Latest / Here to Serve - A United Regional Podcast / Michael (Brit) Ellard, Safety Officer
Transcript
- FHD Here To Serve Ep 2 Brit Ellard: Welcome to Here to Serve, a UNITA Regional podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Graves. My favorite part of being the director of patient experience at UNITA Regional is the incredible people that I meet and work with on a daily basis. And I want you to meet them too. Join us to meet the people behind the badge and to highlight those who are here to serve. Welcome to the Here to Serve podcast. I'm really excited to have you today. Tell us who you are and what you do. My name is Brit Ellard. I'm the safety officer for Unita Regional. Okay. Now, when I go to find you at United Regional, when I look for you, all I can ever find is a Michael Ellard. That's right. So tell me what's what's the deal with that? So my dad and I share the same first name and I grew up running by my middle name. Okay. So Brit's middle name. Yep. Is it actual Brit or is it? Britain, actually. Britain. Yeah. Okay. Learning all good things. So it's actually a shortened nickname, middle name. Okay. Well, I I'm empathetic to your plight 'cause Ryan is actually my middle name. and if you go try to look me up, you're gonna find Kendall. Kendall Ryan Graves. My dad is Kendall Ray Graves, and I'm Kendall Ryan Graves. So I have that that I have them to thank for That's eerie. Yeah. My dad is a Michael Dale and I'm Michael Britain That's awesome. Well we have have that in common and it's caused lo does your dad live around here? he lives locally, yeah. Local okay. I s I till this day I still get his mail and his credit report sometimes. Yeah, it's a problem. Same thing for you. Yeah. Fantastic. Well tell me what is a safety officer? We kinda wear a number of hats, but it's all through the physical environment aspects of the hospital. so anything that touches hazardous materials, general physical environment safety, security, utility systems and medical equipment. So anything within that environment that can impact either positively or negatively the care of the patient or the employees' ability to do their job in that space. So we want to make sure that the environment's safe and clean and secure and that all the equipment in it is functioning properly. So not much. Just you just get to kind of just chill a lot. Yeah. Yeah. And there's regulatory aspects that go into all of that with accreditation and then you have regulatory bodies like OSHA, NFPA working with the local jurisdiction for fire marshals and making sure that your building is compliant with all the various requirements that go into people signing off on you being able to operate and say, yep, you can keep your doors open because you're not gonna burn down. Right. So it's a lot to to take in, but I really enjoy what I do. Yeah. Well you you have such a great reputation amongst our organization for Just and I don't just say this, but genuinely just being a good human. But also you're like, Hey, I'm glad you didn't know where I was going with that for a second. You never know. Genuinely being a just a good, you know, be informal here on a podcast, being a good dude, right? This like, hey Brit's a good dude, but also genuinely keeping our place safe. And so I think there's a difference of checking all the boxes to meet regulatory compliance and actually going, I want to keep this place safe. Absolutely. And I and you do both of those things exceedingly well. From what I see and hear. I appreciate that. I certainly try. Yeah. That's amazing. Okay. So here's my question. and I'm I'm real curious about this. Did when you were when you were a young man, did you say, When I grow up, I'm gonna be a safety officer? I didn't even know what a safety officer was. Okay. So it wasn't on my radar in any way, shape, or form. Yeah. I just kind of ended up here through serendipity and trying to lead or go where I was led and and do what I felt was right. before I came to United Regional, it was one of the darkest times of my life. I was in the oil and gas industry. Okay. And as you know, it's cyclical up and down. Yeah. And I was traveling for weeks upon weeks at a time and I had children at home. At that point in time I was trying to make a transition out of that to get in something local and stable. And I hadn't had a lot of success just because of the the market not being, you know, what it was. And not having any experience really outside of oil and gas. Of course I had some safety credentials. So I'd I'd gotten OSHA certifications and I'd taken various classes and had some some experience. And in fact I was doing safety and emergency response consulting with a focus on hazardous materials release before I transitioned out of that. And of course COVID hit, so things slowed down even further. And then there was an opportunity and I applied and then Funny story was I hadn't gotten any answers back on my my application. And then I got an email saying that I wasn't selected as a candidate. Okay. So of course I was really disappointed. But a couple weeks go by and I get a a phone call from Lacey Buckmaster saying, Hey, haven't how come you haven't scheduled your interview yet? I said, What