How are hospital operations recovering in the aftermath of the severe flooding?

First of all, we met our reopening goal right on time. The flooding just affected the ground level that housed the pharmacy, lab, central services, our beautiful brand-new cath labs, Gamma Knife, housekeeping, biomed, maintenance and engineering, as well as two fast-food restaurants. All of these services had to be relocated to higher floors and the ground level is still not being used.

Aside from the types of services that were affected, the most amazing thing was how our employees worked as a team, remaining calm and focused during a major citywide crisis. Some patients were transported to other Memorial Hermann facilities, such as Memorial City and Memorial Southwest, while others had to be moved to nearby hospitals within the Texas Medical Center Campus.

The storm provided the first big test of how well the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System could function as a single unit-and we passed with flying colors.

What's your secret for managing such a large and diverse array of patient care settings?

Memorial Hermann Hospital has a 75-year tradition of providing quality care. In fact, there had been so much heroism performed in this facility over the years that the extraordinary had become ordinary and people rarely took the time to praise each other. As a result, we are trying to assimilate a philosophy we call "Partners in Caring." This is not a temporary program-it's a new way life. We now not only give permission to praise and reward each other, we encourage and enable it.

For example, each department director is given a Partners in Caring toolbox containing fun giveaways like movie tickets, cafeteria discounts, pens, teddy bears, etc. When an employee does something special, we surprise them with something from the toolbox.

We've also started having more employee celebrations, like picnics and theme parties. For example, we took a group of employees to the Houston Astros baseball game for the Fourth of July. We've also found that personalized notes are another great way to recognize people who go the extra mile.

What's this new scholarship program we've been hearing about?

We call it the "Professional Practice Nurse Program," or PPN. Working in conjunction with Southern National Bank, we arrange student loans to cover tuition at a choice of several local colleges on behalf of employees who wish to further their education by becoming licensed nurses (either ADN or BSN).

Upon completion of their training, if they continue to work for us as nurses, the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System will pay off their loans.

How well is it working?

The program is still new, but we have had a tremendous number of applicants from throughout the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System. These include young people and people who have been out of school for as long as 20 years.

We have employees entering the program from many disciplines, including patient care techs, lab techs, operating room techs, EMTs-really there are too many to name. We also have LVNs in the program, as well as RNs working toward their BSN.

To further ensure the success of the program, each student is assigned a mentor to provide tips, tutoring and advice. It's really an excellent program.