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Welcome to this episode of Leadership Unscripted, a Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm Christosa, your host. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr. Jandell Allen Davis. She, of course, is president and CEO of Craig Hospital in Inglewood, Colorado. Jandell, thank you for joining us today. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity. Fantastic. Jandell, for those in our audience who may not be familiar with you and or Craig hospital. Could you please tell us a little bit about both? Sure. Well, so I am a physician. I'm actually an OBGYN and practiced 25 of the last 42 years. Hard to believe how fast time goes as a practicing OBGYN. And then about 18 years ago, went into full-time administration when I was with Kaiser Permanente here in Colorado. I had the privilege and the honor of being asked to consider taking the helm at Craig Hospital. And sometimes you say things that you can't believe came out of your mouth, but I said, let's talk and see what happens. And seven and a half years later, I find myself in this amazing institution. And for those who don't know, Craig Hospital is a nationally and internationally renowned hospital that specializes in the neurorehabilitation of persons who've sustained either a traumatic or an acquired spinal cord injury, brain injury, and in some cases, unfortunately, both. And, you know, that sounds like a whole bunch of words, but it's really, as I said, being in health care as long as I have. I've never seen health care practiced more beautifully than here. It's very much a team-based model, but there's something about the heart and the soul of the persons, the people who support this mission, the over 1,000 employees that we have to support the mission, that we are focused on patients and families in a way that I've never seen health care delivered so beautifully. And as a result of that, we've got the data, we've got the impact data to show that from an outcomes perspective, those who do their rehabilitation here actually enjoy more independence than some of our fellow neurorehab hospitals or rehab hospitals that do inpatient rehab for these two injuries. and we've got the numbers to show that patients and families really appreciate what it is to get care here and our team members are able to do it in a really super joyful way which just warms my heart gives me a great deal of satisfaction and joy and makes work fun as a CEO and president well that's a huge deal and it sounds like you're exactly where you need to be I think I am. Yeah. Well, our today's podcast, Leadership Unscripted, we're less about the X's and O's of healthcare. Instead, we want to talk about your healthcare journey and how that applies to your mission at Craig Hospital and just healthcare in general. So where I want to start today, Jandell, is simply what do you consider so far, anyway, the most memorable day or period from your career? Oh boy. Well, you know, there's too many mosts to really answer the question. I'd say both in terms of some of the harder times or periods, as well as the ones that just, I hope are things that I remember in those waning days of this thing called my life. In terms of my professional career, the most memorable were any and all over the 25 years that I practice clinical medicine where I had the opportunity working alongside and standing alongside and with my patients to really make a difference whether it was in delivery rooms delivering babies I remember one that's probably one of the more fun ones a baby who I mean all this woman had had four I think yes it was four little boys and she was so hoping for a girl and I'd scanned her that has done an ultrasound in about 28 weeks just to look I can't remember why we were looking at this stage of the game but um and I swore that I saw that it was another boy and so I was so bummed couldn't say anything because she wanted it to be secret but as fate would have it I had the chance to deliver her which in the big Kaiser Permanente system wasn't always the case and I'll never forget when that baby came out and it was a girl and she's crying I literally was crying and then when I told her later I've been carrying for 12 weeks that this was a boy I better get better at scanning, I guess. And then it was so sweet going in her room early in the wee hours of the morning. And there she was, she had the diaper down and she's like looking at this little girl's parts because she can't believe she had a baby girl. So, you know, those sorts of moments are countless ones of those really sweet moments, harder ones, of course, but also important to be present for where when, you know, there was bad news in the obstetrical suite, you know, in particular with intrauterine fetal demises where babies died. And that was one of the other periods and points where it's really important to be present with my patients. And I had many opportunities or experiences in GYN2. From a leadership perspective, because it wasn't as if, you know, 18 years ago, I went from 100% full-time clinical medicine into full-time administrative care. But I'd had opportunities along the way where doors opened or people tapped me on the shoulder. And I was able to sit at tables where people are trying to make things better. And then the big ask or invitation to join the leadership team of the health plan at Kaiser came in 2009. And I took the big step away. I think the memorable thing about that particular period is I didn't run away from clinical care. I loved every bit of obstetrics and gynecology. The operating room, the labor delivery suites, the outpatient place where I built relationships over time and a continuity practice