Colleagues Who Inspire: Cheryl Ficara

Hartford HealthCare President & CEO Jeff Flaks introduces us to some of the key players in a variety of roles who are helping to shape the future of healthcare. 

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:01

And colleagues who inspire, we shine a light on the incredible people shaping the future of healthcare. I'm Jeff Flax, and in each episode, we'll sit down with the extraordinary colleagues who bring passion, innovation, and care to everything they do. From the front lines to behind the scenes, these are the stories of resilience, breakthroughs, and what it truly means to make a difference. So whether you're in the field, in the office, or just looking for a dose of inspiration, this is your space to celebrate the journey of our remarkable colleagues in healthcare together. Let's get started. Today, because we had a particularly large room, I deliberately invited Cheryl Ficara. So if I can ask Cheryl to come forward, Cheryl is now the president of the Hartford Region and Hartford Hospital. So I can invite Cheryl to please come forward. Thank you. So I have to tell you, first of all, I'm beyond proud. Cheryl was appointed this past year president of Hartford uh Hospital, which is amazing. And Cheryl was is the 24th president of Harvard Hospital. Harford Hospital was established in 1854, and it is a historic hospital. It has nearly a thousand beds, 7,000 colleagues who work within it, the home of LifeStar, the home of our transplantation program, the home of the Level 1 Trauma Center for the State of Connecticut, one of the most incredible places in the world. It's one of the top ten basically largest hospitals in America. It's an amazing hospital. It's a flagship within Hartford Healthcare. And for Cheryl, if you look at that picture, which I've deliberately wanted it on this image, Cheryl looks different than a lot of people of those 24 presidents. She's our first female president, right, of Hartford Healthcare. Our first nurse president, right, of Hartford Healthcare. And why I bring Cheryl forward, Cheryl and I have worked together for over 20 years. Cheryl joined Hartford Healthcare in 1990. So she started at Hartford Hospital as a nurse in 1990. Cheryl's a UConn graduate. So she joins Harford Hospital in 1990 as a staff nurse, working in intensive care and critical care. And Cheryl, my first question to you. You walk through the doors of Harford Hospital, by the way, it's like an incredible campus. If you haven't been there, I mean it's it's inspiring. You know, this historic, incredible quaternary academic tertiary medical center. You show up as one of the, you know, then there was probably a thousand nurses in Harvard Healthcare, now seven thousand, but you show up of one of the thousand-plus nurses at Harvard Healthcare. Could you ever have imagined? Like you walk in to your ICU, I where were you? What was your first time?

SPEAKER_00 2:52

I was in the cardiothoracic ICU, first role, cardiothoracic ICO.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Could you have imagined what happened?

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Never.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Take us through that journey.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

So I began in the CT ICU, which uh for those of you that are unaware, extremely intense, and I chose that because I wanted to make a difference as a nurse in the most acute environment of the organization, of which it that time was. And with that, with that being said, I vividly remember my first day where I was supported beyond belief in terms of the criticality of the human beings and the families that we served. In addition to that, um what I learned there was team and the fact that no human being can be healed without the team. Um, and it took social worker, PCAs, RNs, physicians, et cetera, that really made the difference in the care in that environment. And I learned the we at Hartford Healthcare and Hartford Hospital that we couldn't everything we do is we do together in support of the patient and the family, which you heard in Jeff's discussions. For me, that was a match for me as a professional to make a difference for those that we serve every day. And and no matter what role I evolved in, focus.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Your your goal was to work in critical care.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Critical care was was just to take care of the patients, to be really great at being a critical care nurse, being able to manage anything no matter how acute you saw LifeStar, that was where I wanted to be.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Well, and then what happened next?

SPEAKER_00 4:28

So then from there, um I was uh tapped on the shoulder because of the passion of how I did the care, what I wanted to do, the um invitingness, if you will, of the organization. I got an opportunity within six months to be the uh surgical trauma intensive care unit manager. So going from bedside staff nurse where I was involved in different committees, they would ask me to do different initiatives, and I would just say yes. That's a key, just say yes. I was scared, but I would just say yes. So from there, I went to a surgical trauma ICU and um was a little concerned. I didn't want to get far from the patient because I love the care. But in there, I had an opportunity to guide a group of team members, colleagues, in the care of surgical trauma intensive care unit patients. So it just expanded the care of the patient and the family, and I was teaching others how to give care. Um, and so I could stay connected, and from there it was um when did you get your next level of education? So I took an opportunity I had an opportunity through Hartford Hospital, Harvard Healthcare to finish my advanced practice degree. So literally I went to UConn again, and then this time I thought I was gonna be an advanced practice nurse. So I completed as an advanced practice nurse my master's, but I was constantly um guided, taught, coached, and mentored, and note ended up in the leadership realm. So just because I got my master's as an advanced practice nurse, the people around me, based on my building of bridges and my connections, felt leadership was a better place for me, which is amazing because you I would never have thought that initially.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

When did you meet Bob in that process?

