Professional Development:

Patty has a BA in Psychology from Stanford and has completed the UCLA – Anderson School of Management course, Management Development for Entrepreneurs’, the Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization Stanford Executive Program and 125 hours of coaching training through The Coaches Training Institute.  She is now enrolled at Nebraska Methodist College where she is scheduled to receive her MS in Health Promotion in December of 2015.  Patty enjoys supporting others in their career and health goals while creating innovative programs.  She particularly appreciates her current master’s program where she is gathering new tools with every assignment.  

Demonstrated Success: 

From 1995-2008, Patty’s fitness & wellness company grew to over 100 employees and $5 miillion in annual revenue.   In 2008, she received an offer she couldn’t refuse and sold the corporate wellness division to Plus One of New York.  Her clients included Cisco, Google, Yahoo! And Safeway.   When Patty was asked to become interim manager for the hospitals in 2013, she wasn’t sure what impact she could make in a short 6 months, but agreed to the challenge. Patty used the available on-line platform to recruit new Wellness Champions by offering program points.  She soon recruited over 1000 Wellness Champions!  She shares available resources from the Stanford Health Promotion Network (SHPN) to allow her Champions to attend the SHPN quarterly learning events and the annual Wellness Summit at no charge.  She nurtures them with weekly e-mails filled with encouragement and free resources (often from WELCOA) and offers free stretch breaks, and team buildings for their departments.  Patty created the Champion of the Month Program in 2014 and has now launched the Healthy Department Grant Program within the Hospitals.  Forty three departments completed the application to win one of four $500 Grants.  The winners were chosen based on the potential long-term impact of their wellness ideas.  The program has received much praise from the C-Suite and we have been given funds to offer 10 grants in 2015!

The Champions program has supported our mission to ‘Create a Culture of Care, for Patients and Employees’.  Patty added this tagline to the program in the fall of 2013 to reinforce the importance of the organization’s need to care for our caregivers.  We are striving for a cultural change that will come from listening and following through on our commitments as an organization.  Patty continues to meet with departments, individuals and decision makers to collaborate at all levels of the organization and within the community.  She attends the Physician’s Wellness Committee meeting, The Nurses Resiliency Committee Meetings, Shared Leadership and Benefits planning meetings.  She also attends HealthySteps sister program meetings with BeWell, the employee wellness program for Stanford University employees. 

Patty often refers to WELCOA’s 7 Benchmarks and shares successes with the hospitals as well as SHPN Members.  We have captured CEO Support, initially through the annual CEO Walk, and more recently by sharing the program successes.  The three -person wellness team has used business best practices including the Strengths Finder Survey and nurturing their talents within the program.  They have also creating a business plan with a clear vision and mission for the C-Suite.  The team collects biometric and HRA data and have added appropriate interventions such as the newly formed Stanford Coordinated Care (for chronic disease management) and a new partnership with Omada to sponsor their Prevent Program for our pre-diabetic population.  Collaborations with occupational health, organizational development, food service, parking and transportation and facilities (to name a few) support a healthier work environment for all employees.

Leadership:

In 2008, Patty volunteered at Stanford to create the Stanford Health Promotion Network (SHPN).  In 2010, after selling her company, Patty was offered the position as Director of SHPN and has since grown this not-for-profit arm of the Stanford School of Medicine from 25 members to over 90 members including Visa, Apple, Cisco, LinkedIn The Counties of Alameda and Santa Clara, Kaiser Permanente and Blue Shield, to name a few.   Patty walks, hikes and encourages others around her to keep moving and eat fresh, ‘real’ food as often as possible.  She encourages, without judgement, and using motivational interviewing best practices not only at work but also in her personal relationships.  Patty often mentors others (who ask) and feels strongly that her success has come from treating others with respect and kindness.  She supports others whenever possible and strives to connect people with resources.  Patty also continually looks for unique ways to apply best practices from all industries.  

Innovation:

By expanding our holistic offerings, nurturing our employee passions and listening to their need for purpose, the program is blossoming.  We have developed several unconventional team building programs based on the Four Agreements by Don Miquel Ruiz and 3 Good Things, first researched by Dr. Martin Seligman and now made more accessible by the Duke Patient Safety Center and the work of J. Bryan Sexton.  The Department Grant Program has also supported our employees who are filled with creative energy, increase their skills and inspire others.  It never ceases to amaze us when so many of our employees want to give back and build something special and support their co-workers.  We are seeing a cultural change that is positively impacting behaviors. 

Vision:

The wellness industry has often been seen as a nice to have ‘perk’ for many companies.  We spend time and energy planning fun runs and health fairs that are important for engaging employees but may not always be tied to the higher level strategic plan of the organization.   Often companies in financial strain will cut holiday parties, team building funds and wellness if these programs are not supporting the long-term goals of the organization.   As industry leaders, I believe we need to increase our business skills, prepare to share our vision with the C-Suite and integrate all of our programs deeply into the culture.  HealthySteps has found tremendous support from organizational development and human resources because we are blurring the traditional role of wellness and finding ways to support their goals.