with women and their kids and watch kids grow and all that sort of thing. I didn't run away from that. I loved it. I was drawn to the possibility of the potential of thinking about as a clinician, you know, how might we make systems better? and the way I think about it through what I'd learned at the feet of my patients over 25 years that I could bring into leadership and serving organizations to get healthcare where we need it to be because it isn't where we need it to be from the perspective of not just the science of medicine, but I'd say the heart and the art of medicine. And so I like to say everything I learned about leadership, I learned in the care of patients over 25 years. And so there've been multiple memorable things over that time. But probably that period was kind of hard because I did walk away from something I loved, to do something that was kind of the wasn the totally the great unknown but it was new for me that for sure And you know lots to learn I was the vice president for government external relations and research and had communications and marketing and community benefit and community relations, research, responsibilities, as well as all the advocacy work in the governing space at the time of the passage of the ACA, if you remember, because I took that job in 09 and 2010 is when the ACA passed. So it was an exciting time because it was a ton to learn. And it was a fun period at the same time that it certainly had plenty of roller coaster downhill moments in terms of, ah, what are we doing now? And then these seven and a half years has just been remarkable to serve this institution and probably the most memorable, but I've also forgotten, I think most of it in some ways was making our way through COVID as a hospital that we really did need to ensure that we didn't get COVID in our patient population because they stay, you know, average length of stay here is 65 days. So there was the potential for a widespread epidemic within our own hospital had it in here. And we managed to not get the first case of COVID in the hospital till January of 22. And that was after we'd had vaccines that were working. So it was a firefight in a really interesting way. And it was memorable. It's a time from the perspective of leading, serving, supporting, inspiring, staying in it with our team members and patients and families that I'll never forget. That was a very long answer, too. Yes, but a very memorable one, I would say. Jandell, you mentioned, I love how you mentioned how you were taking what you learned at serving at the feet of your patients into administration. I want to back up just ever so slightly because you talked about the ups and downs of being a physician and being able to deliver that girl for that family. And then at the same time, you've had rough moments, right? So as a leader now, when you look back at that and someone is experiencing those same roller coaster, that same roller coaster of emotions, how do you where do you start to help someone through that sort of experience? Well, you know, I'll start by answering the question by saying that, you know, I did ask myself in the early days of making this transition into more leadership, more full-time leadership world, what do you think are the transferable skills that you learn in caring for patients for 25 years that are going to help you in this work? And so I answered the question by asking myself, well, what did your patients want? And I came up with five things. The first was they assumed you knew your stuff. So it's really important that we commit to lifelong learning. There's not a day that goes by, and that is not hyperbole, where there's not something new either to learn or something new I learned about this place that I've worked in for seven and a half years. So let alone the external environment. So knowing your stuff, that's an assumption people make. The second is that you have to have the ability to form instant and trusting relationships. And in health care, we're meeting strangers every day at some of the most vulnerable times in their lives. And so that whole idea of instant trusting relationships, there's 1,100 people in our organization as employees. And our average daily census runs around 81, 82 beds out of an organization that can support 88 right now. And so I'm also meeting families and folks in the hall. So that whole idea of instant trusting relationships. The third is that you had to do what you said you were going to do. It's all about integrity and follow through. The fourth one was for my patients that was important is I had to treat them as if they were my only one. And that was about being wholly present in that moment, focused on that patient and their needs, that family and their needs. And then the last one was that even if the news was bad, what our patients wanted more than anything else was that you weren't going to abandon them, that you're going to be there with them through a cancer diagnosis or that baby who died or the patient who's struggling with something behaviorally or you name it, whatever may be going on. They wanted to know you weren't going to abandon them. And I said, well, if you think about community members, you think about the teams you have to support and serve, you think about business partners, the legislators that you're going to have to interact with, don't you think that's the five things they want to? And I said, yeah. I said, so you'll be fine. I mean, you're not here to get a 30-year career in government relations. And certainly as an obstetrician-gynecologist, I was not a physiatrist. I didn't study or know spinal cord and brain injury. And that's not what I'm here to do. I'm here to really make sure that those five things