2019 PBN Business Excellence Awards
EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Lifespan Corp.
Lifespan corp. came into existence in 1994, when it was founded by Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital.
Now the health system is a Brown University medical school affiliate and has multiple locations, including Newport Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
Lifespan Corp. serves a lot of patients. It tallied 62,368 patient discharges and 257,281 emergency-room visits – with 1,165 licensed beds and more than 15,000 employees last year, according to its 2018 annual report.
The nature of Lifespan’s industry and widespread locations puts the nonprofit organization in a unique position when it comes to investing in its community. It’s an extra challenge to organize so many employees over so many sites. But the company’s prominence on the Rhode Island health care landscape makes it even more crucial that it does so, according to its leaders.
Caring is at the core of its mission, after all, so that ramps up the importance of showing that caring in as many ways as possible. Lisa Abbott, senior vice president of human resources and community affairs, said Lifespan has done it’s best to stay focused and put community efforts where they count most.
“We’ve said we can’t be all things to all people,” she said, with all programs getting regular consideration in terms of results. “We have to rechannel dollars where they do the most good.”
‘We have to rechannel dollars where they do the most good.’
LISA ABBOTT, Lifespan senior vice president of human resources and community affairs
One of the areas where Abbott says Lifespan is doing great things is with its 4-year-old mentorship program. While the program is not brand-new, it’s constantly being fine-tuned for maximum efficiency.
The company pairs high schoolers with a Lifespan employee for a mentoring arrangement that lasts for two years. The students, who are from challenged environments, said Abbott, meet their mentor in their junior year of high school.
“We like it to be high school kind of coaching,” she said, “based on what they need to think about in terms of the college application process and college visits. We get them ready.”
Students are also brought to Lifespan locations to shadow their mentors and explore the health care environment as a profession. Abbott pointed out that there is a social and an emotional component of the mentor-mentee relationships as well, with a monthly visit and weekly phone call, text or email. Great care is taken to ensure that the pairs are well-matched.
“They often need a sounding board who is not their parent to talk to about personal things. And we’re good listeners,” said Abbott, who also serves as a mentor.
The biggest challenge now, she said, is that there are not enough mentors to go around. Those who do volunteer to mentor a student report getting more reward out of the relationship than they ever expected.
For the younger set, Lifespan’s Power Lunch Reading Program matches employees with fourth and fifth graders in Providence schools who need help with reading skills. The program began as a collaboration between Lifespan and Providence nonprofit Inspiring Minds.
Always analyzing community efforts, the company launched Team Lifespan in 2018.
Working with nonprofit partners, Lifespan sponsored fitness events and volunteer projects throughout the year in which employees could participate. It’s a way to give back while promoting good health, messaging that dovetails with the company brand. Team captains ensure coordination across locations, creating a unified front.
Team Lifespan events include Earth Day and beach cleanup projects; the American Heart Walk, which raised more than $43,000; 5K races with paid employee registration, T-shirts and training support; and the Autism Project 15th annual Imagine Walk and Family Fun Day for Autism at Goddard Memorial State Park in East Greenwich.
More than 300 employees participated in the inaugural year of Team Lifespan, according to the company.
The new program joins established initiatives, such as the holiday Season of Giving toy and outerwear collections, as the very latest in Lifespan’s ongoing mission of caring.
