Kim is our Hospice Director and joined Haven in 2015. She was kind enough to sit down with us for this interview and she has some wonderful stories about her time as part of the Haven family.
What was Haven like when you started?
We were in a little office—it was the second office that we had, I never got to see the first one. I remember that John gave up his office for me so that I would have an office and I felt terrible about it. John was in with HR or something. He ended up sharing that office with Tim for quite a bit, but I always felt so bad that I kicked the CEO out of his office.
So that’s where we were, and then as we got a little bit bigger, I was moved to a different room and then that was also my supply closet room. So, underneath my desk I had diapers all underneath there, I had a little tiny half bookcase with supplies on it like hand-sanitizers and lotions and things like that and then all along the top of the desk, all around, in all the corners were diapers and catheters and all of that. So, it was a very cushy office.
What drew you to Haven?
What initially drew me was that I was actually going to quit nursing. I was going to work in a kitchen and I was done with the politics, I was done with the back-biting and the hateful way people treated each other in the health offices I had been in previously and I was just at my limit. One of my friends had told me about Haven, that they were wanting to have someone come and start up and run their hospice for them. And I said, “oh yeah, yeah, that sounds good” and I never called, because I really was not going to do nursing anymore.
And so, a couple of weeks later, I get another phone call: “Hey Kim, you haven’t applied over there yet.” And I was like “Yeah, well, you know, I’ve just been busy” and he was like “Well, you know they’re holding the spot open. They don’t want to hire anybody until they talk to you.” So I’m like, “OK,” and so I had John’s number, I called John, and I made it as difficult for him as I possibly could, “I work late, I wasn’t going to be able to be off until 5:30 or 6” and John’s response was “Fine, I’ll wait for you!”
So, I come in, fully expecting to just go in for the interview and then leave and so, in 40 minutes, John told me his vision about what he wanted. The first thing that he told me was that he wanted me to make sure that my patients were taken care of. He said, “I don’t care what they need. If they need it, we’ll find it.” And he has never let me down. The second thing he told me was that he wanted me to take good care of my staff. And in nursing, in medical, you don’t hear that, and that meant a lot to me. The third thing that he told me was that they had a good reputation and for me to take care of that reputation, that it was all him and Bethany had. And that was how I was raised. I was raised, if your name and a handshake didn’t seal the deal, then you weren’t really worth much of anything. And so, it hit home for me on all three levels that he had given me. And so, in 40 minutes, I had been offered and accepted a position at Haven and haven’t regretted it for a second.
What has made you stay with Haven?
Ultimately, we’ve had ups and downs and we’ve had bumps in the road, but ultimately the values that brought me to Haven have not changed. The patients will have the best care, the staff will be treated fairly, and our reputation is everything. And so, that’s why I’ve stayed is because the parts that were so important to me that I didn’t have before that I was willing to leave nursing, that I love, was given back to me. And it was given to my staff, and I appreciate it very much.
What has been the biggest change over your time here?
Just how big we’ve gotten. And how much we’ve struggled to make sure that we maintain that small business feel. And that’s just really important, we don’t ever want to lose that.
What is your favorite memory of working at Haven?
There’s so many. The jokes that we play on each other, the times where—like one of my staff members had lost multiple patients that week. She sent a message on TigerText and said “I thought I was doing okay but I’m really kind of struggling” and my phone was just ‘bing’ ‘bing’ ‘bing’ ‘bing’ ‘bing’ ‘bing’ ‘bing’, of all the people, all of the staff messaging, “you’ve done such a great job,” “I know this is really hard,” “hey, call me if you want to talk.” Just the encouragement from the rest of the staff, to lift up one person who was struggling.
My dad heard my phone going off like that, he was living with us at the time, he said, “Baby,” he said, “are you going to have to go out?” Because I’m on call 24/7, and I looked at him and I said “No, Daddy.” I said, “Let me show you,” And so I started telling him what was going on and how just that support, 20, 30 messages, just back and forth and back and forth and he said, “Well it sounds to me like you have a pretty good team there.” And so, I think looking back, that’s probably one of my favorite memories.