March 19, 2024

Life is hard, but it’s good

A couple of years ago, I heard a sermon with the theme “Life is hard, but it’s good!” That axiom has stuck with me ever since. Good things aren’t necessarily easy, and easy things aren’t necessarily good. In life we face trials of many kinds, but those are the times when we grow, mature and persevere the most.

As a farm kid from northwest Iowa, I didn’t grow up with the goal of being a hospital administrator, and if that is what I am remembered for when I am gone, I’ll have missed the mark. I want to be remembered as someone who responded to a calling for a greater purpose than myself — my faith, my family, our community and, in this case, our hospital, Skiff Medical Center.

Those of us who are in health-care got into the field to help people; we did not sign up for this era of health-care reform. Yet while it is hard, it is good, as well as necessary for the financial viability of this great country, lest we face bankruptcy as a nation.

Skiff is also on a journey of maintaining financial viability to ensure our community continues having a hospital to which they can turn in times of need. For us, that means pursuing affiliation with a larger health system.

In times of significant change, it's not uncommon for speculation to arise. So before I go further, I do want to dispel two rumors that have come up:
• Have you heard there is only one health system interested in Skiff Medical Center? This is false.
• Have you heard that a deal has already occurred? This is also false.

I will address both of these misperceptions at greater length later in this column, but I wanted to offer prompt reassurance that, although we do have nearly 18 months of laying groundwork behind us, we are just beginning to dialogue with potential partners as an affiliation team. There is still a journey ahead of us.

The need for Skiff to partner with another hospital or health system has already been determined, so that is not the question for the Skiff affiliation team which is tasked with assessing and identifying the best partner for Skiff, Newton and Jasper County. The team, as established by the Skiff Board of Trustees, includes myself and the following individuals: Jeff King (board chair); Lois Vogel (board secretary); Dr. Paul Ruggle (Newton Clinic physician and senior partner); Dr. Zack Alexander (Newton Clinic physician and medical staff president); Mark Thayer (Newton Clinic administrator); Lin Chapé (Newton City Council); and Sheryl Tilus (Chief Nursing Officer).

The analogy that can be used here is that we are looking for a spouse, but first we need a series of dates to ensure compatibility with one another. To be clear, there are several “dates” (and a compatibility analysis) that will need to occur with various potential partners before we know who will be the best match. This is called “due diligence.”

Skiff’s affiliation decisions are important and are an awesome responsibility. We want to set some reasonable expectations in terms of the timeline. We would estimate that we will not know who the most compatible partner is for up to six months. After that, it will likely take until the end of our fiscal year (June 30, 2015) to begin some sort of integration and essentially close on a deal to ensure that Newton and Jasper County have a hospital for the long haul.

In the meantime, there will be questions in all of our minds as to what the future will look like and how things might change. This is true for me, as well. However, I have made the choice to live my life in peace, living one day at a time, rather than in anxiety. If I would have chosen to live life in fear, I would have left Skiff in 2007 when a Fortune 500 company exited our community. I have found that if I live my life for a greater purpose than myself, good things tend to happen. In other words, I keep life in perspective and always work hard to do what is best for the organization and for my faith (a purpose greater than myself). I believe if I do that, anything else that happens to me is irrelevant. I can list at least five things more important to me than my career: my faith, my spouse, my kids, my extended family and
my health.

I have been very blessed in my career at Skiff and love my job, but its existence or lack thereof doesn’t change my top-five life priorities.

There is a famous quote from an unknown author that most of us have heard or perhaps was even our high school graduation motto, and I think it is fitting here: “Live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.” I urge all of us not to live a life in fear, which can be regrettable. Little fault can be found, however, in living a life for a purpose greater than oneself and serving others before oneself.

So, back to those rumors I touched upon at the beginning of this article. The first is that there is only one health system interested in Skiff Medical Center. This is simply not true. We have been having regular conversations with both local health systems in Des Moines, and both are very interested, and we will continue to meet with each of them. The second rumor is that a deal has already occurred. In response to that, I can assure you that, although the stage has been set through many months of preparation, we are only beginning to establish our first “dates” with potential partners.

The next step in choosing a partner is many more meetings with potential partners. The affiliation team will continue to meet regularly for the remainder of the calendar year.

While we cannot compromise affiliation talks — it is a difficult balance between often-required confidentiality agreements and total transparency — this has been and will continue to be as open a process as possible. Whenever we face uncertainty, it is hard, but it is good. Countless times we have faced adversity only to look back and say, “I didn’t know it at the time, but that is one of the best things that ever happened.”