Tag Archives: family

Spring can’t come soon enough

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As my daughter says, “You didn’t really think that through, did you?” She wasn’t referring to getting a new puppy which we’d talked about for months. She was referring to getting a “winter puppy” in the North.IMG_0295 (002) puppy

We trained new puppies in the summers of 2006 (Pepe) and 2008 (Coco). We had to let go of Pepe in 2017 due to a tumor on her liver; since then, we focused all our love on Coco. Then, we decided Coco needed an “intern”. Coco would have a friend that she could help train. What a concept!

We got our new puppy, Rosie, in late January. She was about 10 weeks old then.  We bought her a little dog sweater and puffy dog coat. We got her a collar and a leash. We hadn’t really thought that through.

Because, when we picked her up, the breeder said she was like an infant. She couldn’t go outside until probably end of March or she might catch a cold or pneumonia. Plus, she needed her three puppy shots – second was due mid-February and the last one mid-March – before she could be outside around where other dogs have been. Coco is up to date on shots, so they can share space in the backyard. That is, after the snow and cold is gone.

I haven’t even gotten to the two dogs getting to know each other part yet.

We set up Rosie in the shower stall of our guest bathroom. We made a little bed for her, put her food and water dishes nearby and put down papers for her to do her business on at the other end of the shower stall. We leaned a baby gate across the entrance to the shower. We let her out and played with her on the bathroom floor several times a day. We brought her down to the living room at night to sit on our laps while we watched TV. Mostly this worked and she was content. Continue reading →

Holiday stress? Remember your big rocks

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It’s holiday season. Are you stressing or relaxing? Are you hosting or bringing a dish to someone’s house? Are you braving the highways or airports? Are you questioning whether you bought the right gifts canstockphoto11846362 (1) holiday stressfor all the right people? Or trying to figure out when you can possibly take time to do gift shopping. Are you arguing with family over something that later you’ll decide was stupid? So many ways to be stressed at this time of year.

And so many ways to be with people we love. On business calls this week I’ve talked with people anxiously waiting for their college age kids to return home for their holiday break, people getting ready to have housefuls of out of town relatives with them for the next week, and others who are taking their family on a ski trip for the holidays.

For me, it’s all about being with loved ones. There will be the annual Schade Family Christmas Sleepover this weekend with my two daughters and their husbands and what I fondly call the “Fab Four” – my four grandkids who range in ages from 2 to 6 years old. Yes, it will be chaotic, but fun.

There will be the Christmas day dinner at my daughter’s house an hour away with her in-law’s family. It is her first time hosting everyone on Christmas and her stress is building. 15 adults and 6 kids for dinner. She works a 12-hour shift as a nurse practitioner on Christmas Eve so she’s trying to figure out when she will get everything done and ready. We’ll get there in time to help before everyone else arrives and she and her husband can delegate any task to us that they want to.

My holiday gift shopping is done. I subscribe to the “keep it simple” approach. It’s too easy to go overboard. For each grandkid, there will be one big present to unwrap. Then each pair of siblings will get an “experience”. Choice of more gymnastics or swim lessons for one family. Annual zoo membership for the other. As one of my daughters said to me a few years ago – get them experiences, they have plenty of toys.

The stockings hung at our house will be from nana and papa, not Santa. Continue reading →

Widen the circle

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Thanksgiving is often that day when we gather with family and friends, eat too much, maybe argue over politics, watch a lot of football, and generally have a good time being in the presence of people we carecanstockphoto21096824 (1) starts with you about. It’s that day when families widen their circle, make room at an already crowded table for friends and friends of friends who have no family nearby to be with.

I remember the last several Thanksgivings well. They represent our growing family.

Two of them were in Ann Arbor on long distance “baby watch”. In 2012, I was on my own having just started a new CIO position at Michigan Medicine. I was anxiously awaiting the call from our daughter in California to say she’d gone into labor and that I should get a ticket and fly out. It was our first grandchild. The plan was to help her out for the first week when they came home from the hospital. A couple I had met at church invited me to join their family on Thanksgiving as I waited. Two years later our second grandchild was due in Boston. Our best friends in Ann Arbor graciously invited my husband and I to join their family for Thanksgiving dinner as we waited for that call.

2013 was the only time we had our family at our Ann Arbor house – they travelled from both coasts for Thanksgiving. We also celebrated our grandchild’s first birthday together that long holiday weekend. And for my football fan son-in-law who grew up wanting to play for the University of Michigan, I bought tickets for everyone to go to the Michigan-Ohio game at the big house. A year to remember!

Over the next few years we became part of our Boston area daughter’s big extended family of in-laws. Now that my husband and I live in New England again and our California daughter and son-in-law live nearby, we have all been welcomed into the Boston area clan at the holidays. This Thanksgiving we were again part of that family but on a smaller scale. Continue reading →

Make career choices right for you

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One of the highlights of my week was participating in an American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) panel series with several Boston area healthcare leaders. The panel was part of a series focused canstockphoto13994976 (1) careeron early careerists and co-sponsored by the Boston Young Healthcare Professionals (BYHP). The panel was titled “Making the Next Move: Career Positioning and Proactively Managing Your Career Development”.