interview? You all told me I wasn't selected to move forward. And she said, And looked and turned out she had sent me the wrong email. my goodness. It was the we don't want you email rather than the hey, come get in for an interview. emotional roller coaster, man. Rejection and so I went through the whole range of emotions, you know, bargaining, denial, you know, all the above. and so came in and and fortunately Jackie Betts gave me a opportunity and I tried to do the best I could to you know, not let him down or waste that opportunity. And yeah now that I'm in healthcare. I can't imagine going anywhere else. how long have you been in United Race? Five years. Five years. Yeah. Okay. So you came right at the tail end of COVID? Is that right? Yeah, right. So February of twenty. What a what a welcome. I'm glad. Yeah. So we we rejected you first and then and then you hit right with COVID. Yeah. my word. So it was a whole different animal even to what it is today. I just kind of rolled with it. And so I I I took my transferable skills and knowledge and then plugged it into healthcare and then learned more and got more certifications in healthcare specific credentials as I went along and there's nothing else I want to do. Yeah. That's that's in incredible. and I'm w man, I'm so thankful that we ended up having you at United Region. It'd been a huge blessing to to have here and I'm a it's to know that it almost didn't happen is is is i wild. Where were you located at? But were you living here? Yeah we we lived in Wichita Falls. Okay are you all have you always been from here? I grew up in Graham, so I've always been local. Okay younger, Wichita Falls was the big city. Yeah now. You know, so it was intimidating to a somebody grew up in a town of like eight thousand people but now it's it's just you know normal everyday life. But yeah, I've been relatively local. I went to got my bachelor's degree at Midwestern. Okay. so I I've either lived grammar here for most of my life. we've been here for fourteen years in Wichita Falls. Fourteen and and you got three kids, right? That's right. Yeah. And so I can only imagine how hard traveling that life of traveling was. So now you've got a much more stable absolutely you know, s situation. unless, you know, joint commissioner is is here. it's a whole different dilemma ballgame. what's the what's the kind of the typical path for like a safety officer? Is there particular degrees that they're typically having? they can range anything from you can get, you know, specific to NFPA credentials, OSHA, which was my background. and then you can get occupational safety and health or fire specific. So there's some transferable skills from a number of of fields that kind of feed up into that. Got it. so I don't know if there's a safety officer degree out there. Got it. you just kind of take that applicable knowledge and in my case it was dealing with regulatory bodies in case the the Texas Railroad Commission and OSHA Yeah. A T C E Q with the state's equivalent of the EPA. Yeah. So all the environmental compliance that goes in with all of that. And you said there's no safety offic officer degrees. Like you know, non-regional, you know, we've got several thousand employees and and you know, three hundred bed level two trauma center and they don't go, Hm, I wonder who the safety officer is. You it's not something people think about, I don't n necessarily, but it is and and all roles are vital. It's one of those roles without that person, this becomes a very different facility very quickly. Without that team and department, of course, working. So I think there's so many unseen things when people think about safety. I think people probably immediately I know I think about fire extinguishers, and fire doors and I think about sprinklers and that's what that's what immediately pops into my head. Those are the visible things. Right. What are the unseen things you think that really drive, safety that people don't necessarily know about? I would think it's all of the things that go into keeping those systems operational. there's no downtime for the fire suppression system. That's good point. or if there is, you've got a a big problem. so the the biggest thing is just making sure that all that stuff remains functional. there's required testing at specific intervals. So we're always making sure that the smoke detectors work and the fire panel works and the fire door shut the way they're supposed to and that the the the sprinkler heads are not dirty and that they're gonna function the way they're supposed to. So let me just pause on that just for a second or dig in. You said the fire door. I I think of fire doors, right? I don't think of the system that actually causes that fire door to release and close when an alarm goes off. Because I assume that's an incredibly complex system that somewhere an alarm has to trigger something that then lets that magnet let go and there's a I don't know, a hundred might be strong, but there's a there's so many places that system could fail along the way that some fire door somewhere doesn't close. That's overwhelming to my brain to think about. So yeah, you're right. There's a lot of aspects that go along with