'Imagine' the possibilities when healthcare, community leaders pursue a common goal

Guest post by Scott Kashman, chief administrative officer of Cape Coral Hospital, part of the Lee Memorial Health System in southwest Florida.

Last week we had our ribbon-cutting for our Pathway to Discovery. It represents a tangible display of our optimal healing environment. I had a chance to reflect back--and I'm sure many thought it was a crazy idea to create this pathway across our campus, even though it reflects the values of healthcare today:

  • Focus on clinical care and coordination

  • Focus on health, wellness and well-being

  • Focus on community engagement

A few weeks back, we had our hospital's fifth annual Advance (what most would call a retreat). We focused on making sure each department could do three things:

1. Share their aspirational vision (we discussed doing this Pathway more than two years ago.

2. Understand your current performance and how far off you are from your goals. Continuously improve from this point.

3. Learn to share your story. We shared the example of using a house to tell the story. The mission, vision and values serve as the roof. The goals were along the side of the house. Lean serves as our foundation of the house, and an optimal healing environment--which features a holistic, person-centered framework--serves as the visible ceiling underneath the roof.

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