Mission Health Turns Handwritten Notes into a Celebration

In the nursing home profession, a simple touch of the hand from caregiver to resident can convey a warmth that a thousand words cannot. And in the case of the teams staffing the frontlines and the administrative offices of a nursing facility, a handwritten note among coworkers and those who manage them can be the same as a touch of the hand.

It just hits different.

Mission Health Communities knows this and has acted on making the handwritten note gesture into a celebration of the work they do, and the organization they do it for.

In a note to employees in the spring, the 33-facility provider led by President and CEO Stuart Lindeman, delivered as part of an employee outreach and job satisfaction program special thank-you notes and coordinating envelopes.

In the communication, management asked that facility leaders gather their teams and some sparkly pens and then take a few moments to reflect and think about the people who make their workday better.

“Who brings a positive attitude? Who is always willing to help? Who encourages others, lives our CARES values, or makes the Mission Experience brighter? Choose someone who stands out and write them a personalized thank-you note. It does not have to be long; just make it meaningful,” the company asked.

Once the notes were written, they were sealed and delivered to the recipients in-person, left on a desk, or placed somewhere clever for the person to discover.

“It is a simple, sweet way to say: I see you. I appreciate you. Thank you for making a difference. Your voice. Our CARES Values. One Mission Experience,” said the ending.

Starting with Mark Parkinson

Where did Mission Health get the idea for the handwritten note program? Lindeman said it was simple, it came to be after Mark Parkinson, the CEO of Park Place and former head of AHCA/NCAL, came to speak at the company’s leadership meetings.

“It was really brought forward when Mark came and spoke,” he said. Despite Lindeman offering other ideas to talk about at the meetings, Parkinson wanted to focus on the value of handwritten notes and how they are effective in bringing heartfelt messages of love and respect to the people who do the work in the buildings.

“It was quite emotional for the 200 people in the room. and it just really resonated with our values. It really resonated well with that and that's what spurred us on to introduce it,” Lindeman said.

From there, the team led by Cheri Kauset, vice president customer experience and communications, got to work.

“It's interesting because what we did was at the conference we didn’t just talk about it, we had multiple people write letters to people, handwritten notes during the conference and distribute them there,” she said. “And I think it really started to resonate with people during the conference, which was in April.”

Once facility leaders got back to their own respective communities and the organizational leaders back to the home office, “we really felt like this would be a great way to continue to live our CARES values and help promote it.”

Once the ball got rolling, the idea took off to make the effort company-wide and to include the handwritten notes as a true package.

“Cheri’s team had donuts and rolls and put them in the conference room with the notes. People saw it and just started writing notes out for people in the office to each other. It was crazy. It was really an exciting day. And at the same time, it was a couple of days later, the packages were going out to the communities,” Lindeman said.

Some of the communities took a steady pace on rolling it out, while others “just went full throttle” and were writing card after card with letters to staff members. The letters included communications from staff to staff, staff members to residents, and then also to family members.

He said there may even have been notes for vendor partners.

“We got some here, too, which was really neat to get something in the mail. . .It was, again, I think I found it to be very emotional for people, positively emotional for people. And for me personally, I'm good at going around the office and talking to people, but I was able to actually handwrite the notes and leave them for people on their desk when they weren't looking. I ended up flying out that afternoon, so by the time I got to the airport, I got some very nice texts from people who were really appreciative of it.”

This type of bonding transpired across the company and continues to do so.

Emotions

There is something to be said then for handwritten notes. The question is why do they strike people in such an emotional way when compared to modern communications like emails?

“We've gotten so far away from notes like this and everything's an email. Everything's on Zoom. It's not very personal and I think that this really gives people a chance to show more of a personal touch. And maybe gives us a chance to roll back to things that we've gotten away from. I don't know the last time that I hand wrote something to somebody,” Lindeman said.

Kauset said she thinks what stirred the emotions for people was that the goal of the program was to pick a person who helps make your day better.

“That's the premise. And that's the premise that Mark shared with us. Somebody that you might get out of bed for, someone that makes your work life better, somebody who has your back. And all of a sudden when you frame it like that, it's not thank you for helping me get that report done. It's thank you for having my back,” she said.

“That's the emotion that I think we captured. But we also know that it's a leadership technique. And as we're growing our leaders to exemplify the CARES values, to create the best Mission Experience for their staff, for their families, for their residents, it really comes right down to recognition.”

And, so it does.

Comments on this article? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com.