are coming together in service to those we serve, which includes our teams, our patients, and our community in a way that works. So that's how I think I'd answer that question of how you make the transition. It's the heart and the art of medicine. The science is the stuff that's so cool, and I loved it. And the alchemy of when those three things come together, that's where the real sweetness is. For sure. Jindal, when you do look back on other parts of your career, what would you say is the accomplishment you're most proud of? And that can be yours. It could be your team's, you know, whatever lens is most appropriate. Gosh, you know, there's so many, but I'm going to say one. And it's a and it's a it's a here and now one, because when I think about the arc of my life as an African-American woman who didn't come from money and absolutely a beneficiary of the modern women's rights and civil rights movement. this role as the CEO and president of this amazing organization is something I could not have seen coming that's not what makes me proudest what makes me proudest is how working alongside an incredibly talented team what we've been able to do and what we're accomplishing for people who don't even know where they're going to need us and that is that right outside my window here I'm looking at scaffolding because we are in the first year of a three-ish year 250 million dollar expansion of our hospital and our campus and i walk out and we started in earnest at the first the first part of the year ground broke in the fall and there's not a moment that goes by when i'm walking between the two buildings here or looking out the window at the scaffolding then i go, wow, you get to do that. Well, not literally, obviously, but a huge role, though. But you as the leader who said, when I came here, I was told we're out of space and we need to build, has shepherded and stewarded and supported and guided in the ways that we do from this chair, architects, construction, general contractors, the team to dream big, It created the space for us to dream big and think about where is Craig Hospital going and what's next for Craig. And we know that there is a wait list. We have a wait list at any given time that can be 40 to 60 deep of people who need our help. And we wanted to be able to serve more of those patients more quickly. We also know that there are people who no longer need the ICU level, that intensive level of care, but they're not ready to do four to six hours of rehab, because that's what we do here compared to other centers. And they go to places where the care of these patients is incredibly complex. They medically they surgically they neurologically complicated in complex patients and they may develop complications And that an issue that we need to address as a nation I think, and as a field. But then when they get here, they're not able to actively participate because we've got to deal with the complications. So we're putting in a new service line, which is so cool. We're putting in a neuromedical unit that we can bring those patients here who aren't quite ready to do rehab, but that we know we can either manage the complications that may have already developed or prevent them, we hope. Our researchers, Craig's been involved in research for 52 years, and we're going to have a, we're building a gait lab or a human movement lab, as we're calling it, and we're going to deepen translational research because we've got, you know, we've got the clinical right here on site and the research that we can actively and continue to actively engage in advancing the field. So I think this, this, you know, this is my, this is my swan song gig. I know that after 40, and actually I think I said the math wrong, no, 42 years, after 42 years in, in healthcare, this will be the last one of the things that I have the opportunity to do. And to know that I'll be able to drive by, oh, let me not get choked up here, Gerard and Clarkson and look up and say, you had a hand in that for years to come. It does give me a real sense of both pride and accomplishment and just gratitude for the great people I get to work alongside who have, we've taken each other for this great ride and journey. Well, let me offer congratulations to you and Craig Hospital for, you know, just all the success that you had not only recently but you know over the course of the organization's 50 some odd year existence right well in terms of spinal cord injury 50 or some odd years or actually closer to 70 now but craig hospital is 119 years old so got it even independent and not for profit and that's the other thing that you know we we will we pay a lot of attention to because it's why we get to do what we get to do and how we get to do it. Jendel, when you look at expansion projects, which are always very exciting, how do you know exactly when it's time to expand? Well, first of all, I think it's really important to look at your data. And that was one of the things that, you know, there are other little things that are notable about my seven and a half years here. It was really beginning to think about the lens through something that a former surgeon general said, no stories without data, no data without stories, and really start to bring a more sort of data-informed and analytic mindset to how we look at what's going on at Craig. So we weren't counting waiting lists and even thinking about the wait list from the perspective of who's ready now, who's not ready, so we can begin to figure out what really made sense around how many beds to even put in or consider. We also needed to talk to our staff and patients and get a real good sense of what they thought was important. So I think in terms of then letting that inform