March 1, 2008
A Story of the Beaver and His Goals
As we approach the Spring Season, in an attempt to inspire and motivate our team, I searched for and found a story entitled, "The Beaver and His Goals." As you will see, we can adapt this to our personal and professional lives.

One fall, a beaver moved into the small stream beside a house. He immediately began taking down small trees, and within a couple of weeks the small stream turned into a small pond. Every day he added more to his dam and to his house. Like the saying goes, "busy as a beaver," this beaver worked hard over a very short period of time.

Once the stream was dammed and his house built, he started chewing on a very large maple tree. The tree was over 60 feet tall and approximately five feet in diameter at the base. What a challenge this beaver was attempting! Over the winter, he would come out and chew a bit more. He had setbacks as major winter storms and freezing weather ensued. When the weather allowed, he kept coming back and would chew a bit more. When spring finally arrived, the beaver had almost completely chewed around and through the entire tree, and it was ready to come down.

The beaver’s original goal was survival – to build a home for the winter. Working every day with that particular focus in mind, he achieved that goal. But the large maple tree he started chewing on last fall was a future goal – he wanted the large tree for the spring, to provide new food and branches to continue damming, in anticipation of the spring thaw. Even with the setbacks he faced over the winter, he never gave up.

The point in sharing the beaver experience with you is to remind you that sometimes we have a goal to just survive, but we also need to set goals for tomorrow. Sometimes, just surviving seems to occupy all of our time – working every day, looking after our family, going to school, and so forth. However, if you do just a little bit when time allows and keep focused on your future goal, you will achieve it. It is also vitally important that, when faced with setbacks in achieving a goal, you need to stay focused and not let the setbacks discourage you.

Spring is just around the corner. Like the beaver’s goal-setting, it’s a great time to have a rebirth and set new goals for our future. At UCH, we have a lot of exciting things happening this year to help us rekindle our passion for healthcare. This year we’ve already broken ground for our Long Term Acute Care facility in Connerton and held a grand opening of the new Brandon Wound Care. The Lactation Center, called A Woman’s Gift, will open this spring. Other key projects include a Breast Care Center, a significant ER expansion / redesign, and the relocation of the Joint Replacement Unit. Several additional key projects will take place this year. The Magnet Journey will accelerate in preparation for our data submission and subsequent site visit in 2009. The 4 West Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB) project will kick into full gear. In addition, the Phoenix project, our initiative to have an integrated electronic medical record with advanced clinical documentation and digital technology, will be rolled out and implemented in stages throughout Pepin, UCH, and UCH–Carrollwood. Lastly, to assist us with promoting a positive environment for staff and family, we will be working with the notable Studer Group on a project called The Gold Medal Experience.

It is going to be an exciting year. We look forward to seeing you, our staff, transform as we go through the year by staying in touch with events and by getting involved in the many opportunities these new projects will afford you!

Thanks for all you do and remember, "You make a difference in the lives of our patients every day"

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