It was a small ad in the help wanted section for a local sub-acute rehab that brought me in. We were looking to gain some traction as a business, land a contract, and start to develop the Pro-Activity way. When I met with Dr. R, he assumed I was personally interviewing for the job and he asked me how I would handle the number of hours needed when they were busy. That’s when I gathered all the courage it took to tell him we would be looking for a business relationship, and I would not be interested in working as an employee. I expected the conversation to end there, everyone else worked as an employee and I was suggesting something different. He welcomed the idea, and was excited by (and from then on introduced us as) “a brother-sister team”. And we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.
Our commitment and work ethic set the bar. We consistently demonstrated a deep caring for our patients, the rehab center staff, and the team that we built. As contractors, our official job was bringing top quality, cutting edge rehabilitative service. But we considered ourselves part of the team. And when any of the storms of the industry came through, (like a pipe bursting and the rehab room flooding on a Sunday afternoon) we were there to help. Living our core values, we developed a relationship of trust and an on-going desire to serve the community, and defined what it meant to bring our A-game every single time, regardless of what condition we would be bringing it to.
Our time in the sub-acute setting taught us so much. As we delivered individual care, we continued to see trends in the population. Was this an aging-based problem? Was this a rural community problem? Was this a health care industry inefficiency problem? And the spark of population health ignited.
While ultimately our business roads diverged and we moved out of sub-acute and into out-patient care and then primarily prevention, Dr. R continued to refer patients to us. Little did we know that 20+ years later, our relationship having guided and inspired us to deliver the very best care possible, regardless of setting, that when Dr. R needed support, he would trust his personal situation to us. I still feel honored to have the chance to exchange knowledge with him. His decades of experience in healthcare is a source of inspiration as he willingly shares stories of both successes and learning opportunities. The relationship roles have changed, but the “deep caring” underlying principle is the same, and we remain committed to it.
Like the early years of any lifecycle, ours were very formative; both our roots and our path were impacted by those early mentors. And of all the lessons learned from being a part of this community, the keen understanding of “trust in the trenches” was first realized here. Trust is earned through standing shoulder to shoulder and building a relationship. It’s been our approach since then and now our competitive advantage.
-Amy W.
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