Producing Confidence
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Producing Confidence
EP 13: Leading with Integrity: Inside Danos Care Management
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Danos Safety Director Isaac Dantin and Care Manager Frances Kosak show how Danos makes case management personal—meeting workers where they are, guiding treatment, and supporting safe, confident returns to work.
From cardiac incidents to offshore logistics, they outline what it takes to lead with integrity and build a safety culture that genuinely cares.
Learn more at danos.com.
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Producing Confidence Podcast. I'm your host, Samantha McGee, and today we are going to dive into the role of case management at Dana's. Joining me in the studio, we have Isaac Dontin and Francis Kosak. Isaac is safety director at Danos and has been an employee for 22 years. He is a former field and staff employee of the year winner. Francis Kosak is our case manager. She's been with Danos for 13 years and is also a former staff employee of the year winner. Welcome to you both and thanks for joining me.
SPEAKER_02:Thanks. It's good to be here. Excited about it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, great. So we'll just dive right into it. So how would you describe the role of case manager to someone outside of Danos?
SPEAKER_02:I think, first of all, you know, just thinking about our employees and knowing that they have a need, especially when our employees are either injured or, you know, they have a non-occupational uh illness. We want to make sure that they're taken care of. It's our genuine care for their health, their well-being, but not only that, also for their family. You know, our employees are distant, they're away from the job site. So we want to make sure the face that they see is going to be someone that's welcoming, that really cares, that shows our value and our culture and who we are at Danos. And Frances fits that role. Her position at care manager shows the value, the investment that Danos has in making sure that we are in the face of our employees to show genuine care for them and manage their situation from the onset all the way to where they go back to work, you know, safely, healed up, or, you know, recovering from an illness or other type of injury.
SPEAKER_01:So basically, this role comes into play after someone has an injury of some sort on the job. Is that right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So our employees, you know, unfortunately, it happens. You know, we try to do everything we can in safety to prevent incidents and accidents, but people are human. People make mistakes. It's gonna happen. It's happened to you, it's happened to me, it's happened to all of us. The ones we can't mitigate, we have to manage them. So it's uh it's important for us to have a system in place. So when those things do happen, we could be frontline. It's also critical that we have relationships. So care management, we like to call it, instead of just case management, is not only Francis' responsibility or my responsibility or safety's, but our account managers, our project managers, you know, our whole company pretty much manage uh all of these cases. It's not always Francis that'll go and manage a case. It might be that person's account manager that uh that knows them very well and most of the time better than we do. So it is a company-wide initiative. Our purpose, you know, our s our strategy around living our values is is critical. So it takes all of us.
SPEAKER_00:So technically what we it's the managing and the coordinating the response to a workplace injury or illness, because we do have some illnesses, to make sure to ensure that they get the appropriate care and to follow that through and to for a return to work and ensure they are fit for duty on that return to work. As other companies have case management in their organizations. But Danos likes to call it care management because there's it's so much more personal and it it it's in that care. Let me take it a little bit further.
SPEAKER_01:That's no that was gonna be my next question. So other companies have case management positions, but we think we feel ours is a little bit different, being that we're really living the purpose of Danos, right?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, to give you an example, there are some companies out there that'll use a third-party service to pick up an employee and bring him to a doctor, and and that's fine. I mean, they are providing the care that's required, but we believe we go above and beyond. That's why we call it care management instead of case management. Case management is the technical term, it's the legitimate title of that position in which Francis is, but a care manager is is more. So we want to be the person that our employees see, you know, when we pick them up at the airport, the heliports, or wherever they're flying in from or shore bases. So uh it's important for us um to show our genuine care.
SPEAKER_00:So we the patient we have an injury or we have an illness, we assess, we triage, we coordinate that care, and then we have them and assist with the return to work plan, right? And then follow-ups as well. But with Dano's, with our values and our culture, it's more care management than just their case management. So other companies have that case management, they don't they don't see the person they're speaking with. Um, you know, like Isaac mentioned, they have a third party that picks them up. It is very formal and cold, you know, they don't have that personal, that personal investment in them like Danos has with our people. So it's real important to us, really important that we call it, we have our care management, that we take care of them.
SPEAKER_01:I love that. And so, how did this role of case or care management come about? How I mean, we had our safety team, and then how did the it turn into what the role it is today?