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Okay. So what Jeff is talking about is I have a husband named Bob. And I met him, um, it's amazing, I met him the third day in the cardiothoracic ICU. He was a physician's assistant, and um we got married six months later.

unknown 6:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

And Bob still, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Bob is Jeff's coaching me, coaching me right now. Can you see that? Um yes, Bob is still a physician's assistant. He no longer is in the intensive care unit cardiothoracic ICU, but he evolved to be um, he's in the outpatient arena for cardiothoracic surgery, so supports patients before and after surgery to prep them. So um but again, he is um been on this journey all the way along the way. And speaking of family, I also um had two uh sons born at uh Hartford Hospital. One's a police officer, both in the the service uh background. One one is a police officer, um, but he st he worked at Hartford Hospital for a couple years as a security guard and really loved the environment and learned a lot, and so he chose to be a police officer. And my other son is a physician um right now finishing his residency out in California, but he too took advantage of what Hartford Hospital he volunteered, did research, and was a PCA actually on one of the surgical units um at Hartford Hospital. So again, my journey of 34 years engaged, I engaged all the way along my family. And the last person I would like to tell you, um uh my granddaughter was just born at Hartford Hospital, in addition, um in uh it was July. So um I I'm kind of connected to Hartford Hospital, wouldn't you say?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

And Cheryl mentioned the so just you went from a staff nurse, then you go into a management role for the first time, and you kind of shifted, but you were still largely in critical care, but at some point you shift now, you go into to run the operating rooms.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Yes. So um definitely surgical services um director. So after after um I became the manager of the surgical trauma unit, from there I became the surgical services director. So again, more areas. What brought me there was um I would get involved, initiatives, I would just say yes, would be engaged, and so from there the the whole surgical realm and the director. So again, still connected to the patients is how I see it, but I'm helping the staff and the leaders of those areas provide great patient care. From there, I had an opportunity which was probably my most challenging in periops services. They asked me to be the OR director, which for me was like, I can't, I've never been an OR nurse. I I can't possibly. But what was wonderful about it is they weren't looking for me to be the OR nurse, they were looking for me to support the OR nurses and support um the staff in perioops services in the operating room area so that they could get great care. So again, when you listen to Jeff and you hear about Hartford Healthcare, it's about the patient and the role you take then is about supporting those to um that then support the patient. So essentially that's where I uh went from there. And then I'm gonna say it, from there, Jeff Flax said to me, Cheryl, I really need you to um think about being the chief nurse, the vice president of patient care services. Now I was like, I love periaps services, I love the operating room. I I I'm not really sure, Jeff, that I would be a good match. But what then he said to me, he goes, that's okay. Plus, I didn't want to lose my previous role in the operating room because I loved it. He said, That's okay, you could take both. And I look at that day as it was initially you're nervous and you're not sure, can I? But it was the most rewarding experience to be able to have periop services and then in addition be the patient care services leader of the whole entire organization. Nursing-wise, there's 2,500 nurses, PCAs, we're made way more than that. And that blend was very rewarding, very rewarding for me. Um, I the the pieces that were unbelievably rewarding that I just want to share with all of you is really about our culture and our values. So when I use the word culture, it's about leadership behaviors and our values. And what's so impressive as you go out and about in the entire system is you will feel that. One of the most important ones for me is teaching, coaching, mentoring. I spend um 90% of my day every day, regardless of what I'm doing, is making sure the people around me are learning, growing, if if that's where their goals are. So it's been an unbelievable opportunity to uh to be a part of that. So after the role of the chief nurse, um I had an opportunity then to do um senior vice president of operations at Hartford Hospital. What was neat about that is that that made it complete for me, in that now I had all roles in the organization, and I was essentially assisting the colleagues of the organization to operate Hartford Hospital. And having been there for the number of years, um, it just kind of completed my leadership in terms of being able to do every aspect and I learn every day from all of the colleagues, and so and that's what I look for. The feedback, things that are working, not working, um that that's my focus. My focus is the colleagues in support of the patients and the staff. And then finally, this past August, um Jeff in his inclusive and you know forward-thinking way, um, asked me to take on the presidency. And never in my career as a bedside nurse, 34 years ago, did I think that I would be the president of Hartford Hospital. It is the most rewarding feeling in the world. I've gotten a lot of um feedback from nurses as well as females, and it's just um to represent a role after you know, the 24th president to to represent that role in our organization and an organization that I couldn't value more, that has given me meaning in beyond anything I've ever had as a profession. As a staff nurse, um, who who would have thought that that would have been an opportunity? And all the way in my my entire journey, I still today have tremendous meaning in what I do. So I thank Jeff for that.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Thank you. The reason I invited Cheryl here is because, you know, this is an example. When you begin as a staff nurse in 1990, Cheryl has been a reluctant leader in many ways because every time I've been involved over the last number of years in offering her new opportunity and looking to advance her, she's always starts with, I don't really think so, and then moves, yeah, I can I know how to kind of move her to yes, because she's a reluctant leader, because she she wants to just do what she's doing and make the place better every day. Um, and that's what makes her so great. But Cheryl's story is exactly what I hope inspires everyone in this room. It's not where you start in this organization. It's if you if you work and you contribute and you embrace this organization and you're aligned with what it does, and you make us better every day, the opportunities are beyond anything you might even be thinking about.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Can I bring one more? Please I think I'm reminiscent of a scenario where Jeff and I um I was rounding on one of the patient care units, and there was a um a newer nurse in critical care. And he asked me to be able to meet with Jeff. Um, you know, could I could I arrange that? And um I said, of course. And so um Jeff and I uh met with this young man and he is is he began and he looked at Jeff and he goes, I want to be you. It was this the first statement he made. And Jeff, in his teaching, coaching, mentoring way, um, said to him that if you do what you're doing in a phenomenal way in the best interest of the patient and the colleagues around you, and you focus on that versus your next step, or what do I want to be, or I want to be him, that will take you because that excellence in what you do every day and in the roles that you're beginning in will help to show others what you're capable of, and you'll get tapped on the shoulder for the next opportunity versus just driving for that. So I thought it was the most tremendous feedback he could give this young man who has since then um uh transitioned himself into a leadership role. So again, thank you, Jeff, for guiding. I now give that advice regularly. Be great at what you are doing presently, and people will tap you because they'll see it.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Absolutely sure. Thank you so much.