Hospital Forum Opening Remarks

By William L. "Bill" Rohr

United we stand, Divided we fall!

Have no doubt that Wayne Allen and the present administration have done an amazing job rescuing the hospital from the excesses of the former administration. Realize, however, that the work has only just begun. Instead of a hospital that is surviving, we need a hospital, which is thriving.

In Mandarin, the universal Chinese language, words are formed by logographs called hanzi, which combine to form words. Crisis is an interesting term in hanzi. It is formed of two characters, one that represents danger and the second, which by itself means nothing, but when added to the other character means change or critical moment. Anyone who has worked in China quickly realizes that the approach to crisis in the western world and the eastern word is very different. In the west, we focus on the danger, in the east they focus as much on the changes that cause that danger. Analysis is a critical difference.

If we are to have a vibrant growing hospital, we need to focus less on what we can't do and instead focus on what we can do. We need to stop cutting and start building. Time to stop talking and start listening. It is time for teamwork between the administration, the employees, the doctors and the community. Our employees are our most valuable asset and its time we start treating them like we believe it. With your help I can forge a culture that plans, builds consensus and then executes. The ancient Greek storyteller Aesop said it best when he said, "united we stand, divided we fall".