that. Just for fire doors, you've got a whole NFPA standard just for fire doors. So you can't have a gap that's too big. You can't have them closing within egress. So there's a certain direction within egress they have to be able to set up. So Do you see can you can you turn that off? Do you see this when you walk into every place you go, you're like egress? No, I can't turn it off. I've gotten made fun of by my wife mercilessly because we'll go into restaurants and I'm looking up and I'm seeing, you know, are there fire extinguishers? This is not up to standards. Has this been inspected? And so I can't turn it off. And and pretty much every building I go in now, I'm like looking, okay. But dude, you're a safe guy to be around. If I'm with you, you're gonna know where the fire extinguishers are at all times. At least you're not where the exits are. That's amazing. In fact, earlier this week we were doing some D and V training for our new accreditation and the sur the surveyor said, okay, where are my safety people and facilities people at? He said, Okay, I'm following you guys up the exactly. I I that's right. I was at the DMV training. She goes, Who are my safety people at? I know who to follow. I was there. That's amazing. So tell me this about I think one I I've never and I can't imagine. Different people have different callings and roles and giftings and I would be completely inept in your role. I just couldn't do it. Like it's just not I it it overwhelms my brain to even think about it. But I do have a home with children so I try to be safe at home, right? I've got the appropriate fire alarms and and fire extinguisher and you know alarms and I I've got all I try to do all the basic things right for for a home. And even that kind of tends to be So in my mind, I'm like, that's a I got to remember to change batteries. I can remember to test these things. it's a lot. What what are the differences and what people think about in home safety versus in an organization like healthcare safety? Like what are some of the big things that people might not be thinking about? Well, for one thing, in a home, you're gonna get out of the building, right? First and foremost, you're gonna get everybody out. Right. Yeah, get out. So in healthcare, particularly in hospitals, we have a defend in place model, which is completely different. Yeah. 'Cause how would we get all the patients out? Right. Right. You can't. Right. So we we we can we have systems in place for that, but that's our last resort. Right. so first and foremost, we're gonna get people from one compartment to the next. So when I'm explaining it, I I tell people it's kinda like a a ship. You've got a watertight compartment and you protect that compartment and then you don't go to the next compartment until that one's compromised. So you defend you defend in place. So the idea being we trul we will still maintain care. And maintain the continuity of care. Absolutely. Until main maintain that safety, maintain the continuity of care. And so we design our buildings around that. So the building is compartmentalized, top to bottom, side to side. that's why we teach horizontal evacuation rather than vertical. Right. those fire doors are rated for ninety minutes. In some areas you've got two hour separations. Wow. So you with an average of six minutes response time for the fire department. and we train our staff to bring fire extinguishers to the fire. Between that, fully suppressed building, quick response time. we're gonna defend in place until we absolutely can't. So the building is really safe from that that aspect. And we inspect our fire barriers to make sure that our compartments aren't compromised. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make sure that those the integrity of those compartments are maintained. common problem. you see IT, they're they're they're known to be the worst. So they're running new cables all the time in facilities too. But you know, contractors are running new new cables through those firewalls. Well each one of those has to be set up to a certain standard so that it doesn't compromise the integrity of that firewall. Because if if the firewall has no integrity, it's gonna let smoke pass through. Right. And then we've kind of failed at our whole compartmentalization strategy. So just that alone right there is a totally different mindset than home yes. Home safety. You're right. Like home is like we gotta get out. Right. Rather than get out, we're gonna defend in place. We're gonna stick to it and fascinating. Fight the fire. I think most people in this never really think about it's a that's a whole different mindset. Different mindset. Whole different mindset. Yeah. In healthcare. And I guess is there anybody else that's comparable to healthcare? Right? Because I think most places would are gonna say get out, right? Is there anywhere else that's comparable to healthcare? Possibly some assembly occupancies or hotels, depending on how they're designed. But even their training is to get out of the building. Right. even within healthcare, ambulatory healthcare, it's it's evacuate. Right. So that difference is significant even within our own organization between the hospital and URPG. Right. Correct. So we gotta train the staff differently according to where they work. 