SPEAKER_02:No, that that's a good question. Um so you know, when I started in safety uh with Dan Oss, I came from the field. When I started in safety, we had less than a thousand people. And uh we had one administrative assistant. Uh, her name was Michelle Cureau, and she was fantastic. Uh, she did not only the admin support for safety, but she also took care of a lot of our um, you know, risk uh issues, a lot of our uh cases where employees were were injured and were on, you know, workers' comp. So her role was very busy and our company was really growing. And so that was about the same time the BP all spill took place, and you know, our numbers really climbed, and Francis uh was working the spill at the time. So we never had a person that was full-time that would care for our employees. Our safety team would just go out and take care of them ourselves. Well, as we grew, Francis' position was ended because the spill was done, and we were looking for a place for good people that really fit the values and the culture and the nature of who Dan Oss was. And I was told about Francis, and I've met her a couple of times before, and it, you know, it was widely known and quickly known that we need to keep Francis with Dan Oss. She's one of us. And so we created the position. I didn't know what a uh case manager was before Francis came on. We never had a title of it at Dan Oss. To be honest, I thought I made it up. I really, I really did. I I was that naive to even know. But she filled the role and she uh wrote the job description, and we worked together side by side, and her ability to take care of our employees, and I want to use this word in a motherly way because Frances has a mother's heart. In a motherly way, she took care of our employees, and it brought something different that we never had before. It wasn't just me showing up or one of our safety guys showing up. She brought the expertise, the knowledge, but the passion, the care, and the solution to. So sometimes employees are scared. They don't know what the next step is. You know, am I gonna have to live with this injury? Or a spouse that's on the other line that's hours away. Francis is on the on the call. She's managing that whole relationship so much that Frances gets cookies once in a while from the spouses. But anyway, that's how it started. And and from there we just we never look back. And it's been something that I think has, you know, you don't make money when you're doing this. It's a cost to the company, but it's an investment in our people. And I could tell you testimony or testimony of how many lives were touched because we did make that decision and because we have a Francis.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Isaac.
SPEAKER_02:That was very good.
SPEAKER_01:So, Francis, I know you Isaac, you mentioned that you kind of created this role for her. What did you have any experience in case management before that? I know you've got a variety of range of experiences pre-danos, but what was your your experience with that like?
SPEAKER_00:I did I did that when I was working on the the beep for BP and the BPO, so I did it for them. Oh god. I used to work for the Department of Health and Hospitals. It was real important working there in EMS to um advocate for patient care. It's real important. And then, of course, in advocating for EMS. Dan OS allows me to do that, to advocate for our, you know, their health and their well-being. And so I get to bring that. It was really important to me. And then, of course, use all the resources that we have to care for our employees. Our mission, our goal is very in supporting our employees is to get the appropriate care and to return them home safely in the same, if not better, condition that they were before they came to work. You know, that it's an aging workforce in that oil and gas, and it's well-documented trend. And and men just don't really manage their health as well, whether high stress or physical demanding jobs, they want to tough it out. So through our care management, we actually have discovered people who have undiagnosed personal health conditions, hypertension or diabetes, and it's an opportunity for health awareness and intervention and coaching them. We have a phenomenal safety culture here at Downhouse. Isaac has done an amazing job. Our entire organization has done a wonderful job. And now we were able to kind of intervene and give some of that health culture, kind of wrap our arms around them, you know, our benefits that we have here, and and we advocate for them to take care of themselves, you know. They're real important to us. And so this also gives me that opportunity, not just to care for that specific injury or illness that is happening at that time, but the overall well-being for our people that's very important too. You know, that ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care, right? So if we have that opportunity to educate them and to share things with them and help them along the way, and they're really receptive to that.
