our founders were concerned they weren’t getting the specialized, kid-friendly, compassionate care they needed, so they opened our first pediatric hospital back in 1924. Focusing on experience isn’t new for us. But now we’re committed to taking it to the next level. We envision – and are working toward – a future where Children’s Minnesota is the region’s premier provider of specialized pediatric care, distinguishing ourselves through the exceptional experiences we create for our patients, staff and community.
Looking ahead
Continuous improvement. Diversity, equity and inclusion. Patient experience. Three important pathways to achieving our mission to improve children’s health. Three expressions of our core values. In my time at Children’s Minnesota, I’ve tried to further embed them into our strategy and more mindfully put them into action in our daily work. I didn’t take us in a different direction. I was trying to solidify who we already are and have been since 1924.
Looking ahead, I hope we never change our core values. What got us here will get us there. Putting kids first got us through our first 100 years, and it will get us through the next 100. As the world changes around us, we’ll need to change how we translate our values into action. But I hope we always stay true to who we are. We are more than 6,000 individuals, each one of us devoted to making a profound difference in kids’ lives. We are the proud kid experts of Children’s Minnesota.
Marc Gorelick, MD
President, chief executive officer
Marc Gorelick, MD, is the former president and chief executive officer (CEO) at Children’s Minnesota. He is deeply committed to advocacy issues that impact children’s health, sustainability and advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.
Learn more about his book, “Saving Our Kids: An ER Doc’s Common-Sense Solution to the Gun Crisis.” All proceeds from the book will be invested back into Children’s Minnesota gun violence prevention work.
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