Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Building Resilient Rural Healthcare Through Culture and Strategic Focus with Athena Minor

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Building Resilient Rural Healthcare Through Culture and Strategic Focus with Athena Minor · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  At Insight Global Health, we are dedicated to
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  delivering them. Visit us at insightglobal.com.
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  This is Ella Jeffries
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  reporting live at Becker's annual meeting twenty twenty
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  six. With me, I have Athena Minor, chief
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  nursing and clinical officer at Ohio County Health
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  Care. Athena, thank you for joining us today.
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  To start, could you play briefly introduce yourself,
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  your role, and the scope of your organization,
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  and what's currently commanding most of your attention
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  as leader?
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  Yes. My name is Athena Minor. As you
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  said, I'm the chief nursing clinical officer at
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  Ohio County Health Care. It is a,
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  critical access hospital that is independent in the
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  state of Kentucky and Western Kentucky in rural
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  health.
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  We're much larger than most, critical access hospitals
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  are. We have robust
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  surgical
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  units, and we have a lot of specialties
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  that most, independent critical access hospitals do not
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  have.
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  As far as what is shaping,
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  my attention as a leader,
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  it's, I think it's what everybody else is.
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  It's it's just trying to,
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  come to a realization of where we are,
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  where we're going,
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  what we need to focus on to be
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  sustainable in the future,
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  and,
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  how we carry our workforce through the coming
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  years. So those those are kind of what
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  is,
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  kind of capturing my attention on a day
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  to day basis. Yeah. Very important things. I'm
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  sure.
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  Now any year marked by very rapid change,
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  what recent decision or pivot required the most
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  leadership conviction from yourself and particularly when it
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  came to maybe aligning people, resources, or capabilities?
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  You know, that's a tough one because there
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  has been so much change and so many
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  challenges that are coming and so many that
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  are coming on the future,
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  horizon. I think that probably for me,
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  it is
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  has been to identify
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  what is necessary and what is not necessary
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  within the organization
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  as we have,
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  rapid growth, but,
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  problems with,
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  fiscal security
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  of what's coming down the pipe and how
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  do you plan for that,
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  making decisions that may not be the decisions
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  you wanna make with your heart,
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  but you now have to align the purpose
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  of your organization
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  Mhmm. With the resources you have available and
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  how you outsource
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  those things that you can't do well Mhmm.
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  And focus on the things you can do
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  well and just collaborate with with other organizations.
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  So,
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  making a strong decision about what we can
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  take on and what we can't,
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  sometimes was very difficult but very necessary. Mhmm.
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  For sure. I bet.
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  Now how did that moment challenge your assumptions,
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  and what did it change about how you
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  approach decision making, talent, or organizational readiness today?
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  I think the understanding that you can't wait
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  until
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  there is a crisis to have a plan.
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  Mhmm. You cannot wait until you have to
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  make a decision to make that decision Mhmm.
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  To try to prepare for what the contingencies
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  are as they come
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  to know and evaluate,
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  your priorities, know what's important for you, know
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  what,
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  areas you can succeed in and have the
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  best,
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  ability
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  to pursue.
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  You know, I'm former military, and
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  we used to have,
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  a tent in the hospital
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  called an expectant tent in when you're out
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  in the field, and that's where they would
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  send people that they did not have the
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  resources
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  to help. Mhmm. They knew they had to
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  pull their resources
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  into those people that they could help
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  in order to be successful. Otherwise,
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  you lose more Mhmm. By trying to divide
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  your resources. So so I think that having
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  that type of plan and that kind of
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  conviction,
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  before you're in a crisis
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  is trying to be essential
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  as you move forward as a leader. And
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  and I feel like that that has really
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  taught me
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  how accurate that
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  thought process is when it comes to leading
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  in health care today. Definitely. I think that's
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  a great piece of advice for anybody in
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  the industry.
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  Now as uncertainty has become the the new
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  norm, what leadership habit or mindset has been
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  most critical in keeping your organization and your
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  people moving forward? I think our culture.
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  You know, culture is so important, and health
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  care comes with its own unique challenges,
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  its own unique obstacles, and it can be
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  very frustrating. It can be,
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  people have burnout for multiple reasons. It's not
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  just overwork. It's it's just mental stress sometimes
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  that that is that burnout.
