Photo By Jeanine Mezei | Leaders from Evans Army Community Hospital gathered during a strategic offsite event...... read more read more
Leaders from Evans Army Community Hospital gathered at the Centennial Training Center at Fort Carson, Colorado, on Feb. 7-8, 2019, for a strategic offsite event focused on turning the organization’s vision into a reality.
Col. Eric S. Edwards, EACH commander and Fort Carson director of health services, welcomed his team and special guests as they met to discuss ways to improve healthcare delivery, patient satisfaction and employee opportunities.
“I get a sense from everybody here that this is important,” said Edwards. “I want your commitment to this process, we cannot do it without you all.”
The event kicked off with a visit from the 4th Infantry Division Chief of Staff (Rear) Col. Ike Sallee, who stressed the importance of the medical mission here at Fort Carson in support of about 26,000 Soldiers within 4ID and tenant units, to include 10th Special Forces Group and the 627th Hospital Center.
Regional Health Command-Central also provided guest lecturers on upcoming changes to Army Medicine, such as the Defense Health Agency replacing military branch medical commands, to include Army Medicine.
Despite changes occurring to military medicine, Edwards and EACH Command Sgt. Maj. Federico Conde highlighted medical readiness of our fighting force as the first priority.
“We have a 96% medical readiness rate at 4th ID,” said Conde, referencing Forces Command’s measure of deployable Soldiers in a unit. “We are going for that elusive 100%. We’re thinking innovatively and looking for ways to continuously push the bar up past the status quo.”
Brainstorming new ideas and initiatives to put into action became the task of each leader in order to produce tangible results with wide-reaching effects for EACH.
Ready to collaborate, Soldiers and civilians from EACH gathered in four groups mirrored from the EACH Strategy Map, which outlines the organization’s priorities-readiness, investing in people, investing in infrastructure, and turning performance from ‘good to great.’
During their group strategy sessions, Army Medical Department mentors retired Army Maj. Gen. Philip Volpe and retired Army Brig. Gen. Richard L. Ursone spent time visiting each group to provide experience and counsel refined by successful careers in Army Medicine.
“Every single person is important on your team,” said Volpe. “Our job as leaders is to get everyone as successful as they can be. That’s how this team gets better.”
Ursone urged everyone to avoid groupthink or mind guards, which prevent open discussion and hinder collaboration. He urged vigilance in breaking down mental barriers to find new ways ahead towards improvement together.
Volpe emphasized how each team member should always look to improve processes in the organization in order to prevent bad outcomes.
“You are continually looking at make things better,” said Volpe. “If it ain’t broke, let’s look at it-can we make it better?”
Each of the four groups presented their ideas, which included ways to approach improving medical access and readiness for Soldiers, increasing paths to promotion for civilian employees, improving each beneficiary’s experience at EACH, and supporting our local partners in the military health system.
Edwards then invited everyone to sign their names on the strategy map to symbolize their commitment to working together in pursuit of each of the organization’s priorities.
“The hard work is just starting,” said Conde. “The biggest challenge is staying the course. We need to stay committed to putting action behind these initiatives.”
| Date Taken: | 02.15.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 02.19.2019 13:10 |
| Story ID: | 311124 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 89 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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