We covered a range of topics – taking ownership of your own career, knowing yourself and clarifying your roadmap, the work-life balancing act, gender and cultural diversity, personal branding and using social media, and generational differences.

Ted Witherell, Director of Organization Development and Learning Services, at Partners Healthcare was one of the other panelists. He posed three key questions when thinking about your career:

  • What brings you joy?
  • Are you good at it?
  • Does the world need you to do it?

These questions seemed to resonate with the audience. They came up often during the Q&A period as attendees sought to connect the experiences and advice being shared by the panelists with their own situations.

As the only woman on the five-member panel, I wanted to make sure I spoke directly to the women in the audience on challenges women face. At times, one of those challenges is having self-confidence. I encouraged everyone to check out the excellent article from a few years ago, “The Confidence Gap” by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman published in The Atlantic. I highly recommend reading it to understand that “success correlates just as closely with confidence as it does with competence” and “that with work, confidence can be acquired”.

I also addressed the work-life balance that we all struggle with. Continue reading →

What can we learn from women in leadership?

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It’s been almost four years since I started speaking and writing openly about the challenges facing women at work, the importance of developing women leaders, and encouraging women to pursue STEM careers. canstockphoto7990695 (1) women leadersI have no regrets about being outspoken on women’s issues.

It is encouraging to see organizations like CHIME and HIMSS focus on this in recent years and to see so many younger women share their own stories and provide advice to others.

I was happy to see the recent four-part series that Kate Gamble, Managing Editor of HealthSystemCIO.com, did on Women in HIT leadership.  She interviewed an excellent group of women leaders – Sarah Richardson, California market CIO for HealthCare Partners; Tressa Springmann, SVP and CIO at LifeBridge Health; and Julie Bonello, CIO at Rush Health.

The series covered all the topics you might expect: their early leadership experiences and stories, core leadership competencies needed, the importance and challenge of maintaining work/life balance and supporting your teams, stereotypes of women leaders, the power and importance of mentoring, and learning from male dominated environments.

Their experiences, insight, and advice provide a rich set of lessons to learn from. I highly recommend you read or listen to the series at these links:

Women in HIT Leadership, Part 1: Identifying the Core Leadership Skills

Women in HIT Leadership, Part 2: Challenging Gender Stereotypes

Women in HIT Leadership, Part 3: The Future of the CIO Role

Women in HIT Leadership, Part 4: A Call to Action

In the closing comments of Part 4, Sarah says she is optimistic about the future for women but knows it is up to us as women leaders to make change happen. She quotes Sheryl Sandberg from Lean In, “If not you, then who?” and “If not now, then when?”. And Tressa talks about leading with grace in spite of the obstacles women face. Continue reading →

Everyday heroes among us

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In a week where we remember 9/11 and brace for a major hurricane expected to hit three east coast states, we are reminded of the many everyday heroes – emergency responders and healthcare workers.canstockphoto4424174 (1) families belong together

I’ve highlighted these heroes often over the years. I am grateful for all they do every day to keep us healthy and safe.

A year ago, I commented on the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico. We now understand a year later that nearly 2,975 people lost their lives due to Hurricane Maria. 2,977 people died in the terror attacks on 9/11 seventeen years ago.

Pediatricians were the first to call attention to immigrant families being separated at the border earlier this summer. Over 2,600 children were separated from their families. As of August 30th, nearly 500 children were still separated from their families.

We’ve all seen stories of firefighters and healthcare workers who lost their homes to forest fires out west this summer yet showed up to do their jobs and help others. Dignity Health has 48 hospitals and numerous ambulatory facilities throughout California, Nevada and Arizona.  Lloyd Dean, president and CEO at Dignity Health, shared an important piece this week – “Coping with the Health Consequences of Wildfires”.

On a bright note, a team of creative and committed technologists using medical drone technology are delivering blood supplies and vaccines where roads are inaccessible in two African countries.

And we all probably know a nurse we’d consider a personal hero. Continue reading →

The 6 Rs of summer

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In these final weeks of summer, it’s a good time to stop and reflect . Our lives have become busier and busier. We work more hours. We are constantly available. Our phones are never far from reach.canstockphoto2218480 (1) beach chairs

As you take some time for yourself this summer, keep in mind the importance of R&R – Rest and Relaxation to get Refreshed and to Renew your energy.

Take time to Reflect on what is important to you.

Maybe even Reboot. Make adjustments as needed. After all, you only have one life to live.

As the poet Mary Oliver says, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”.

Related Posts:

4 tips when you must work on vacation

Making time for reflection

Time to stop and smell the roses

Do you know your big rocks?

