Words From Our CEO

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Remarks by Sally Gammon
President & CEO, Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network
For January 29, 2008, I.M.P.A.C.T. Series – The Salesian Center for Faith & Culture, DeSales University

Good morning! I have been asked to share with you my reflections on the culture of my profession – which is health care, specifically physical rehabilitation – and how faith and spirituality impact my work and the outstanding work performed each day by the more than 1,200 employees of Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network.

First, I’d like to share a little bit about my background with you. I grew up as a tomboy in the country in Connecticut, and I developed a passion early on for helping animals to survive. I loved animals and always felt compelled to nurse a helpless animal back to health and set them free. I rescued many birds with broken wings and bunnies and squirrels left unattended by their mothers. Many of these animals seemingly abandoned would never have made it without my help and my parents’ garage. This is one of my passions that developed early on in my childhood and this passion of helping and healing has evolved throughout my life.

I’ll never forget just ten years ago, I was walking with a friend on a beach in Rhode Island and there was a sea gull rolling in the surf. I thought it was dying. When I came upon it, I saw that it had a fish hook and line through its beak and its webbed foot and was trapped in a curled up position. It would surely have died without intervention. No one else was in sight, but I can jog, and I remembered a bait shop about a mile back off the road. I left my friend to mark the spot and ran for help. A man from the bait shop drove his Jeep onto the beach to the spot in the surf where the sea gull was suffering. With pliers, he cut the fishing wire that connected the bird’s beak to its foot. I’ll never in my life forget the extraordinary feeling I had when that sea gull flew away over the ocean to freedom. That day reaffirmed that my passion is to help God’s creatures – humans and animals – to be as independent as possible and to achieve their potential.

As you can tell, my passion about caring, helping, healing and nurturing started early in life. I became a physical therapist to help people heal. I believe my decision to become a physical therapist was related to my childhood hobby of helping animals heal. Throughout my years in health care, I have witnessed incredible human courage and achievement. Today, as president and CEO of Good Shepherd, I am fortunate to be in a position where I oversee an organization that each day helps 100’s of people return to their highest level of function and independence. I am passionate about ensuring that Good Shepherd remains committed to compassionate care, excellent service and community partnership – our core values from our founders.

I believe that the passion I had for helping and healing animals lead me to my life’s purpose. My passion gave me the energy, emotion and perseverance needed to take on all challenges related to that passion.

Contributing to a purpose, using the gifts given to you by God, provides one’s life with meaningfulness and satisfaction. Purpose also provides connectivity to the world in which we live. I have had the occasion to see people without purpose and connection, such as some of the people with mental health issues who come to the Clubhouse of Lehigh County. It is here where they first begin to see that there is a purpose for their existence. At the Clubhouse, members have to commit to be a part of the program and give back something of themselves. Some make lunch, some clean the floors, and some teach art or computer science to fellow members. Others go to transitional employment sites in the community and learn work and socialization skills that allow them to become competitively employed. Imagine the sense of purpose in earning a living for the first time or returning to the workplace after a behavioral health issue.

As a Lutheran, I believe that my vocation is not just a job, but my life’s work. In my case, my purpose – the reason to get up each day with renewed vigor, In the Lutheran church this would be considered a calling. And that work is always evolving. I sometimes reflect on the fact that I operate at a much different level than in the past, but still feel very self satisfied. At one time, it was bunnies and birds I helped and then men, women and children when I was a treating physical therapist. Then I became a program manager and helped many people at once, and now I head an entire organization whereby multiple people – more than 36,000 a year - are helped by Good Shepherd in many divisions in 30 locations in 7 counties! I always knew my job was to not only do the best I could, but to be open to new ideas and continue to grow professionally and personally. I learn, then teach and then expect best practices. I often encounter resistance and challenges in my career, but I never allow them to interfere with my intent to make things better.

