Beyond the Call of Duty: Recognizing administrative resilience during COVID-19

On the afternoon of Tuesday, February 6, the department’s Staff Engagement Action Committee (SEAC) waited in the Seebohm conference room to welcome more than 30 administrative staff who were being honored for their contributions during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each person was handpicked by their current or prior supervisor for having gone above and beyond the call of duty during the global emergency.

Attendees were treated to a catered lunch by Charlotte’s. This was followed by a program of faculty calling out the specific ways, and in some cases, specific individuals who positively impacted department programs that needed to quickly solve a variety of problems presented by the rapid spread of the mysterious and dangerous SARS-CoV-2 virus. Each honoree was also given a personalized, handwritten thank-you note from their supervisor upon arrival.

To the group, Vice Chair for Clinical Programs, Kimberly Staffey, MD, said, “In a very, very short time, this group really organized themselves around [the question], ‘How do we continue the high value, high quality, care and education and research that we do every day?’ …We had to think outside the box to continue to be effective and get things done. Things that are simple, that we now take for granted, like lifting up the entire department to be able to communicate via Zoom. I mean, it happened literally overnight. All the people in this room were key to helping all of us be able to communicate when we no longer could communicate face-to-face.”

Chair and DEO Isabella Grumbach, MD, PhD, echoed Staffey’s and others’ remarks, adding that those being recognized were also those who rescheduled meetings and appointments, who made sure our clinics had proper coverage, and were on the front lines of the hospital entryways, checking temperatures of their colleagues and patients coming through the doors.

The recognition event is another of the few ideas that rose to the top when faculty and staff were surveyed on “The $10,000 Question.” In addition to suggesting the now popular Pop-Up Lounge located in the Administration office suite, feedback was unified around the thought that those who were flexible and willing to face the unknown in the midst of the first several unsure months of the pandemic should be recognized in a meaningful way.

“I think this also speaks to how concerned and involved other people are, and how they actually know how we all are contributing to this common goal of making this a good place to work. So thank you again for being such wonderful, supportive blocks of the department in many instances—in COVID and otherwise. And honestly, things really wouldn’t work without you. At all. In fact, the doors wouldn’t open. So thank you.”

Thank you again to the individuals who supported this department in numerous and creative ways in the early days of the COVID-19 event.

Thank you to the faculty who took time out of their schedules to attend this event and express their gratitude to the honorees in person:

Brittany Bettendorf, MD
Kevin Glenn, MD, MS
Isabella Grumbach, MD, PhD
Amal Shibli-Rahhal, MD, MS, MME
Kimberly Staffey, MD
Jack Stapleton, MD
David Stoltz, MD, PhD
Manish Suneja, MD

And thank you to the SEAC for organizing this event:

Kaila Boothroy
Kathleen Detert
Ernesto Ruiz Duque, MD
Cari Harland
Trevor Jackson
Sherry Mattison
Claire McGranahan
Amal Shibli-Rahhal, MD, MS, MME
Anni Thorn