Leaders of Primary Children's Hospital - Lehi gathered under the Christmas tree to chat about their favorite holiday traditions and the new Intermountain Health values. This festive holiday message features David Hurst, Nurse Administrator; Dr. Chris Miller, Chief Medical Officer; and Lisa Paletta, President.
David Hurst: Well, there's no group of people I'd rather be with to talk for a few minutes about some of our favorite holiday traditions.
Chris Miller: I guess I would say one of my favorite traditions as a kid was celebrating Christmas twice. For my mom's side, we would go and spend Christmas Eve with them and open presents, and the following day, when Santa Claus really came, we would open presents then too.
David Hurst: What's better than two Christmases?
Chris Miller: Exactly.
Lisa Paletta: How about you, Dave?
David Hurst: Well, for me family is everything at the holidays and our family started a tradition years ago where on Christmas Eve we get together we watch Elf and we eat KFC and then open up some presents, which usually is pajamas for the family and it's it's just kind of magical. As the kids get a little older, maybe the magic comes off a little bit but I love spending time with the family.
Lisa Paletta: So we love Christmas traditions as well. One of the things we love to do as a family is Sub for Santa and we have a big wrapping party and go together as a family to deliver pre-Christmas. But then on Christmas Eve similar to Dave's we all get Christmas pajamas and I do have to bribe one of my adult children to wear them so that we can actually have a family picture, but we love family times. Anything to do with family at Christmas time is the best.
Chris Miller: The best, yeah.
Lisa Paletta: I was thinking about our new value statements and of course, I was reflecting on this wonderful time of the year. I thought of the value of “We are better together,” and that analogy of Christmas time and Christmas trees are beautiful, just pine trees are beautiful. You add the beautiful lights to it and it's just sparkling and catches your attention and you start to add all the ornaments and every single ornament is different for the most part. And I started thinking of our caregivers and how each of our caregivers are unique and bring something different to the team. And so if you think of that tree with all those ornaments, just how beautiful that is as it all comes together and that's exactly what we're doing to build our team at the Miller Campus.
Chris Miller: I think as I look over our values, I think the one that really rings true for me is our Clinical Excellence value. I think one of the things that we've done over the last now couple years for two of us has really worked hard to provide that good clinical care to all of the families that we're going to be seeing at the Miller Campus. Both of you talked about family is really big during Christmas and I'm really excited for all the amazing caregivers we have that are going to provide that clinical excellence.
David Hurst: Yeah, I love that Chris. And clinical excellence doesn't just happen, right? It comes from caregivers who really do care about what they're doing. I think of the of the value of “We serve with empathy and compassion.” We have been blessed to hire people that do really do care about what they what they're doing, each unique in their own way and passionate about doing the right thing. Dr. Frances Peabody said, “The secret of caring for the patient is caring about the patient.” I think that's the same secret that we have in caring for each other. As we care for each other, we're happier and we're able to provide that clinical excellent excellence that you mentioned and we definitely are all better together for sure.
Everyone: Happy Holidays!