'Cause if you're you if you're at URPG, pretty much everybody is by the it's the name is accurate. Everybody's ambulatory. Everybody can get up and walk out. You're if you're on a med surge unit, you know, you've got thirty patients and twenty five of them may not be able to walk. Right. Right. and elevators maybe compromised. Now you're looking at stairs. it not that it's impossible. We have and we do have contingencies. We've got chairs. Yeah. I've I've had interesting times drilling with all of those things, right? and they work. They work. Yeah. but it's not very quick, it's not very fast. And so it's that's a really interesting mindset. Really interesting. Yeah, we and and the biggest thing is just getting staffed to show up, extra pair of hands, ICU, C C U, places like that, you've got the the patient, you've got The IV and ventilator potentially. You've got all the things that go along with that patient. So it's not just one nurse to move in a patient. You gotta have every all hands on deck. Yeah, for sure. And you know, that's another big difference too, is is you know, nurses and doctors and those sort of thing. The fire alarm goes off in other fields, you go, All right, we're out. And nurses like, I'm not I can't leave my my patients, you know, we gotta take care of our patients. And so it's it's that's interesting. Tell me about the difference of a list of rules. You have a you have a list of you you have I can't imagine the checklist that you have. Books. Yeah, I c I can't imagine. The amount of check and those are important. Yeah. I would never and I th I'm a big fan if one of one of my books that I I circle back to all the time, it's a healthcare book. It's by Dr. Atul Gawande, it's called the Checklist Manifesto. He's a surgeon and you know, he says one of the most powerful things that surgeons our our healthcare can have is checklist. And he makes his whole book is written about the power of checklist, and it's great book. So in no way am I disparaging check checklist. I think they are hugely beneficial and we need but I I would guess I would be asked I'll be curious to your your take on culture, right? Versus having the checklist and how do you marry those two and what do you think? It's a complete mindset. you have to incorporate both because you have to meet the regulatory requirements to get accredited, to get reimbursement, or else we're not keeping the doors open. Right. but I don't think that a checklist mentality is what serves true safety. It is culture. And what's important to note is that everybody has to have a piece of that. It can't just be me, it can't just be the the the directors. You have to have a top down mindset. And what I've observed is that the culture will will match the highest ranking person in in the area. So if you're if your managers don't hold people accountable, the staff are not gonna follow suit. There are rare exceptions, obviously, but generally speaking, that the culture will follow the leader. And so safety leadership is paramount. Because I mean, one case in point, let's say you have a construction site and the the rank and file construction workers aren't wearing their hard hats. They look at their leader and they're not telling them to wear the hard hats. So you're kind of having uphill battle already. so it's important to foster that that mindset that it's not just about checking a box. Although we have to check the box. Of course. Just we're required to. Right. But to have the culture where you're doing it th because it's the right thing to do. Yes. Not because there's a box to check. Yeah. And I'm I'm very blessed to work in a in a environment in a in a a organization that has that mindset. With with very, very few exceptions. Generally when I reach out to somebody and say, Hey, we've got this deficiency, we need correct, I get great feedback. Yeah. and and most of the time they're o proactive to say, okay, what do we need to do? How can we help? How can we work with you to make sure that we're we're safe? Not having to fight people all the time is a blessing. Yeah. of course there are exceptions where people just don't agree with the rules. Sure. Or they don't understand the why. Right. And I try to lead with that collaborative approach. Right. Because it's not enough to say, okay, you have to do X, Y, or Z because I say so. Right. Right. It's easy to it's easier to just say, okay, this is what happens. Because There's there's an old joke in safety that they say that the safety code's written in blood. And that's that's an exaggerated statement. But the reality is every rule in that OSHA book is because somebody did something that hurt themselves or somebody else. Yeah. And so they had to write a code about it. Yeah. And so here we are. Yeah. And I recognize even personally, I I can look at those rules sometimes and say, okay, this is only actually dangerous in the most utter most extreme circumstance. But You have to think about worst case scenarios. And it's not always fun to think that way. Yeah. Because you can look at a minor infraction and say, okay, is this really that big of a risk? Right. But