SPEAKER_01:That's really it really is embodying the the vision to care for people that Daniel sets. So I'm sure you've got plenty of stories and examples, but there is there an example that comes to mind that you can share where they had a big positive impact on employee and their well-being?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, there's there's a whole lot of examples. I mean, of course, we're not going to give specifics or names, but I'll I'll I'll be a little general. Uh when an employee has a cardiac event, that is scary. It's emotional. We try to get, you know, our um our families involved really quick. We try to call the spouses. We want them there. You know, sometimes we can do all that we can and we can be present, but the the hand of a loving, a loved one, they're with them at the hospital, soothes a person like you wouldn't believe. So there have been plenty of cases, you know, where we did all we could to make things expedite. Um But yeah, I mean there's there's several examples. Those are the ones that scare me. Can we control that? You know, it's hard for us to control a cardiac event or a diabetic episode or you know, things like that. We can't prevent them. Sometimes those things happen. But we jump to it and we try our very best to really help. But Francis, you have any examples that live in your head?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I have a few, but let's talk about during COVID and what we did for our for our employees and our team. You know, we kept them educated. You know, we we Isaac stepped up, we had our COVID care team, we called our employees, we helped direct them to clinics or where they could be tested at, keeping them informed. And and when the air illnesses became serious, even though it wasn't work related, we still would find providers for them and we would help them through this and educate them and their families. It was real important for us during this time. And I think we did an amazing job for those years that we had this going on, years. So there were quite few that were very serious, could have been you know detrimental and and maybe have been caused death. But we were able to help them and through our care management, you know, our team made phone calls, 100 phone calls a day to each of our employees that were sick and making sure that everything was, you know, that they if they had any questions or they needed resources and needed information where to get this in, we would we would guide them. And we do that with our care management and when they whether it's an ill injury or illness, you know, we we we immediately explained to have the injury, we explained to them the process so that they know and trust us for their care, for their well-being. We talk to their families and walk them through this of what we're doing and what you know, hoping that we get that outcome right, that they're gonna return to work, maybe even better at managing their health and their care by giving those little nuggets and sharing this information. But we we want to trust them, we value them. And so we're able to do that.
SPEAKER_02:You know, when Frances speaks to an employee, when she speaks to a spouse, they're getting a refined, heartfelt message. They're getting the direction that they need to make them feel really comfortable. But on the backside, it's very aggressive. Francis is communicating with our doctors. Francis is in the backrooms, you know, with the doctors, talking about what's going on. Francis is making calls even before the employee reaches a clinic or a hospital. And I'm using Francis as the ultimate example, but we just need to really understand that extends. You know, it could be Billy Aberstone, because we can't get there. And Billy will show up at two in the morning, or Joe Mack.
SPEAKER_00:Joe Mack in Houston.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, or Rick Rick Keane out of Lafayette and you know, Matt Kelso going and spend the whole day with an employee who had a non-occupational event. I mean, there's so many examples of the whole team responding, but Francis is always plugged into everyone. If a person in South Texas, you know, uh trips on uh Caliche and needs to be seen by a clinic, you know, um, there's an account manager that's gonna pick up that employee, but Francis is already on the phone with the account manager. She's on the phone with the clinic. And so there's a there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. So care is always happening, but there's a bunch of different faces of care. And everybody in the company is on the same page. But that's because, you know, our team proactively tries to make sure that the message is uniform and everybody knows how to handle these cases when they do happen.
SPEAKER_01:And I think just going back to the part that you talked about earlier with, you know, Francis, relaying the information to the employee and their family, that's so helpful because all that is so overwhelming. You know, you're you go to a doctor, they're speaking at this such a high level. You know, as a patient, you're sitting there, I'm scared to ask questions. I don't want to, you know, you're just overwhelmed. And I can't imagine that the relief that must be to the employees and their families to have that that connection and that voice of reason to help them understand what's going on.
SPEAKER_02:Well, yeah, like Sam, so you have a little boy, right? Imagine your little boy is at school today, I'm guessing.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02:So he's at school and he trips and he hurts himself. And who's there to take care of him? It's someone there that's take that's taking care of him, but you're the first call. And in your mind, there's things that are running around and you thinking, oh my goodness, my son's hurt. But that person at the school says, Look, it's it's nothing serious, but want to let you know he's hurt, he's crying, uh, you know, he might need a couple of stitches. We're caring for him. That conversation will calm you, it'll soothe you, but it's still on your mind and your heart until you get there. But the whole time there's somebody there with your son, giving him that care that's needed. It's no different uh with care management. We want to do the exact same thing, but with adults. And I'll tell you this some of these men are just like your little boy. Uh they they just little boys in in grown-up bodies sometimes. So uh until the wife gets there, they're a little frantic sometimes.
