Connect Live | December 9, 2021
Story 68

Joyce Newmyer: Welcome to Connect Live at Adventist Health. I'm Joyce Newmeyer, the chief culture officer at Adventist Health, and your host for Connect Live. Live this week is Mission Summit 2022, leadership residents and internships, and restoring lives. Mission Summit 2022 has officially opened for registration, and we would like to invite you to register for free starting today. At our last summit, the theme was centered on hope, with guest author and creative storyteller Bob Goth. Building from that momentum, where over 5,000 guests joined us online, the Office of Mission and team decided that the focus for next year will be “Home.” How can we create a welcoming environment and a sense of belonging with the communities where we live and serve? Looking at the planned lineup of regular voices and guests, we are confident that you will not want to miss this summit. Save date in your calendar, January 27 and 28, 2022. Register today to join us online for this experience. Your journey starts at adventisthealth.org/experience.

And on Connect Live to today, we some very, very special guests. I'm excited about this segment. We have Tim Olaore, who is the director of the leadership resident & internship programs at Adventist Health. We have Kyle Bautista, who is a leadership resident at Adventist Health St. Helena, and we have Sameera Sigdel, who is at the Adventist Health White Memorial campus as a leadership resident. So glad you all could be with me here today. Welcome.

Tim Olaore: Hey. It's good to be here.

Joyce Newmyer: So Tim, we went for a few years at Adventist Health without having leadership residents or interns. And our CEO, Scott Reiner, said, "Hey, I want this to happen again." And we went from 0 to 100 pretty fast. Tell me a little bit about that journey.

Tim Olaore: Yeah, it was a phenomenal journey. And what it was, was that our residency and intern program was not very consistent. It existed in different markets or regions or functions, but we didn't have a system-formalized program. And so, Scott said, "We need something like this. We need to build our pipeline." And he talked to Lisa Nunes about it. And I came on the team in January of 2020. And by August of that same year, working with Kathy Hoyle and Lisa Nunes, and getting some learning from our sister systems, we were able to launch our first system-wide residency program in August of 2020. And then the very next year, a system-formalized program for an internship program, or Dupper Internship Program, kicked off summer of this year. So it's been an exciting ride.

Joyce Newmyer: It has been exciting. It's been exciting to watch how many people have been able to become associated with Adventist Health through this program, and just how quickly that happened. Sameera, tell me, what are some of the things that are the very most memorable to you about your experience? You've been in this now about 15 months, right?

Sameera Sigdel: Right. I think the most memorable one was my first day at mass vaccination clinic. I went to the clinic, I asked how I can help, and they said, "Just help manage the lines." And a little bit of ego was hurt there. I said, "Someday, I'm going to manage this clinic." And I remember the last day of the rotation, I was managing the clinic all by myself at the clinic. So that was a very memorable moment for me.

Joyce Newmyer: What a great story. It is interesting how we learn quickly in healthcare that no job is too small. And every job prepares you for responsibility later on. I love that you learned that so quickly in your experience. Kyle, you've in the residency program for a much shorter period of time, only, I think, since August of 2021. Is that right?

Kyle Bautista: That's correct.

Joyce Newmyer: So what is one of the things that you have found in this short period of time, most memorable about your experience in the program?

Kyle Bautista: Sure. The most memorable thing I've learned so far is not being afraid to ask questions. Often, since I'm just brand new into the program, the leadership that I've been around at St. Helena has been so helpful in helping me understand, and not being afraid to ask questions. From the very first moment that I joined a meeting and asked a question, they were more than happy to help me or answer it for me. And better yet, they were asking questions themselves. They said, "Oh, I'm the person that asks a lot of questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions, be curious. That's how we get better." So that definitely has been one of the most memorable lessons I've learned.

Joyce Newmyer: That's great. Being curious is one of the values that we state at Adventist Health. It's very important to us that people learn how important it is to be curious. It's how we learn and how we grow. So back to you, Sameera. If you had a friend who was asking you about your experience in our residency program, and considering applying to the program, what would you tell them?

Sameera Sigdel: I actually had a few friends reach out to me before they started the internship, and I'm hoping they start the residency soon. So my advice to them was if you like challenges, and if you want to learn, and if you have a passion towards our mission, then you should join it. But if you're not passionate about the mission and not willing to just jump and take the challenges, then it might not be a great program for you.

Joyce Newmyer: That's great advice. I've taught in new associate presentations for years, that if you don't truly love serving other people, healthcare is not the industry for you. Kyle, what would you tell a friend? I know you've had less time in the program, but if a friend was considering applying, what would you tell them?

Kyle Bautista: I would say, do it, ask those questions, especially if you have a passion for healthcare, just like Sameera said. The people that I work with, the people that I'm around, I feel constant support. I see the beliefs that they have in this program, in me, and the challenges that we face every day. Every day, we're learning something new through our program, the way it's structured. We're put into situations where we can gain exposure, where we can gain experience. And this is a great program for you to learn if you are ready to ask those questions, and try new things, and learn as much as you can about healthcare.

Joyce Newmyer: That's great advice. Thank you for sharing that. Tim, back to you. Help us know what some of your hopes and dreams are for residency program, as well as the internship programs. What do you hope to accomplish for Adventist Health through these programs?

Tim Olaore: I think one of the things that I'm really excited about is the growth and the expansion of the programs into different divisions. When we initially scoped this out, we looked at the care divisions, our hospitals, our markets, as where we needed the most immediate pipeline of leadership. But since then, we have really grown. We have now incorporated our finance colleagues into the residency program. We are in conversation with marketing, and mission, and some of the other divisions to really expand the structure of this pipeline program for those that have graduated in the residency program and those that are still in school in the internship program to really deepen that pipeline. So growth and expansion is something that I'm really excited about. And one of the things that really warms my heart ... there's a story that I love that ... Sameera would probably hate that I'm sharing this, but she stayed back one night. She was working late. Everybody thought she had gone, but one of the executives came in, and they were talking about Sameera behind her back, and saying phenomenal things about how great she is, how she's always jumping into things, how they just absolutely love her contribution. And they didn't know she was there. But to know that these are the conversations that our leaders are having about this type of program, you want to be able to spread that to a majority of our markets, of our divisions, and the system as a whole. So that's what I'm looking forward to.

Joyce Newmyer: Well, it sounds exciting. The other thing that I want to be sure that our viewers know is that this is intentionally building the leadership pipeline for Adventist Health and our future. I mean, whenever I see the classes of residents and even the interns in just the summertime, I tell people all the time, "This is what the future of leadership at Adventist Health looks like. And you're just getting an early look in their careers." So I'm so appreciative of all three of you joining me here today. And I hope our viewers have a better understanding of the residency and internship opportunities at Adventist Health. Thank you for joining me today.

Tim Olaore: Thank you, Joyce.

Sameera Sigdel: Thank you.

Kyle Bautista: Thank you.

Joyce Newmyer: Take care.

Our final story today is Cherry Turnovers. What does a cherry turnover have to do with award-winning care? Find out in this week's story about the skilled nursing unit at Adventist Health Sonora. For the dedicated people behind the care of its residents, it's all about experiences, moments, relationships, and pastries that deliver hope. Well done to Adventist Health Sonora and their team for creating a space in which anyone who needs long-term care will know that they're truly loved. That is hope, my friends. You can experience this story and many others at adventisthealth.org/story. Friends, thanks for connecting live. And we'll see you here again next week. Until then, let's be a force for good.