you have to address every one of them as if it's you know, potentially a significant risk. so risk analysis is is a is a piece of what I have to do day in, day out is assess that and mitigate those risks and and say there's a hierarchy of controls. So making sure that you're applying the the most appropriate control. based on the risk of the situation. Yeah. What I heard from you just now was, and you tell me if I got this right or not, I heard that you have to have strong partnerships with with the people around you. So you're, you know, you you have a l and it's so funny, man. I once you see certain things, you just see them everywhere, right? But you're what you say is I've gotta I have a list of of rules that we have to follow, right? But I can't just hand this list out to everybody and expect it to happen. Right. It happens through people. Yes. And and how do I get people is I have to partner. I can't just go, you do this because I said so. I have to go connect and partner and build relationships. Yeah. and talk about why this matters. And then people go, you're right, this does matter. And and I, you know, you're a good dude. And then they do it. You know, it's it's so do you agree with that? Do you agree with that? Or am I? No, that's that's absolutely accurate because if you go at people with this sort of bullying mentality, usually they're just gonna dig their heels in. Pull rank. Yeah. If you pull rank, that never goes low. It doesn't work. And so you have to be collaborative. You have to go into it with a hey, I I'm gonna help you. We're gonna solve this problem. I love it. if you just drop a problem in someone's lap and you don't offer any solutions, any options, that's not the way I want to work. it's not what's best for the organization. So I try to approach every problem with a okay, we're not compliant. These are possible solutions we can we can try to get there. Let's work together and and let's make it make it compliant and safe. I think I love that about you and though and the whole team and in your chain of command. You you've got a great group of people that all see that same vision, right? And I see that I see that from your from your team is is we have a very important and sacred job, right? But it People is what get it gets it done. I I'm giving my secrets away here, but I have a a question almost always ask in an interview when I'm looking at new people and I'll say, What matters more people are processes? And I'll always ask And and usually they get their answer right. But what I want to hear from them is people. because processes are so important, right? But who d who does the process? People, right? And so and all all people are people y, right? It it there's just no way around it. And so Over time I've started to my mindset has started to change about the things that matter most. And I started to think almost lately of my calling is just to teach people to connect with other people. I I want to teach people how to connect with because if you can connect with other people, you can get anything done. You know, when you can connect with other humans. Yeah. We can we can get it together, we can get anything. There's the old there's the old proverb. It's like if you want to go fast, go by yourself. If you want to go far, go together. Absolutely. If we can get people working together, we can do anything. And I and you guys do an incredible incredible job of that of being collaborative. I nobody I know you guys go around and do rounds, right? safety rounds regularly. Yep. And I could f and it's not this way in our organization. I could I could see where there'd be organizations or environments where the safety teams come walking through with their clipboards and everybody's like, God, here comes the safety team. We still get to some degree. That is not what I see. Like usually when you guys come walking through everybody's like, Hey, what's happening? You know, like they're talking and not the rule, it's the exception. But There are still people that duck and cover. Like, god, here they come. And and often enough it's just, they'll kinda, you know, give you a a a gentle poke. Hey, yeah. Poke fun at you a little bit. Yeah. here comes the here comes the the compliance guys. They're coming to get you or roll my eyes. When it when I first moved into the patient relations role fifteen years ago, that was the cult when I would walk into a nursing unit, the culture was patient relations is here. Like What's wrong? you know, and I did not like that. And so we I I we worked really hard to just go be proactive and be on the units all the time, let people see us so that that wasn't the I don't want people when I when I walk up or when my team walks up to go, God, what you know, we wanna be val provide value and and and connection, all those sorts of things. So I f I feel you and that a joke with HR. I feel like HR's in the same boat with us. I always tell Robin, nobody wants to see your your number shows up on the caller ID and they're like, That's great. we're short on time, so a couple a couple things I want to ask you about before I go. one is it's really important that I I wanted to mention that it's fire safety month, is my understanding. That's