SPEAKER_00:Let's take an instance where we've had somebody have a cardiac issue and they're scared. You know, we we sit in the room, they're like a deer in a headlight, and I said, Don't let the doctor say things that you don't understand. You know, and I'll ask questions and get the doctor to break it down for him, okay? And and the doctor actually drew out a picture for him to show him so that he could understand exactly what was there. And I was on the phone with the wife. She couldn't get there right away, so it was a three-hour drive for her, and he needed to go in and get a stand placed. So I made sure that the phone was there so she could talk to him. I knew that she had someone that can talk, that's because she could contact the entire time, and it gives that comfort while they're driving. Because I need to make, I want to make sure that nothing happens while they're anxious and driving and fearful, that they can know that they can take their time, that they're connected through that phone. They're connected with somebody sitting there next to him and that he's not alone. And these men don't want to, they don't really want in some cases be alone. I've held the hand of a young man that came in that had a laceration, that needed a couple stitches, he had a little anxiety. His mother had worse anxiety. I said, listen, I'm gonna go in the room in the hospital in the R and I'm gonna kiss him on the forehead for you, and I'm gonna hold his hand the entire time. And I did. Um, it made her feel much better. We don't know. He's never been the same as but that mother knew that I meant what I said. We mean what we say. When we say we're gonna do it, that's what we're gonna do, and we're gonna have follow-through with that, and that's real important to Daniels, and it's real important to me personally that they allow me to do that. They allow us and our team to do that, and we we absolutely have follow-through all the way until they come back to work.
SPEAKER_02:I think one of the evidences of good care management is, you know, in our safety focus forums, we um we ask, you know, does anybody have an example of a time when you were injured or, you know, hurt? And every single time there's somebody that'll stand up and a couple of people, they'll stand up and say, you know what, there was a time I got injured, and they want to, we want them to share, you know, what happened to them. But then they'll talk about the positive side of how they were cared for every time, every single time. And so that's a testament, that's proof in the pudding right there that Danos is investing in not a system, but in people that truly care for our employees to make sure that they're uh taken care of.
SPEAKER_01:That must make you feel good and validated. Let's talk about some of the rewards in the job. Is that part of what makes this job rewarding? Or what does that look like?
SPEAKER_00:When they when they tell me I've never met any company that cared about me like that. You know, when my daddy had his heart attack, they didn't even come to see us when we went to the hospital with my dad. But I y'all picked me up, you drove me to the doc and you stayed. And they just to hear the things that are so um they just really are I I it's just unbelievable how many times I've gotten a card or a letter or they've called and they've thanked us and our people for being there for them, and they've never had anybody that really truly sincerely cared about their well-being to take them to the doctor, not a stranger, somebody with danos. Even in cases where we've actually had some of our leadership call them when they've had an incident and see how they're feeling. You know, they get that reach out to them and they go, I I didn't know he knew who I was, you know, and it's real important. I I um I can't say that enough, but that makes me, it gives me joy to my heart, you know, when I see that in their faces and they say, You didn't have to do all that. And you know, it's it's part of my job, but Dan Oss allows me to go that extra mile, which is important, and it's it's important, like I said, to me, to our team, to our entire team, that we're able to do that.
SPEAKER_02:So another thing too is it starts at the very top. So with the Danos family, the Danos family meets every month Monday. I I don't think it's a secret. They pray together, uh the owners, and they'll ask us about the employee that might be injured or you know, hurt or had some kind of non-occupational issue. So that they can pray for them. And I think that's that's huge. That is really living, you know, our purpose to honor God, to treat people rightly. Anyway, so they they do that, and that is not uncommon. We'll get a call, and sometimes I'm embarrassed because they want an update, and I have to call Francis for an update to get an you know, to find out what's going on with the employee, but they'll make a call to that employee, and nobody knows that behind the scenes. I know that because they're asking. Francis might know that because they're asking her, but they'll make that call, but they're not gonna they're not gonna blast that that hey, I called so and so. They genuinely care for our employees, and that just trickles all the way down. Look, it means so much when you get a phone call from a Danos, when you're going through an event like that, and that's why people celebrate it like during a safety focus, they want to talk about it because it's above and beyond anything that they've experienced in their previous occupations.
