Valley Hospice Named A Top Place To Work

RAYLAND -- Being selected for a national award that recognizes an organization as a top employer is important, but winning the honor two years in a row is even more impressive,

That’s what Valley Hospice has just accomplished.

“We heard about how difficult and prestigious this award was, because it was a true voice of the employee award,” explained Natalie Bolock, the organization’s chief people officer, while discussing the Modern Healthcare Best Places to Work Award the organization received during a celebration event in Houston.

“It wasn’t one of those things where the employer submits stuff and says, ‘You’re a a great place to work.’ No -- the employees need to say you’re a great place to work, which is why I think this was so meaningful for us,” she added.

Presented by Modern Healthcare, which describes itself as the leading source of health care business and policy news, research and information, the best places to work program recognizes outstanding employers in the health care industry nationwide. The list includes 75 providers and 75 vendors.

What separates the award from other recognitions is that 80 percent of an organization’s score is made up of what employees think about the organization they work for, with the remaining 20 percent being the employer’s assessment.

“We’ve been involved with other awards through the years, and they have been wonderful,” said Andrea Hale, Valley hospice’s CEO. “But those awards ask things like if you have good health insurance -- and they’re about what your organization offers, with just a little piece of what the employees think. This is a risk, because it’s about 80 percent what the employees think.”

Hale and Bolock said building and maintaining a working atmosphere people can be proud to be a part of is important.

“This is nothing like you have all of these great benefits and your employees think, ‘Yeah, that’s great -- but our culture is horrible,” Hale added. “It’s the culture that is in front of this award. We have been working really hard to ensure that we’re mentoring the next generation of hospice interdisciplinary team members.”

The two have been involved with Valley Hospice for decades. Hale has been an employee for 22 years, while Bolock has been there for 21 years. Hale added that she is just the third CEO in the history of the organization, which was founded in 1985.

“Natalie and I, through the years, were sitting there as young leaders,” Hale said. “I started in bedside nursing and came up through the leadership roles, and about halfway, we looked at each other and said, ‘We care about our employees so much that we want to find a way to bring the best culture to them.’ And, maybe, someday we could be one of the best places to work for them. We wanted to create that environment.”

That culture has helped Valley Hospice grow to the where it now serves seven counties --Jefferson, Harrison, Belmont, Hancock, Brooke, Ohio and Marshall, as well as a portion of Columbiana -- on both sides of the Ohio River from its Rayland headquarters. It operates the Mary Jane Brooks Care Center North at UPMC Trinity and Liza’s Place Care Center South and provides residential care and palliative care among its services.

“I think it’s safe to say that we had a vision many years ago of the culture, and then the rest of the employees should be proud of this because they created this culture,” said Bolock, who began her career at Valley Hospice in the human resources department. “They created that culture, because only employees can create it. You can say what our values are and what you want it to be, but they have to create it -- they live it.

“It’s an enjoyable work environment, and it makes them want to recruit other employees,” she added. “I can’t tell you how many times people -- and I mean for the most difficult positions to fill, the after-hours on-call positions --they’re like, we want to work there because so-and-so said it’s the best place to work. It’s a great environment -- it’s a great culture, and that’s what’s important.”

Hospice work is never easy, Hale and Bolock said. Hale added that in their line of work, they have to be the strongest version of their self, mind, body and spirit.

“You walk into a home with a 12-year-old who’s dying and a family that’s imploding,” Hale explained. “Your physical wellness is not going to get you through that. I’ve been there -- you have to be emotionally well and spiritually well, because you are showing up for them in the worst time of their life. If you’re only physically well, it is going to spill over.”

Ensuring that their core values of teamwork, integrity, performance, spirituality, mission and engagement remain a part of everything they do is something they work on constantly, Hale and Bolock said.

Maintaining that culture is important, Hale added, especially in today’s environment, where an organization’s culture can factor as much as 40 percent in person’s decision to apply for a job there.

Another difference they are seeing is in the way young people who are looking to join an organization look at their overall situation.

“Those in the millennial generation are the ones who say you only live once,” Bolock said. “I listened to someone from that generation give a speech on it, and she pretty much said they don’t settle because they don’t have to. They have options and go by the mantra that they only live once. They want to live the best life they can live starting early. It’s a different generation now.”

The award was presented right before the start of National Hospice Month, which began Sunday. Tracing its history to 1978, the month has been set aside to help raise awareness about hospice and palliative care, recognize health care workers and volunteers and build awareness with the public.

Valley Hospice, Hale explained, serves around 1,500 people a year through its programs. On any given day, they will see about 265 hospice patients and 180 palliative care patients, all of whom are spread across the service area. That need will be growing -- every day, around 11,000 people across the United States turn 65.

As the demand for care continues to grow, investing in their people and continuing to build their culture will be important.

“You know, everything else is a satisfier,” Bolock said. “Money’s a satisfier, benefits are a satisfier. But then there’s the culture. I tell my kids that, hopefully, they will do something they enjoy throughout their lives because you are going to spend more time with people at work and in your environment than you are with your own family sometimes. I think we have that, and I’m proud we have created that.”