strategy going forward, getting more intentional around how we set strategy and do strategic planning as an organization. And then another one I think that was important is that I sometimes, Chris, ask myself, what's a nice gynecologist just like you doing in a place like this? Like, how did this happen? And what what what do you think sort of at that existential or meta level is why you're here? And I think it was the seven I mean, the nine years where I was the government external relations and research lead at KP in this region in Colorado. I lived in my car, I say. So I think what I ultimately was called to do was to bring the outside in and make sure that we also turned our sights outside, I'd really understood what was happening in the economy, in healthcare, with healthcare economics, healthcare finances, community needs, and let that inform what we think about in terms of how we better serve our patients and our teams. So I think that's some of the important work that sort of informed how we think about what we do and when we do it. And the time felt right once after three or four years of watching the wait list at the same time that we were building strategy, like really thinking long-term, the long-range plan for Craig. Let's make sure that we're building smart. Let's make sure that we're building what's needed. Let's make sure we're building with a lens towards our patients and what's going to provide the best patient and family care here, and make sure that we do it in an environment that allows our teams to flourish too and make these great careers. It makes a whole lot of sense to me, certainly, Jandell. And I also wanted to ask you along those lines, what do you think about the outside? And there's a lot going on there, to be sure. But what would you say is something in healthcare that deserves a much, there are a lot, we can agree on that, certainly, but what deserves a brighter spotlight at this moment in time? And who should be shining that spotlight? Yeah. So I think what deserves a greater spotlight has no sizzle, none at all. I just want to say that we have lost. if you were to ask people who go into healthcare, healthcare careers, whether they're literally at the bedside delivering any one of the number of services that we do in healthcare, not just nursing and physicians, but also the administrators who choose to focus on this particular sector, when a lot of them could have focused almost anywhere. What we have lost is sort of a sense of our why and our purpose. And I believe in my fiber that we are here to relieve suffering, pure and simple. That's what we're here for. And I don't get to define what suffering is. Suffering is very much a personal thing. It's an individual thing. And what we've lost because of regulation, because of how reimbursements happen, because of the messiness of this non-system that we call healthcare, how it's sort of been stuff bolted on and attempts to make it better. And in a lot of ways, we've made it not only, you know, from a system performance where we're worse, we're one of the dead, we are dead last in terms of OED countries, in terms of system performance has been studied. What we've lost, we put all that in between us and the patients and the families. And so I think what we need to focus on is how do we get this better and differently organized or more importantly, get it out of the way so that those who are in direct care of patients are able to do it. And it's another one of the things that makes Craig so special. I hadn't thought about it until just now, is that there is nothing but daylight between the teams that care for our patients, including administrators, and the patients. And it shows on the faces of patients. And if hospital leaders can remember that and make sure that they're present and they're aware and they're out walking the halls and they're interacting with patients and families and the teams, because it's way more fun than sitting around on these meetings or sitting on these doing email, let's face it. That's important. You know, obviously we got to keep the lights on and be, you know, sort of future thinking as well as present thinking. But we lost the heart of medicine We went into this to relieve suffering because we wanted to do good work And many many many countless too many folks in our profession our field leave at night exhausted or leave in the morning exhausted and beleaguered and not feeling as if I did much of anything good And so I think there's work as individuals that we can do to figure out how is it that we get that spark back. and then as leaders of systems we got to figure out how we can invest and and build institutions build cultures that allow that to flourish that all sounds as i said there's nothing sizzly about it and it also i made it sound very simple in many ways it is incredibly simple it is about caring it's about using being comfortable using the love word that we love our patients it's about being comfortable thinking about us through the lens of family with all its functional ways and its dysfunctional ways of how families play out. And I, as a physician, consider my patient the organization. And so through that lens, I need to have eyes on the organization's health and well-being, much as I did with my patients. Dendell, I love the stories you're told. I love how you are working to connect with patients and help your organization to do so. Personally, for you, what is your favorite way to reconnect with the why of healthcare? Well, I do a few things. First of all, I do make rounds with one of our brain injury physicians about every six weeks or so, just to really learn the science and stay connected that way. And I don't think that you have to be