Direct line from Max Buetow for 10/7/22

Oct. 7, 2022

Lessons from the northwest Arkansas Leadership Visit

Every community is on a journey, whether that community is a region, a city, or an organization like CoxHealth. At each of these levels, you can find many of the same factors that make a community successful, and businesses and regions can learn a lot from one another.

I have been thinking about those parallels since I returned from the Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s Community Leadership Visit to northwest Arkansas last week.

The leadership visit is a great concept that brings together an eclectic mix of high-level thinkers and doers, who come together with the intention of working collaboratively to improve our region.

There were 85 delegates on the trip, and we all walked away with the same core lessons: success stems from thinking of your region as a single community, and sticking to a plan.

What stood out to all of us is how northwest Arkansas has a clear, shared vision and a sense of common identity that everyone rallies around.

We saw on the visit just how much potential southwest Missouri has as a region to grasp that type of identity.

A success in Branson, Springfield or Republic is not just a city’s success, but a success for us all. Our area is special, and once we begin to see these successes as wins for the whole region, we will be well on our way to taking our community to another level.

I couldn’t help but notice how northwest Arkansas’ approach and their success parallels what we are working to do organizationally. I took pages of notes, not just for our community, but for CoxHealth.

Just as northwest Arkansas functions with a region-wide mindset, CoxHealth continues to make strides in working as a true regional system. You can see an example of this effort in our systemwide celebration of five-star status, where we celebrated two key functions of our system in Branson and Monett.

You can also see parallels in that the same things that make people want to live in a social community are also true at work. A successful region or business focuses on being:

• a place where everyone can feel like they belong;
• a place that creates opportunity for people to grow and progress;
• a place that fosters collaboration and people working well together;
• a place that people become loyal to.

These are all factors that make any community successful, and they are priorities for us at CoxHealth as we plan for the future.

Northwest Arkansas is also a shining example of what happens when you stick to a plan. As a region, they focused on a shared vision and aligned their efforts. We will do the same thing with our new strategic plan, which will guide us in our coming years.

Their region is further along the maturity curve, whereas CoxHealth is at the beginning of our strategic plan journey.

Whether you are talking about CoxHealth or the region, we need to have a global vision of what we can become. That vision drives strategy and alignment, and ultimately leads to progress that benefits everyone.

Seeing a region that has been on the same journey we are on was invigorating, especially with all of their successes. The visit validated our approach, and it made it clear that if we can bring their lessons home to southwest Missouri and CoxHealth, we will be on the right track.

An emotional final closing of our COVID-19 unit

Yesterday, we hosted a ceremony to officially close our COVID-19 unit in Cox South’s West Tower. This moment of reflection had both tears and smiles all across the room. The unit has closed its doors, but it has left a deep impression on us all.

We heard stories from those who spent hours upon hours caring for our patients, missing holidays and events with their families, to continue to fight for those who needed it most.

During the height of the pandemic, I watched one of our team members hold up a phone so that a family could say goodbye to their loved one over FaceTime. This is a memory I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Goodbyes like these were all too common on the unit. Our colleagues weren’t just caregivers in these moments, they were conduits of love for families and patients.

As I looked around the room, a single word came to mind: gratitude. Looking into the eyes of our staff, who were forever changed by this experience, I could see just how much our teams give of themselves. I thank each and every one of our colleagues for their sacrifices. I can never express my gratitude enough, but I – and our community – will forever say thank you.

Family Medical Care Center relocation

On Monday, the CoxHealth Family Medicine Residency and Family Medical Care Center opened a new space on the seventh floor in Wheeler Heart and Vascular Center. For the team, it was a dream realized after nearly a decade of planning and effort.

I worked with the Residency and FMCC early in my career at CoxHealth and I had the pleasure of working on this project for several years. Seeing the dream come true this week for so many colleagues I have known for years felt like a personal win to me.

I am proud to see the team in a new space that reflects the excellent service they provide.

The new clinic will educate resident physicians in a state-of-the-art facility, while offering whole family care for the community. It includes 34 exam rooms and four procedure rooms, and it allows resident physicians to more easily serve patients at Cox South.

In addition to the new clinic, we are growing our partnership with Jordan Valley Community Health Center to better meet our area’s health care needs.

We recently expanded our partnership to add an additional two resident physicians at Jordan Valley, totaling four resident physicians and two faculty physicians caring for patients at their center-city location. We are committed to growing the program, and future plans include adding up to 12 residents at Jordan Valley in the coming years.

Voice of the Patient

Adapted from inpatient feedback from Cox Monett: “I could not have asked for better care during my stay at Cox Monett. All of the staff went above and beyond to provide a special experience for the birth of our child.”

Thank you for all you do,

Max