Happy hospital?

We may not care much if the grocer is grumpy or the mailman is morose. But when we trust hospital staffers with our life and health, we’d like them to be at their best.

We may not care much if the grocer is grumpy or the mailman is morose. But when we trust hospital staffers with our life and health, we’d like them to be at their best. That’s why it was good news for the community when Modern Health care magazine, a key health-industry trade journal, recently recognized the Saint Barnabas Health Care System, which owns Mon- mouth Medical Center, as one of the “100 Best Places to Work in Health care” for 2009.

This report acknowledges workplaces in health care that enable employees to perform at their optimum level and provide patients with the best possible services. “It’s an affirmation that we’re on the right track as an organization,” says Frank J. Vozos, M.D., Monmouth’s executive director. “Of course, we have to keep working hard to stay there.”

Making a medical center employee-friendly has its challenges, especially in a time when resources are tight and the nation’s health care system is in turmoil. Clearly, such a workplace will never be stress-free. But the management of Saint Barnabas—and Monmouth—is committed to assuring a satisfied workforce in which every person knows how much his or her efforts count.

“We deliver very sensitive human services,” says Sidney Seligman, senior vice president for human resources for the Saint Barnabas system. “We can’t make our patients satisfied if our staff are ill-treated. For that reason, we try to be as supportive of staff as possible.”’

To find the finest health care employers, Modern Health care worked with the Best Companies Group, a Harrisburg, Pa.–based firm that conducts regional “best places to work” assessments across the country. For companies that volunteered to participate, the firm did two surveys: a questionnaire for the participating employer and a satisfaction survey of that employer’s workers.

“They asked a wide range of questions about things like staff training and development, benefits and services we offer employees,” Seligman says. As examples of services provided by Saint Barnabas, he notes on site banks, dry cleaning and pharmacies to help staffers (75 percent of whom are female) balance family obligations and work duties. But most important, he believes, is that “we try to imbue our department leaders with a sense of obligation to support their staff, to be perceived as being in their corner, to help staff in their day-to-day professional and personal lives.”

“Saint Barnabas’ size and breadth of services also allow us to encourage employees’ career development with tuition reimbursement and education opportunities that help them move within the system to achieve their professional goals,” says Glenn Oppito, Monmouth’s vice president of human resources.

“Monmouth is one of most loyal places I have ever worked,” he says. “There are people who have been here 20, 30, even 40 years. That says something.”

Oppito is especially proud of Monmouth’s rewards and recognition program, which acknowledges the achievements of individuals and groups within the hospital. “We make sure they understand how appreciated they are,” he says. “It all goes back to our core value of providing the very best in patient care.”

Learn more about the care available at Monmouth Medical Center, please call 1-888-724-7123