The past year has been challenging during the pandemic, but it has invited connection and deepened relationships, as we have worked to support each other and provided hope to our communities.  Learning about your unique experience and engagement is crucial, and we invite you to share your story with us in Centura Health’s Associate and Physician Engagement surveys that are now underway.

Designed to measure key drivers of workplace engagement, these surveys are an opportunity for you to share your unique experiences working at Centura. Your participation ensures we obtain valuable feedback from you, as we work to achieve Centura Health’s 2025 aspirations.

The confidential surveys run through March 31 and may only be taken online. Check your Centura Health email inbox for a message from our survey partner, Glint (survey@glintinc.com), that will provide a link to the survey and access instructions. The full associate survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete, and the survey questions will cover important engagement topics about your unique experiences.

We are committed to building a culture where you can live your mission, grow in your purpose and encounter meaningful and exciting experiences. Your engagement is our priority! Thank you in advance for taking time to complete the survey and sharing your important feedback with us.

Questions?
Please contact your human resources leader or email engagement@centura.org.

Are you using our new email signature? Please take a moment to ensure you have updated and shared your personal mission statement. To highlight the importance of emails in our daily interactions and the set-up process, watch this brief and informative video.

Email signatures help us celebrate who we are and the importance of our personal mission statements in our daily connections. Sharing your mission statement at the base of each email you send not only celebrates the unique contributions each associate brings to our ministry, it serves as a powerful and clear reminder of what we aspire to become. As a reminder, these personal mission statements extend far deeper than what you aim to achieve at work. Instead, they’re intended to represent your life’s mission.

For questions regarding your email signature set up, please contact the IT Service Desk at ServiceCenter@centura.org.

I’m on a mission to serve and improve the lives of others.

Carrie Damon, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Centura Health, was recently named as a finalist in Colorado CIO Leadership Association’s second annual Colorado CIO of the Year ORBIE Awards.

The ORBIE Awards program recognizes executives driving innovation and harnessing technology for their companies across the nation. The awards are given in six categories. Carrie is being recognized in the Large Enterprise category for companies with over $1.2 billion in annual revenue.

“Carrie has made tremendous contributions to advancing whole person care through her personal mission of improving and serving the lives of others,” said Peter D. Banko, President & CEO. “She has been a faithful leader in enabling our technology journey, connecting our complex ecosystem to consumer-driven enablement in the digital and virtual space, and serving as a leader in our unprecedented global pandemic response.”

In her role at Centura, Carrie provides strategic leadership for our use of technology across the system. Her work focuses on driving growth, efficiency and disruption through aligned strategy, team development, technology, digitalization and consumer engagement.

Prior to joining Centura Health in February 2020, Carrie served as Vice President of IT for Molson Coors Brewing Company in Colorado. She has also held executive leadership positions at both Western Union and Accenture.

Winners will be revealed at a virtual event on March 26. A special section will run in conjunction with the event, both online and in print at the Denver Business Journal.

To view a list of the finalist, click here. Join us in congratulating Carrie on this honor!

In partnership with the Centura Health Foundations, Walden University has generously donated 30, $15,000 scholarships to Centura Health associates who enroll in a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral program and begin classes between April 1 and Sept. 27, 2021 at Walden University. Additionally, Centura Health and the Foundations have agreed to match Walden’s gift by 50%, bringing total scholarship award amounts up to $22,500, depending on the cost of the degree program.  

The scholarship application period begins April 1, 2021 and runs until April 30, 2021. With only 30 scholarships available, the application process will be competitive and a scholarship is not guaranteed to all applicants. To learn more about this incredible opportunity, please join Walden University for a virtual Q & A session. Click here for dates and times and to register! Awards and amounts will be determined by a diverse selection committee comprising Centura Health leadership, board members, foundation representatives and Walden University.

By removing the heavy financial burden of higher education, we hope this generous gift will help you live your mission, achieve your career aspirations and build flourishing communities. “The Walden scholarship program allowed graduate school to be much more affordable for me,” shared Mary Cain, RN Clinical Coordinator at St. Anthony Hospital. “The flexibility of the program aims to help working professionals succeed in graduate school.”

With more than 80 degree programs and more than 385 specializations and concentrations, Walden University offers Centura Health associates a way to build highly transferable skills that can be immediately applied to your current role, as well as provide a pathway for greater career success. To qualify for a scholarship, your selected degree program must meet the hiring needs of Centura Health.

Supported by philanthropy, this unique opportunity would not be possible without the generosity of Walden University, Centura Health and our community of foundation donors who include some of our own incredible caregivers.

Preventing and treating substance use disorders is a vital part of the whole person care we deliver to our patients and communities, and we are committed to a multi-faceted approach to combating the nationwide opioid crisis. The Alternatives to Opioids (ALTO) program, which will expand to include inpatient medicine at every Centura hospital on May 4, provides pain management strategies intended to decrease the number of opioids used to treat our patients, ultimately decreasing related substance use disorders (SUD) and opioid-related deaths.

Centura Health is a leader in the ALTO implementation across our connected ecosystem. Since the ALTO program launched in our emergency departments, emergency clinics and urgent care centers in December 2018, we have decreased opioid use in these care settings by 20% and increased ALTO use by 18% systemwide. Thank you to the teams who have facilitated the success of this important patient care and safety initiative!

The next phase of the ALTO program is focused on inpatient hospital medicine to help ensure a consistent, aligned approach to reducing opioid usage among those we serve (see below for more details on the timing of this launch).

This inpatient implementation comes at a crucial time; prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, behavioral health was already in crisis, and COVID-19 has significantly worsened symptoms of substance use as well as anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation in our communities. Working together, we have an opportunity to respond to this growing crisis!

Successful ALTO implementation requires us to use our Universal Skills, using team checks and asking clarifying questions to ensure we are providing safe and effective pain management to every patient, every time. To support our incredible people in this important work, tools and resources to support this launch have been created and are now available to every site. Additionally, a LEARN module must be completed by all med-surg and ICU nurses and pharmacy associates.

Inpatient Hospital Medicine ALTO timelines Nov. 2019 – March 2020: LUH and SANHC participated in a statewide inpatient ALTO pilot. Pre-launch for enterprise-wide inpatient ALTO rollout: Dec. 1 – May 1, 2021. Enterprise-wide launch of the inpatient hospital medicine ALTO program: May 4, 2021.

Combating the nationwide opioid crisis takes all of us. We are grateful for the commitment of our ALTO site team members, the hospitals they represent and all of our caregivers who are on a mission to ensure the ongoing success of this life-saving and industry-changing initiative. We ask for your continued support and encouragement as ambassadors; together we will make a difference for thousands of neighbors in our communities who put their trust in us to provide them with safe, effective and compassionate care.

Questions?
Contact Mary Beth Savory, RN, BSN, MHA, Opioid Response Coordinator, at marybethsavory@centura.org, or Todd Popp, MD, Medical Director, CHPG Hospital Medicine Program, at ToddPopp@Centura.Org.