Probably the most significant resistance I ever received was when I was appointed the Product Line Manager for Oncology at Health Northeast/Elliot Hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire. No one reported directly to me and my job was to increase market share and grow volume for the cancer program. The head nurse on the 44-bed cancer unit reported through nursing, the radiation oncology group and physicists were a separate department of the hospital, the medical oncologists were independent and just opened their own oncology center to compete with the hospital for medical oncology interventions. The chaplains reported elsewhere as did the diagnostic pathologists. The prominent cancer surgeon was independent practice and the tumor registry reported to medical records at the hospital. I was alone -- given a computer and a desk and instructions reporting to the President of the hospital and charged with growing patient volumes and market share. I was thrilled to get this job and to make something worthwhile happen in the lives of people with cancer. From day one, the resistance was like trying to cross the Berlin Wall long before it came down. Everyone kept asking, "What do you know about oncology and why are you here?" All the experts had practiced many years in their fields and were not welcoming of a whippersnapper, MBA type. They truly scorned me. In fact, at one point all the chairs of the medical departments sent a letter to the President of the hospital and the Board of Trustees asking for my resignation. I can remember crying myself to sleep feeling so rejected and wondering how I would survive and make something of value happen.

But I persevered. My ultimate secret was that you could get a diverse group of highly intellectual people together with food, common interest and some fear. It still amazes me how physicians will come to a meeting for food -- and also because they truly care about their patients. They also showed a sense of discomfort that if they didn’t participate, perhaps something out of their control would happen and they wouldn’t like it. That was the fear part. So, they came and we worked together and designed market-based plans to do a number of value-added things for our cancer patients. One of the things I am most proud of is that we established a partnership with the Dana Farber Cancer Center in Boston to bring protocols to Manchester, New Hampshire, so that very sick patients would not have to drive to Boston to receive their care. This served the patients well as they had access and convenience to high-level care at home. Plus, the hospital increased its market share and the physicians kept their patients under their care and their billing. It was a win/win/win for all involved. After some tumultuous moments, I was able to say I created value and made a huge difference for our cancer patients. And that took faith – faith, courage and perseverance in my purpose, my abilities and my convictions.

In my experience, the happiest and most fulfilled people are those with a real sense of faith and purpose. These are people who put their trust in God and then use their gifts in life to be purposeful and to add value to the world.

I am proud to say that I am surrounded by those types of people at Good Shepherd, which has been grounded in the Lutheran faith for 100 years. Good Shepherd was founded 100 years ago when Rev. John Raker and his wife, D. Estella Raker, took a disabled orphan into their Allentown home. The Rakers – and later their son the Rev. Dr. Conrad Raker – brought persevering spirit and great vision to their work, turning Good Shepherd into one of the nation’s rehabilitation leaders recognized for the early adoption of assistive and rehabilitation technology.

I had the honor of working with Conrad Raker for several years before his passing in 2002. Dr. Raker served Good Shepherd for 70 years and advanced his parent’s vision to improve the health, independence and quality of life of people with disabilities. He was a very special person, some would say a saint, who shared his faith in God and his life with Good Shepherd’s staff, patients and residents. I learned a great deal from Dr. Raker, having been privileged to work with him for 5 _ years.

Today, Good Shepherd remains affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Rakers’ spirit of service and giving – what we call the Raker legacy -- is still prevalent. You see it in the interaction between our therapists and patients, our chaplains and residents and among co-workers. In fact, on February 21 we will celebrate the actual day – 100 years to the day -- of the founding of Good Shepherd with the Raker Memorial Awards. The awards were established in 1985 to pay tribute to those who generously dedicate themselves to supporting Good Shepherd’s core values and people with disabilities. It’s a wonderful evening that starts at the Good Shepherd Health & Technology Center at 5:30 p.m. At 7 p.m. we will process up St. John Street to Grace Lutheran Church for the ceremony, which includes prayer and song.

The Raker family believed strongly in community partnership. The Rakers developed bonds with business leaders and civic groups throughout the Lehigh Valley. They fostered relationships that still remain strong. In the early days of the organization, community partnerships allowed the Rakers to keep the Good Shepherd Home afloat. Today, these partnerships allow us to grow, thrive and touch more lives each year.

One of Good Shepherd’s strategic goals is to extend the Raker legacy of high-quality, compassionate care to more people, and we’re doing that by working with our acute-care partners in the Lehigh Valley and by partnering with the University of Pennsylvania Health System to create a new organization called Good Shepherd Penn Partners, which will provide all the post-acute care for the University of Pennsylvania Health System starting in July of 2008.

There will be much more to the Good Shepherd story as we begin our second century of service. But an abiding spirituality and a dedication to compassionate care will remain the hallmarks of Good Shepherd. I have been privileged to lead Good Shepherd for the last 11 years. My role is to keep Good Shepherd grounded in its core values, provide exceptional quality and service to all and keep Good Shepherd financially solid. By doing this, the Raker Legacy will go on long after I have retired.