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  And
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  knowing why you're doing what you're doing
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  can help you do what you do better.
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  And I think that the culture of what's
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  our purpose for being here and
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  having our people buy into that understanding that
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  we're here for the patient. We're here to
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  take care of people who can't take care
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  of themselves.
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  And everything we do in some form touches
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  that patient. Mhmm.
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  When you know that, it's easier to work
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  through those things and overcome it. Mhmm. And
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  I think that if we have that type
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  of patient first culture and understanding of our
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  purpose and our being and that we look
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  out for one another Mhmm. That's gonna drive
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  what we do in the future and help
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  us be successful.
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  Gotcha. Thank you for sharing that. Now when
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  you think about the forces reshaping health care
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  right now, where do you believe leaders need
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  to be more decisive,
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  especially when balancing both speed, risk, and having
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  the right teams in place?
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  I think
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  there needs to be a shift to focus
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  on frontline competency
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  Mhmm.
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  And frontline flexibility.
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  Mhmm. Not doing things the way
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  we've always done it just because they've worked
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  in the past. Mhmm.
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  But also understanding
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  where our safety and our quality come from,
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  and it's it's our people that we
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  lead to that task
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  and make sure that they have the tools
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  that they needed and are competent in doing
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  that. Because many times when you look at
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  the challenges that we face, it's very easy
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  to pull resources
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  Mhmm. From those types of areas
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  and put them into
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  things that we feel like are the most
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  important. Mhmm.
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  You cannot
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  support
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  provider growth Mhmm. If you can't support employee
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  growth. You can't support
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  project expansion
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  if you can't support
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  the ancillary services that are gonna help you
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  make those successful. Mhmm. So understanding there has
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  to be a balance in that, but also
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  focusing your resources where they are most needed
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  and not necessarily on those things that you
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  want to expand and improve, but look at
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  the big picture Mhmm. And make sure that
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  you have that whole
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  support system
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  supported.
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  Yeah. That's definitely very important.
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  And as labor markets remain tight and care
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  demands continue to grow, how are you rethinking
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  traditional workforce models, including, you know, maybe greater
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  use of international or contingent talent to build
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  resilience rather than just fill gaps?
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  You know, we've actually employed our first international
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  nursing pool. Mhmm.
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  And we actually contracted that in during COVID.
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  Oh. And we just now received that workforce.
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  It has been that much of a delay.
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  Wow. That's a lot.
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  But it's been very beneficial for us, you
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  know, and it it wasn't something that we
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  thought of, oh, it's just gonna help us
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  over the bump, but we did look into
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  the future and say, you know, we're gonna
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  have to expand our options here. We're gonna
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  have to make sure that we have the
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  resources needed to take care of things.
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  So,
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  I think, again, not closing doors on things
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  today Mhmm. Because you can't see if they're
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  needed tomorrow,
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  maybe that may be a an issue. That
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  may become a a problem down the road.
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  So look at your options, see what you
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  can do.
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  I think health care models,
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  being able to train people to be flexible
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  and work in different areas as needed, not
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  just to train them to do that, but
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  help them buy into
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  Mhmm. The the culture that this is how
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  I'm gonna best help this organization. This is
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  how I'm gonna best help my patients
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  is to obtain those skills necessary for different
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  areas so that I'm useful in different areas
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  as needed. Mhmm.
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  And reward them for that. Make sure that
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  they understand that they're important and that's something
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  that is needed. So look at those health
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  care models, look at the flexibility of your
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  health care, and look at the options of
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  how you can recruit and retain people from
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  from different areas.
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  When we had first stated that we were
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  going to,
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  hire some international nurses, we got some negative
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  feedback
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  from people,
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  who I don't think understood,
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  but being able to explain to them the
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  why and the purpose,
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  And then some of those people were the
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  most welcoming of our workforce when they came
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  in.
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  So just those different options, not shutting the
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  door, not closing the door,
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  looking to see where that is and,
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  evaluating what you have and the resources you
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  have and how you can utilize those resources,
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  to their best ability and support them so
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  that they can grow. Mhmm. Yeah. That's great.
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  Thank you so much for sharing all these
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  insights today. These are great advice,
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  and we really thank you for joining us
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  today at Becker's annual conference. Well, thank you
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  for having me. I surely appreciate it. Great.
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  Thank you.