No matter what your role is at UF Health, your work supports our mission to move medicine forward… to change patients’ lives for the better and make our communities healthier. Not many people have this kind of opportunity to make a positive impact. Each May, we celebrate National Nurses Week and National Hospital Week by honoring everyone who provides and supports patient care and service in our hospital system. It’s not easy work and it takes special people.

Our leaders invite you to attend any of the events this month where we hand out food and say thank you in person. We’ll also deliver treats to many of our off-campus outpatient locations. Please stop by if you can.

These are token gestures, we know, and we can’t reach everyone personally. That’s why it’s important for managers and staff to routinely step back to reflect on your team’s progress and recognize everyone’s contributions. I hope you’ll do that this month, and regularly, to express appreciation with your fellow doctors, nurses, residents, employees, students and volunteers — because you are the foundation for everything we do at UF Health.

On behalf of our executive team: thank you. We appreciate your dedication to our patients, to their loved ones — and to each other.

I urge you to think about how you view the work you do, as part of the bigger picture. I hope you actively make the decision to like what you do, to take pride in it and to feel good about the great people you spend your time with here.

Like I said, this is a challenging work environment. People depend on us and we hold ourselves to very high standards. There’s a natural ebb and flow at work and the key is to keep our eyes on our progress at all times, to keep adapting, improving and moving forward. We’ve had an incredible past year, looking back, and many teams have moved into new spaces, expanded and taken on new challenges. We’re always in a stage of shifting and settling down again.

This ebb and flow mirrors our personal lives. I have a daughter who’s been in college nearly a year. She left the house and doesn’t need us like she did. We still have two other kids at home, and we are a busy family. But I had to learn to let go of how things were and make room for a “new normal,” just like I do at work when facing changes. I adapt and stay focused on what’s working and how I can keep improving.

If you can accept that there’s complexity and change in all areas of life, keep your eyes on the horizon and accept the flow, you’ll find great opportunities ahead. I was reminded of this at the Milestone Service Awards event, honoring many long-term employees. When I was handing out their pins and awards, I heard so many comments about how you have loved working here, and how you feel connected to colleagues and patients. This is a rewarding place to spend your time.

Coming up, we also have the 2019 Employee Engagement Survey. Please participate! Your feedback gives us a snapshot of how we’re doing as an employer and tells us how we can keep improving.

This is a great place to build a career and you’re the reason we have an amazing work family.

Thank you for choosing UF Health and making it so incredibly special. Thanks for all you do every day for those we serve.

HAVE A QUESTION FOR THE CEO? Email Kim Rose, director of strategic communications with UF Health Communications, at roseka@shands.ufl.edu and she’ll share your question with Ed Jimenez for an upcoming CEO column.