Deaf and Dumb

 

We had a great senior leadership retreat on Wednesday of this week.  One of the things that we did as an ice breaker was to give a personal experience on how something or someone has affected us and our leadership style.  This was a very easy topic to pick for me because a day rarely goes by without me thinking of it.

I was born with a congenital sensorineural hearing loss; my hearing is classified as a profound loss.  Which is one step below deaf; I am 93% deaf in both ears.  This has definitely caused a lot of hurdles in my life.  However, I have been received well in all circles with understanding people.  Though, there is one teacher during my junior high and high school years that whole heartedly tried to undermine my every action. 

He called me deaf and therefore, dumb.  That comment has resonated through me my entire life.  I went on to graduate from high school, get my AAS in Radiology, BS in Kinesiology and I am ¾ done with my Master’s in Administration…some of my classmates have called me “4.0”.  While it seems like I am bragging (which I am somewhat) my point is that any obstacle and hurdle can be overcome if you have determination. 

In fact I have put determination as my personal vision, mission and description word.

In health care it always takes a healthy dose of determination (pun intended) to give quality care, excellent customer service, perform under duress, make changes needed to create the “employer of choice and provider of choice”. 

Thanks for all of your hard work this week!