How Healthcare Works, LLC

Starting tomorrow, the American Public Health Association (APHA) is once again sponsoring the Billion Steps Challenge. The goal is to get more Americans walking and moving and engaging in physical activity. You can join my team, HHWWalkers, on Move Spring. Move Spring is a free app that you can download on your phone to track your steps. I will be using Move Spring as well as my smart watch to track my steps every day. The goal for the first week is to walk 1,000 steps a day. If you want to know how much that is, it is approximately half a mile. I find that I can easily walk 1,000 steps a day just walking around the house, work, or my neighborhood. I know there are those who can walk more than 1,000 steps a day, and they are encouraged to do so. However, I wanted to start small so everyone can join in increasing their physical activity. Last year, I started doing the Billion Steps Challenge in late spring. In fact, the challenge was almost over when I started. I initially started wal

This past week, I finished writing, illustrating and self-publishing my first children's book. The book is about a cow named Henrietta who leaves the farm and decides to move to I-Moo-Wa City. She is excited about living in the city, but then she discovers the challenges of living somewhere new. The book is dedicated to my nieces and nephews, and a cow that got loose one day. That's when this all began. Almost 15 years ago now, I finished my year-long fellowship in executive administration. The organization was reeling from the effects of a no-confidence vote, and the CEO was about to retire. Many of the executives were worried about losing their jobs or how things were going to pan out for them. They were also concerned about this merger organization and what would happen to it following what turned out to be a years-long battle. As a fellow, I was caught in the foray, tossed between executives, hoping and praying that someone would hire me, and worrying I wouldn't ge

I was a camp counselor during college. Since I was in college for nearly ten years, I gained a lot of experience as a counselor. Working at camps taught me some important life skills that I was able to use the rest of my career. As a camp counselor, you have to be up and energized and enthusiastic about everything every day. Picking up rocks off the hillside as a cabin? Super fun! Fantastic! Hiking through the woods on a rainy day? What an adventure! Campers not getting along? Figure out what they like about each other! One of my tricks to deal with a cabin of girls who didn't get along was to have them do an exercise. The exercise was to sit down one afternoon and write down 10 things at least they liked about every other girl in the cabin. They couldn't be superficial things like, "her hair is pretty, she is skinny, she is tall." The items had to be real things that were only about the person. The girls really took it seriously. Why? They wanted to hear the nic

The holidays are here. Time for laughter, time for cheer, time for trying to stay healthy at least through the New Year. With so much to do, so many places to go, and so many places to see, keeping healthy may seem hard to do this time of year. With these simple tips, you may be able to promote your own healthfulness. 1. Wash Your Hands! It's no mistake that the number one tip to staying healthy and preventing the spread of illness is to wash your hands! Washing your hands can stop the spread of bacteria, viruses, and other diseases. Washing hands with soap and water is always best. If soap for some reason isn't available (say in a public restroom facility), at least washing your hands with water will remove some of the germs. You may also want to carry hand sanitizer with you in your car, purse, or bag. Washing your hands after using the restroom, before and after eating, before and after preparing food, after touching bodily fluids like mucous or blood, and anytime your han

Imagine you are in the boardroom. You have just finished your presentation for the latest strategic project to the CEO and other organizational executives. At the end of the presentation, you have written "Questions?" on the last side. You take a deep breath and maybe hope no one asks you any questions at all. You should be so lucky.  The common practice among professionals is to expect the Big Q and the little Q's. That is, prepare for the little questions and expect the big question -- the one you maybe weren't sure about at all. The little questions are things that are easily anticipated and that maybe you felt like you answered in the presentation already. The big question should also be anticipated. If you sold your position correctly, then the big question is out there looming waiting to be asked. You directed your audience toward asking it. No matter how much preparation and planning you have done, there is always the chance that someone will ask you a q

As I sat at home this week itching and scratching from poison something...ivy, oak, sumac, I asked myself this question. If I worked in an office, would I go to work today? The first day or so I decided that I wouldn't. Even though poison ivy isn't contagious, I definitely would not be productive as I itched and scratched and made odd faces as I tried not to itch and scratch. Moreover, I felt groggy from the Benadryl. As a work-from-home-r, I also decided to give myself the day off. Sometimes, you just need to give your body a chance to rest and heal. Staying home from work, no matter what level you are in the organization, is always a good idea. I wish I could say I have always been a good steward in this area, but I really haven't. In the past, I used to "power through" work days and convince myself that I wasn't that sick or tired. Countless coworkers would come in complaining of the latest viral illness, stomach upset or just feeling "icky" tha

When I was an adjunct faculty member, I taught several different courses in healthcare administration. Many of the courses included textbooks that contained cases for students to evaluate. However, the cases were more at an executive level and many of my undergraduate students were in font line entry level positions, early careerist positions, or entry level management positions. As a result, the students often had a difficult time wrapping their minds around the cases and the scenarios presented in the textbooks. In order to facilitate learning, I decided to draw upon my prior training in secondary education. Although the students were considerably more advanced, I could still use many of the tools I learned to use in the secondary education classroom in the college classroom. Two such tools that we were encouraged to use were simulations and case studies. Although similar, case studies and simulations are not the same. A simulation puts the student in the place to make the decis