BY: FR. JOSEPH DRISCOLL
As a leader responsible for approximately 30 co-workers in central accounts payable, I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to experience and grow in the ministry leadership development courses offered to me. It was in the latest of these courses that I continued to realize the richness of our health care ministry, and how much my team and I miss this aspect of our business due to our off-site business location. The majority of our work is heads down, paying bills, resolving payment issues and creating efficient payment solutions. In other words, "we don't get out much!"
Last spring, I had the opportunity to visit one of our hospitals in New York. I went there to meet an employee and work on refining solutions for our accounts payable process. We met in a small workroom off the hospital's main hallway. As the morning went along, we were deep in discussions about transitioning processes and personnel, as well as holding intense conversations about ensuring we were meeting our payment obligations. It came time for lunch, and as I stepped out into the hallway, I was taken aback by the realization that I was actually in a hospital. It brought home to me that the work my team performs was an important part of a health system, not just a team in the back office, paying bills.
This experience in the hospital, along with the realization from my latest ministry leadership formation class, inspired me to create Project ECHO, that is, Exposing CAP (Central Accounts Payable) to Hospital Operations. The purpose of this initiative was to ensure that my team got out of the office and experienced the core of our ministry. I wanted them to see the ministry that occurred in our hospitals so we could serve our internal customers more compassionately and more effectively.
The program takes small groups of about six employees at a time to one of our local hospitals approximately every other month. The intention is to ensure each member on our team gets to the hospital at least once a year. We have partnered with leaders in the hospital, which were in my ministry leadership cohort, who conduct an in-depth tour of the hospital.
An email I received from a team member after the first visit describes the impact of the program:
We had a chance to meet many individuals and see the mission of Bon Secours in action from many different areas. We got to feel the passion the employees have for their job, the company, the patients and community they serve. It reminded us that what we do affects many other people and that it's not just a job but that it's truly part of a broader mission. The passion of the people working for Bon Secours and the mission in action in Baltimore makes me proud to be part of such an incredible company.
The benefits of this program include an increased awareness of our ministry, better relationships with our internal customers and therefore a higher level of service provided to them. Like the resounding echo in a cavernous space, it is my hope that the meaning of "call and response" in ministry will reverberate to all 24,000 of our coworkers, whether back room or front line.
JOEL STAFFORD is director of central accounts payable and facilities at Bon Secours Health System, Marriottsville, Md.