Story Posted: 2023-01-18
The Culture of St. Paul’s Hospital, AKA “The Culture Club”
You can’t just “open a hospital”.
There are thousands of things that need to line up politically, legally and financially, staff that need to be trained and regularly evaluated, certain services that need to be offered.
And once those thousands of things align and you open a hospital, something begins to happen: Culture begins to develop.
While most hospitals would have in common medical and health departments, facilities, housekeeping, food and nutrition, etc, every hospital also has its own character and culture.
Every week—every week—someone tells me why they love working here. For some, it is the work. For many, it is the patients and their colleagues that make coming to work not feel so much like work.
Here at St. Paul’s, we have a mission statement. We have core values that we promote and celebrate. These values get lived out in a variety of ways but one of the most important aspects of these values is that while we all have different job descriptions, roles and tasks, we ALL share in the mission, that is, to be “a community of health, hope, and compassion for all”.
But what exactly IS the culture of St. Paul’s? Can you articulate it? Can you measure it?
Well, we are going to make an effort to answer these questions.
This past fall, we initiated a committee of people from across the hospital to gather to reflect on the unique culture of St. Paul’s and how it is shaped by our mission and values.
Over the next few years, we want to offer material, including short videos, that will help us to articulate what that culture is in concrete words. This is important because if we KNOW what our culture is, we can smell it and hear it and see it. We can grow it and measure it.
“My good friend said that his daughter-in-law had recently started working at St. Paul's and had specifically mentioned that she was really happy with the positive staff culture and working environment at the hospital.”
-Glen, a board member of the Pleasant Hill Community Association