Trinity Hospice - Rogers
Company: Trinity Hospice
Company Description: Trinity Hospice, the nation’s 7th largest hospice provider, offers palliative care/support to terminally ill patients and their families. Trinity focuses on meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients and their loved ones. Trinity has rapidly expanded through internal growth and acquisition and now operates from 24 locations across 9 states.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Plant, Facility, or Satellite Office Manager
Nomination Title: Linda K. Rogers: From the Rubble, A Heroine Emerges
1. Tell the story about what this nominee achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
When Linda Rogers joined Trinity Hospice in 2005 as program administrator, the Biloxi branch was experiencing turnover and financial losses. She restructured the branch with her carefully devised plan. Little did she know that the challenges ahead would be far greater than turning around center operations.
As she settled in, Rogers was blindsided by an unforeseeable event that would change her course (and life) -- Hurricane Katrina completely derailed her efforts. This devastation knocked out four Trinity branches, sending Rogers and her team into a frenzy for survival.
Minute by minute, the Trinity-Biloxi team, under Rogers’ tutelage, pulled together. With Rogers at the helm, they acted fast and furiously, performing unimaginable feats over a few days that one would never expect to encounter in an entire lifetime. In addition to teaming up with the National Guard and local fire departments to help those in need, she also spearheaded efforts to keep food and medical supplies coming into the area including assisting FEMA. The “supply line” included getting gasoline transported in to meet the needs of patients in the hurricane-stricken area. Efforts included:
•Begging for gas at Ocean Springs City Hall for nurses’ cars so staff could visit patients. Gas was also needed to replenish generators for oxygen patients. City Hall was only giving gas to emergency personnel. But, the local Fire Chief heard Rogers’ plea and arranged for his friends from Alabama to deliver gas, food, and medical supplies daily for Trinity’s patients. Rogers personally picked up and dropped off gas cans daily. Gas cans had to be vented; she loaded them in her van (16-20), took them to her house, unloaded them; put them back into her car each morning and brought them to work where they were dispersed. They also carpooled or rode bicycles to see patients, in the absence of gas.•Examination of patients (by medical directors reporting into Rogers) suffering from heat, even though they were not Trinity’s.•Providing bereavement support to staff and patients.•Sleeping on the floor in the Biloxi branch; still assessed patients everyday despite the fact that some employees were homeless.. •Performing CPR on an ailing member of the community; other employees stayed in a personal care home 24/7 before/after storm to care for patients.•Vaccinating the team with Tetanus and Hepatitis A, which was scarce after the storm. Offered community health care providers rest.•Searching local shelters for patients who were evacuated.
Despite the aftermath of Katrina and subsequent financial hardship, the Biloxi team recovered and emerged stronger. In 2005, they still managed to:
•Grow patient census by 26 percent.•Increase revenue and EBITDA by 37 and 70 percent, respectively.•Improve patient, employee and vendor satisfaction as evidenced by survey scores. Overall customer satisfaction surveys rose to 98.7 percent (best in the company).•Increase referrals from existing sources and added new ones despite local community loss.•Raise compliance audit score from 68 to >90 percent.•Reduce turnover.
2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
http://www.trinityhospice.com/news/docs/nurse%20winner%208
-05%20revised.pdf
3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:
Linda K. Rogers serves as program administrator for Trinity, overseeing operations of the company’s three Mississippi branches. She was recruited to turn around the poor-performing area. Within just three months under Trinity’s employ, Rogers was faced with meeting the challenges of Hurricane Katrina in a region scarred by devastation. Despite this, she helped Trinity’s Gulf Coast-area operations achieve extraordinary growth.
Before joining Trinity, Rogers was a hospice/palliative care nurse, consultant and educator for the Gulf Coast Veteran’s Healthcare System.
She is a Board-certified hospice and palliative care nurse (CHPN), and earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of Southern Mississippi.