right. anything you want to talk about with with that? what what does that mean, fire safety month? Well it it came about from some of the big sh fires that were in Chicago. then they promoted awareness about it. What we do at Unana Regional to promote it is we hold a drawing for fire drills to try to improve and drive greater participation. And so people come in to fire drills during the month of October or have their names entered into a drawing. but we we really promote that and try to get the awareness out. We've got some information coming out in the pulse. So that's something to to look for. And we just try to make sure that the level of awareness is where it needs to be. Yeah. And we understand with all the things that that staff do and all the things they have to maintain and the requirements they have to maintain and the patient care we kinda shuffle to the bottom of the list. So I understand. Just gotta bring it back up to the top once in a while and say, Hey, this is still important. We still need to be aware. so we refresh on you know, what they need to do, how to respond. just a good level of awareness overall is important. Yeah. And I would I would recommend not only in in at work but in your home, go check your fire scene. If you don't have some, get some. Right. They're not expensive. Go to Harbor Freight. They got I don't know, that may not be the appropriate response, but they're cheap. No, they're they're not. And and they're not expensive. And and talk through your plans before they happen. Yeah. I can't I can't stress enough the importance of just having a general guideline. Hey, if a if A happens, do this, and and talk through those contingencies with your kids, with your with your family well in advance. So you're not You know, I haven't used the word egress with my kids enough. We're gonna when I go home today, I'm gonna be like, listen, guys. Let's talk about egress. I never used that word until I came to work at you. I'm bringing it back. We haven't I haven't said it enough. My kids are gonna know the word egress by the end of the day today. I give you my word. It's gonna be awesome. It's gonna have that's my gift to you. Appreciate that. Bring egress back. That's gonna be safety. Look, so next year for the for safety awareness, whenever you do that month, I want that t-shirt. We're bring egress back. I want it. okay. What about what are you proud of? I was we're we're before we wrap up, anything that's happened at Unana Regional or in general that you you're proud of, you wanna you wanna share? I'm just proud of our organization. it's a great place to work, it's a great place, the the culture. Everyone there has the right priorities and they wanna do what's best for the patients. I have never found a circumstance where anybody didn't prioritize great quality care and doing things to a certain standard. I'm very proud of being part of the organization. And I know it sounds corny to say this, but United Regional absolutely changed my life. Wow. different trajectory, different path. just the my whole lifestyle changed. So I'm proud to be a part of an organization that is successful and prioritizes quality care. And I think it's a noble calling to to care for others. and I'm very blessed to be a a part of that. I like to joke with my kids saying I get to keep people safe that help other people. that's cool. And so I I really like what I do and I'm proud to be where I am. I love it, man. Well we're we're proud that you're a party non regional and and I I too believe that is healthcare is sacred ground, you know. We're dealing with people in their most vulnerable state. And not only we're taking care of them, but it's our as an organization we have to take care of the people that take care of them. And so all of it is so meaningful. And and man, we're we're so thankful for what you and your whole team. I know you guys have a whole team, what you guys do day in and day out to keep us safe, and keep these things that that may fall off our radar, to keep them front of mind. we I just can't say thanks enough for for all you do and and for coming on today. It's been an honor to have you on the Here to Surf podcast. And final question, anything I haven't asked you about today that you wanted me to ask you about that that you wanted to get out to the public or anybody that works for us or in the community. just as a little bit of a joke, please don't confuse us with security officers. No, no, it's it's just it's funny because even my own children thought that I was a security guard. Yeah. You say safety officer is it the officer officer is officer is the awkward word. So just kind of tongue in cheek. Yeah, I've I'm not in security and what they do is Vital. It's just two different jobs there. Absolutely. I think you should I I think you've made a mistake here by telling people you're not an I think you should lean into it and just be like, I'm an officer. and just leave it at that and then let them run with run with it. It's like I'm an officer. And just like I appreciate you, Brett. It's start yeah, with your notepad in front of you. I like it. Thank you, Brett. I appreciate you, Brett. thank you, Ryan. It's a blessing to be here.