Take time to reboot

Family ties – we all have a story

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I am the youngest of my three siblings; I have a sister and two brothers. My husband, Tom, grew up the middle child with an older brother and a younger sister. All of our parents were deceased by the time we Blooming Grove cropped icaruswere in our mid-30’s and raising our own children.

My husband’s brother, Ted, died last November. Tom and Ted had an up and down relationship over the years but had come to a good place together last year. They got together for dinner on Wednesdays and had become good friends.

Yesterday, Tom and I drove 350 plus miles to a small community, Blooming Grove, near Williamsport, Pennsylvania to bury Ted’s ashes. Tom’s sister flew in from Arizona and several of their cousins who live in New England joined us. Why Blooming Grove? This is where seven generations of Schade’s are buried. It is a small community of Dunkard Baptists who first immigrated from Germany in the early 1800’s. A place in the Schade family history I’d only heard stories about until this trip.

Several of those generations are on our family photo wall. It is a work in process. Tom continues to add pictures from both of our families as we go through old boxes of photos. Our oldest granddaughter is five. She loves the movie Coco and understands it is about honoring and remembering your ancestors. When she visits, we often review the family photo wall and explain who everyone is.   Continue reading →

4 Tips when you must work on vacation

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If summer is the weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day, summer is a third over already. Have you made your summer vacation plans? Have you figured out how you’re going to get a break and renew your canstockphoto38573795 (1) work on vacationenergy?

I’ve advocated making vacation time truly yours and figuring out how to completely shut off from work. You need to make sure you have someone covering while you are away and trust that they will handle things well without you.

It’s a little different now that I have my own business with two colleagues and our work is more fluid. When I am off for 2 weeks on a long planned European trip later this year, I will shut it off completely. My colleagues will handle whatever comes up.

But when I take other shorter breaks, I will continue to manage my key commitments and the high priorities. Here are some tips for managing when you must work on vacation:

Timebox – If you need to do certain work, schedule a specific block of time to do it then shut it off for the rest of the day.

Accessibility – Make sure your colleagues know when you are and aren’t available. With cell coverage and Wi-Fi being pervasive, it shouldn’t be hard to do whatever you have to do wherever you are. But when you are in a remote area and have limited or spotty cell coverage, make sure others know this.

Email management – We all know email can be a time sink. It’s endless. Scan it quickly and deal with only what’s time sensitive and high priority. The rest can wait. Since you are not checking it as often, ask colleagues to text you if there is something you need to deal with.

Managing family expectations – If you are the only family member who needs to work while away, let them know the time you need for work and manage their expectations.  Trust me, it will avoid stupid fights and bad feelings.

For advice on completely shutting off on vacation and why it’s so important to do so, check out my post, “Take time to reboot”.

Kudos to all of you who plan to spend some of your vacation time doing community service or volunteering for something you are passionate about – there are many opportunities to pay it forward these days.

Happy summer! It will be over before you know it.

Related Posts: 

Take time to reboot

Do you know your big rocks?

Time to stop and smell the roses

Heroes among us: pediatricians

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Pediatricians are one of the first and most trusted people you turn to when you have a new baby. They are a phone call away when your child is sick, and you don’t know what to do.  They give you advice on canstockphoto4424174 (1) families belong togetherhow to raise a healthy, well-balanced child.

Pediatricians and all healthcare professionals play an important role in our individual lives. They also play a critical role on a larger scale in our communities as they are some of the first to raise their voices and expose a public health issue.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is the Flint, Michigan pediatrician and public health advocate who first reported there was lead in the drinking water. She went public with her research and faced backlash. She persisted. But despite the tireless efforts by her and many others, the Flint water crisis is a public health crisis that is still not resolved. She has just published a book called “What the Eyes Don’t See – A Story of Crisis, Resistance and Hope in an American City”.  A portion of the proceeds from book sales will be donated to Flint Kids.

Dr. Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), was one of the first to visit the facilities where thousands of children are being held after being separated from their parents as they cross our southern border seeking asylum. 70 children a day are being separated from their parents.

In a May 8th statement opposing the policy of separating families, the AAP stated: “Separating children from their parents contradicts everything we stand for as pediatricians – protecting and promoting children’s health. In fact, highly stressful experiences, like family separation, can cause irreparable harm, disrupting a child’s brain architecture and affecting his or her short- and long-term health. This type of prolonged exposure to serious stress – known as toxic stress – can carry lifelong consequences for children.”

Clinical psychologists describe the human toll this crisis is taking on children. The trauma and long term psychological and physical effects. In a recent interview, Dr. Kraft said the “zero tolerance” policy separating families at the border “amounts to child abuse.”

Nearly 4600 mental health professionals and 90 organizations have signed a petition urging the president and the attorney general to stop separating families at the border.

The media are shining a spotlight on the crisis at the border day after day. Continue reading →