a doc or a nurse leader in order to do that. But to really get the opportunity to see the work in action is one of them. One of the things I did about what was after as we emerged from COVID, but I was still wearing a mask, so we were still in it, is I decided that I really wanted to understand what was the life of a nurse or a rehab tech like. You know, they're the 24-7 along with imaging and lab and pharmacy. They're the ones who are, they keep the lights on. They keep the, you know, they are a 24-7, 365 part of the system. And I also knew just based on the severity and the nature of these injuries is that our staff, you know, the wear and tear potentially if we're not careful on their bodies, but also on their hearts and souls is something that's real different than when I deliver a baby, even if the news is bad, frankly, or we take care of an appendicitis or do, you know, the other things that we do in medicine. And I wanted to really have a sense of what was it like? I mean, what the heart, the heart really and soul of these nurses and texts. And so I decided to do 16 shifts. Now, how do I get to 16? Because we have four floors, we have days and nights, and we have nurses and techs who take care of our patients. So I said, I want to do, and I want to do the hardest hours. I didn't do full shifts. I did four hour shifts during the toughest and hardest hours, the ones where you're trying to get folks up and ready for rehab and where you're getting folks ready for bed. Because unlike the way that you and I live, where we can get up and get ourselves showered and find food and do the things, there's a lot of help that's needed and a lot of very intimate health needs, too, because folks need help with moving their bowels, frankly, or those sorts of things. So I suited up. And I worked from 6 to 10 a.m. and 6 to 10 p.m. and worked with a nurse and a tech on each one of the shifts on each one of the floors. I did bowel programs. I learned how to transfer patients. I showered people. I bed people who had no use of their upper extremities. I cleaned beds. I emptied trash. I cleaned up bathrooms. I stocked rooms. I passed meds working with the nurses. I did all the things, as I like to say. And I walked away with an even deeper appreciation for our wonderful nurses and our techs and what they do and double down on my intentionality around making sure that these are great careers for them because we know that the nursing professions are you know they run short in terms of the workforce and they work hard and so that's that's another way that I really got out and did was really in it and then on the day-to-day it's that I get out I mean I get to know patients I'm one of those people who likes to give hugs and people need hugs in health care and to interact with our staff and teams and you know and it it gives me a great deal of personal satisfaction joy I most nights can walk out of here feeling like well done not every day especially and not because of patients necessarily but just you know health care ain't easy no no you can say that I can, Jandell, but I'm glad that you're able to connect with patients and your team in so many different ways and meaningful ways at that. As you've gained all this experience, whether it's as a physician or as a leader or just as someone who has walked the halls and filled the shoes of techs and everyone else in your organization, what have you found to be an underrated leadership traits and who have you seen embodied whether it's an individual person a group of people a certain team what would you say is underrated so you know those five things that i pointed out earlier the one that i think is most underrated is the one about treating people as if they're your only one you treat patients as if they're only one it's that the undervalued and i've had people say it to me. So I'm going to put my own, I'm going to be some way that I'll probably feel weird about at two 30 in the morning, but I'm going to say, I've seen it in myself is the slowing down, looking in the eyes of the people that you are actually encountering, saying hello, saying good morning, getting to really know your team members and, you know, some of those stories that they want to share about themselves. You know, people in organizations, and I'm sure this is true for you, it's amazing what we will do for each other when we know that it mattered that we showed up. You know, people, I think her name just went out of my head, but she says people don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care. And so that is the underrated leadership thing. We think we're supposed to be all buttoned up and not bring our whole selves to work and, you know, sit in whatever the ivory tower may look like literally or figuratively. But our teams want nothing more than to see us and be seen by us. And I think that's the under that is one of the most undervalued and underutilized strengths that we should figure out how to shed whatever makes us feel like we can't be our whole selves and bring that into work, people will work for you. People will work hard for you. And on behalf of the organization, if they see you working that hard and caring that much about them. Well, Jendel, here's hoping that everyone who hears this podcast and what you've just shared carries that into their daily lives, because it can only be a good thing. Jendel, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I know we're going to see you in the fall, correct, down in Chicago? Yes, yeah. Thank you for the invitation to do this as well as to participate in November. So thanks. It's been our pleasure, certainly, and I cannot wait until our paths cross again. Okay, Chris, well, you'll be well until then.
