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As Debbie Dymock approached St. Charles Bend on a recent Sunday evening, she started having second thoughts about this particular visit to the place she has worked for the past 11 years.

“It was dark and rainy, and I thought, ‘What am I doing here? Why did I sign up for this?’” said Dymock, a registered nurse in the hospital’s Intermediate Care Unit. “I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into.”

Her misgivings melted, however, shortly after she walked through the doors and found Rebecca Berry, St. Charles’ vice president of Human Resources, waiting for her.

“Within minutes, it was like we were two buddies,” Dymock said.

Their meeting was one of thousands expected this year as part of a new initiative called Your Turn. The idea is simple: The 10 members of St. Charles’ Executive Care Team (ECT) – the health system’s top leadership – are dedicating time throughout 2020 to meet with all 4,500 caregivers across the organization.

The idea is simple, but the execution of the project is not. Multiple teams of people have worked for months to clear space on the executives’ busy calendars, build out the reservation system and get the word out to caregivers. Your Turn slots are 30 minutes long (though caregivers can sign up for 45 minutes in a group of three) and are available in Bend, La Pine, Madras, Prineville, Redmond and Sisters. Participation is optional, but the ECT hopes the idea will catch fire among caregivers and that every single one will sign up.

“The goal of these sessions is truly to have an informal conversation and connect with one another,” wrote St. Charles president and CEO Joe Sluka in a Jan. 7 email to caregivers. “We want to hear about you, your life, your job, what you would change about St. Charles and also what you love about working here.”

Your Turn is a direct result of the health system’s recent caregiver engagement surveys, which found an opportunity for improvement in terms of trust in leadership. The idea started with Sluka, who has overseen several efforts to bolster the culture at St. Charles in recent years.

“Quite simply, you can’t trust us if you don’t know us,” Sluka wrote. “So here’s our chance to spend some time getting to know each other.”

Despite going in with uncertainty, Dymock came away from her Your Turn session impressed and invigorated.

“Her genuine interest in getting to know me at 5 o’clock on a Sunday – when I’m sure she has other things she could be doing – was really nice,” she said. “It felt really special and I came home feeling gratified by the experience.”

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