Twelve UM SRH Team Members Complete UMMS Emerging Leaders Program

Shown with Ken Kozel (standing, far left) and Kate McCann (standing, far right) are the UM SRH graduates of UMMS Emerging Leaders Program. Seated: Lyndsey Feather, Lisa Eisemann, Melanie Donaway, Jamie Johnson, Alison Toepfer and Karen Hemingway. Standing: Melissa Svehla, Donna Collins, Koreen Smith, Tara Smith, Danielle Brummell and Cathy Tripp.

Twelve UM Shore Regional Health team members graduated from University of Maryland Medical System’s Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) on December 20, 2018. ELP is a seven-month leadership development program designed to introduce potential leaders to the changing landscape of health care and the role of effective leadership in achieving UM Shore Regional Health’s Mission, Vision and Strategic Plan.

Completing the program as the first UM SRH cohort and receiving certificates from Ken Kozel, president and CEO, UM SRH, and Kate McCann, UMMS senior vice president and chief human resources officer, were:

  • Danielle Brummell, Clinical Supervisor, UM Shore Home Care
  • Donna Collins, Clinical Nurse Coordinator, Telemetry, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton
  • Melanie Donaway, Administrative Supervisor, Nursing Administration
  • Lisa Eisemann, Staff Nurse, Multi Specialty Care, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton
  • Lyndsey Feather, Lead Respiratory Therapist, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton
  • Karen Hemingway, Clinical Nurse Coordinator, Intensive Care, UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown
  • Jamie Johnson, Clinical Nurse Coordinator, Post Anesthesia Care, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton
  • Koreen Smith, Site Coordinator, Laboratory Services, UM Shore Medical Center at Dorchester
  • Tara Smith, Staff Nurse, Multi Specialty Care, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton
  • Melissa Svehla, Clinical Specialist, Non-Invasive Cardiology, UM Shore Medical Center at Dorchester
  • Alison Toepfer, Staff Nurse, UM Shore Emergency Center at Queenstown
  • Catherine Tripp, Clinical Nurse Coordinator, Ambulatory Surgery Center, Easton

The program focused on six topics: models of leadership and the role leadership in driving organizational, team and employee performance; identifying and building on managerial strengths; effective communication; creating and delivering effective presentations; fostering inclusion and diversity; and strategies for creating and developing high-performing teams. Participants met as a group, once monthly, for half-day sessions starting in July, and met in pairs between sessions.

During the half-day sessions, topics including health care finance, marketing, quality, safety, compliance and patient experience were illuminated by UM Shore Regional Health executives who made presentations to the group that included scenarios drawn from their own experiences as senior leaders in health care. Presenters were Ken Kozel, president and chief executive officer; William Huffner, MD, senior vice president, Medical Affairs and chief medical officer; Patti Willis, senior vice president, Strategy and Communications; JoAnne Hahey, chief financial officer; and Robert Frank, senior vice president, Operations.

“The ELP was extremely valuable to me at this time in my career,” said Karen Hemingway “The program instructors and senior leaders shared their personal experiences provided us with tools to help expand our leadership skills.  I enjoyed working with my peers from the other Shore Medical campuses as well. We are all so spread out, it was nice to put faces with names.”

“Getting to meet some of our senior leaders and hear them describe their own journeys in an informal, small group setting was a real strength of the program,” said Koreen Smith. “I also found getting the analysis of my strengths and how to build on them very valuable. The program whetted my appetite for gaining tools that will help me in my work environment. Since it ended, I have been reading books like Daniel Cole’s Emotional Intelligence and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey so I can continue learning and improving.”

Said Lyndsey Feather, “I found the Emerging Leaders Program to be incredibly beneficial, professionally and personally. Every topic circled back to our organizational RITES values: Respect, Integrity, Teamwork, Excellence, and Service. From learning about how to navigate difficult conversations, to understanding the difference between diversity and inclusion (just to name a few), we discovered ways to develop and explore what it means to be a leader, and how to develop these characteristics in our employees.

“The Emerging Leaders Program covered concepts that apply to becoming a leader in a health care setting,” said Alison Toepfer. “Those concepts were shared in a very interactive way, and it gave me, as a staff nurse, a better view of the nurse leader mindset. The program gave me the confidence as well as the tools to see myself in a leadership role going forward.”

Notes UM SRH Human Resources Director Barbara Hendricks, “One of the values of Emerging Leaders is learning about leadership concepts, and then taking the time to reflect. This helps to build leadership strengths and enhances the overall team member experience.”