What is your current health care position? What are your responsibilities in this position?
Vice president of Operations for Adult Primary Care, Mercy Clinic St. Louis. I’m responsible for all aspects of primary care operations for practices in the St. Louis division which includes over 170 physicians and advanced practice providers operating in over 30 locations. This includes overall accountability for financial performance, clinical quality and patient experience. Critical to this role is the development of strategic plans that drive value and enhance patient care. Equally important is maintaining physician and coworker relationships that are conducive to a positive and collaborative work environment.
How do you feel you are able to make a difference in this position?
I consider it a privilege to work with and on behalf of our talented and hardworking physicians, APPs and clinical teams. I view my role as one of problem solver to ensure they can focus on their No. 1 priority of patient care as well as advocating for solutions that improve the overall experience for our patients, coworkers and providers. In this role, I’m able to develop policies, new strategies and implement solutions that ultimately impact patient care, and I take this responsibility very seriously.
Health care is a team sport. Tell us about your team and how they help you succeed?
I have an amazing team of leaders and coworkers that I am blessed to work with. First, is my dyad partner, Dr. Jason Hand, who is the department chairman of Adult Primary Care in St. Louis and also the Primary Care Specialty Council leader for our ministry. We work in partnership to ensure the needs of our department are met as Mercy values the contributions of both physician and administrative leadership in the decision-making process.
We also have several assistant department/section chairmen that assist us with different areas within our department (internal medicine, family medicine, urgent care, post-acute). I also have several directors that help provide additional support to our practices and over 25 managers providing day-to-day operational support within our clinic sites. Not to mention the hundreds of coworkers that work side by side with our providers delivering care. It truly takes a village to deliver exceptional service and quality care to our patients and I’m proud of and inspired by the work of our teams daily.
Last but definitely not least, I have the most amazing executive assistant in the world, Bonnie Dickerson, who helps me juggle all of my responsibilities and truly provides exceptional support.
COVID-19 has disrupted all of our work and lives. How has it disrupted your work, and how are you adapting?
Being in primary care, I believe we are on the front lines of supporting our communities through this pandemic. That includes everything from providing education to address patient concerns, helping them understand the best clinical options available and promoting safe and responsible practices (i.e. hand hygiene, wearing masks, social distancing). At the same time, it is equally important that we take care of one another during this time both in terms of physical and emotional support. As the leader over primary care operations, I take supporting the safety of my community and my teams very seriously.
And to balance those priorities, we have had to do a number of different things in order to continue to provide care in a safe manner. Some of those things we implemented because of Covid-19 are as follows:
- Implementation of video visits which allowed us to provide care to our patients even during the height of the spread of the disease within our community.
- Modifications to the registration and check in processes to allow for more self check-in or advance check-in over the phone to minimize unnecessary contact.
- Implementing additional measures to greatly reduce/eliminate crowds in the waiting room and ensuring the appropriate distance between seats when waiting did occur.
- Installation of plexiglass at check-in/registration desks.
- Wearing of appropriate masks and other PPE when necessary when providing care.
- Temperature and symptom checks before entering our clinics and facilities.
- From an administrative perspective, more video conference calls versus in person meetings.
Overall, while some of these things are not ideal, they are necessary to ensuring everyone’s safety while allowing us to still provide the necessary care. And given our patient-first philosophy, we understand the importance of these measures and therefore have embraced them for the good of our community.
Mentors are crucial to the development of a successful professional. Tell us about a mentor and how that person guided you.
I’ve been fortunate to have both informal and formal mentoring relationships throughout my career. One of my current mentors is a phenomenal and influential executive leader within my organization. She has always been an advocate, supporter/encourager and role model for me. When dealing with difficult professional situations, I can always count on her for sound guidance as I navigate through those challenges. And I value the personal investment that she is making in me to help me develop and excel as a leader.
Sometimes as leaders, I think we tend to undervalue the importance of mentorship, especially as we progress in our career. I personally think that as you progress, the more valuable those mentoring relationships become to your growth and development.
Do you have a previous position that helped prepare you for this work? If so, tell us about that.
I think my clinic internship that I had in graduate school really cemented my love for clinic operations but also assisted me in developing the critical thinking skills and collaborative skills that have really become hallmarks of my leadership style. And while over 15 years ago, I still remember many of the lessons that I learned in that role and the wonderful leader that I had at the time.
Tell us about your experiences as a student that prepared you for this work.
I received a wonderful education from Washington University and Washington University School of Medicine. In addition, it really propelled me into a new and diverse world. As someone who grew up in a working-class family with limited exposure to other cultures, I did not have a lot of opportunities growing up but I had a lot of love and support from my family who valued a good education. Then to have a collegiate and graduate experience as rich and diverse in culture based on the new relationships that were formed really enhance me personally. Another important life lesson: the value of diversity in shaping our perspectives, what we advocate for and how we value/respect one another.
Missouri voters have an opportunity to expand Medicaid with Amendment 2 on the August 4 ballot. Expand Medicaid in Missouri – yes or no? Why or why not?
Yes. I’m a supporter of measures that provide greater healthcare coverage to those who need it. It saddens me to know that so many people avoid the care they desperately need because of lack of coverage/funding. And while there are lots that we as healthcare providers can and should do to provide solutions for those that are uninsured/underinsured, those efforts only go so far at truly meeting the need.
Is there anything about your personal life that you would like to share with the public celebrating your award?
I’m humbled and grateful for this award but have to acknowledge that it would not be possible if not for God and the wonderful village he has surrounded me with including my husband, Les Jewell, our wonderful boys, my parents and my close friends affectionately known as the Clik.
Is there anything else you would like to add about health care or your work?
I would just like to personally thank Dr. Jason Hand and Jeff Johnston for nominating me for this award.