SPEAKER_00:It's kind of cool when you have a patient, let's say that they had a uh a bone injury, you know, and and they're a heavy smoker, you know, that can impact the outcome in their in their recovery. You know, they we've all had a stop smoking cessation for them, they'll quit smoking. We've had a lot of positive outcomes in their you know, their care. So we we try to help with these outcomes, you know, and and getting back. So we we don't just have, you know, us in case managed care management and safety. We also have a great team where we have risk management involved, and we meet weekly on that in these cases where they've been maybe had an injury and they're you know out of work. But we maintain that even through all of that, that they're maybe out of an injury. And we meet when we regularly call them. It's not just some adjuster, it's us, it's their account manager, it's it's care management that's calling them and checking on them until they come back to work.
SPEAKER_01:That is really special. And I know there are a lot of moving parts, a ton of work. I mean, and your phone is on 24-7. What are some of the most challenging parts of this job?
SPEAKER_00:When I I I can't get to them or get to a in a remote location, I can't get to them quick enough or get them somewhere as quickly as I'd like for that to be, or something that we would like that to be, uh, where we can't get someone to them to be with them. You know, we'll kind of coordinate with our clients, we'll coordinate with someone to get that care to them. I think that that is the most stressful part. If there's bad weather in the Gulf and we can't get them in, we can't get them home. That that is very stressful at times.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think uh, you know, we have un unwritten rules, eye injuries, back injuries, we we get them in. But some things we're just not in control of, and our customers may be, and sometimes we find out about the issues after the fact, even though we expect to know uh that becomes pretty frustrating for us because we believe we can do it better. Not to say that they can't do it as good, but we would like control. We would like to put our full effort into making sure that they're cared for in the best way possible.
SPEAKER_00:The channels way. I don't know how to say it. I you know, that exercise says it's flatte. What do you call it?
SPEAKER_02:Flottee, yeah. So Francis Francis likes to uh flatte and she has that ability. So flatte is, you know, if you imagine taking your hand and putting it over somebody's hand and soothing them, that's flatteeing them, uh making making them feel comfortable and soothing them. So flat Francis is a big flatteer.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, flatte. Learn something new. Love that. So Isaac, I know we've talked about how Francis does such a great job for many reasons. What are some skills or qualities that would make someone a great case manager?
SPEAKER_02:So uh I used to call Frances uh what was it? Uh dynamite and stilettos. That's what I called Frances. So, you know, she's always on it. She's unselfishly on it. She is 24-7 on it. She takes no vacation even though she's on vacation. She refuses to not answer her phone, even though she's on vacation. And we try to force her, and our whole team will be like, hey, uh, we got it, Frances. Just relax. And it's like extremely hard for her. But you know, she has the quality of care. She does have the experience. Those those things are great. You can find anybody with experience, you can find anybody with the technical, you know, aptitude to take care of people. But she just goes above and beyond. And you know, it's difficult sometimes with Frances, because I won't say all the good, I'll say some of the ugly. She wants to manage it so much that she can't. And it's out of her swim lane. And I tell her that all the time. You gotta stay in your swim lane. But she wants to see the employee not just fixed, she wants to make sure they're going to work as soon as possible. They're not on comp, that they they get back their life, and sometimes that trickles into HR, and she's not in there. So she forces herself like a little bulldog to get in there to get the care that's needed. And I think that's that's a great quality. It's above and beyond. Nobody else is gonna do that. Francis has to give a 10-year notice as the agreement that we have. Um, and it can't be until 10 years before I retire.
SPEAKER_00:So it's it's funny because you hear the soft side of me when I'm talking about the care and and that strip, but there's a very aggressive side of this, very aggressive, actually. I sometimes have to apologize afterwards, you know, because I'm so passionate about doing what we need to do and and knowing what the outcomes can be. I don't want that stand, just that regular, I want it to be the exceptional, I want it to be, I want we want it to be. So it it's we have more of a human connection and a humanistic care. You know, we we're able to with at Down OS to be able to, you know, it's not just the the bio and the social and the psychological, because we do consider that as well. You know, we've got psychological safety, we also have that in our care, but it's also the spiritual side where we also get to do prayer with our employee if that's what they would like, and that brings peace to them at that time and with their family on that deeper level. But that aggression, that aggressive level that I have about the, you know, we have about their care and pushing and and making sure that we have that excellence, right? And we've got the excellence. And uh I think you know, they I'm just so awesome to be at Dentos that they allow that, uh, that both sides of me, you know, that sometimes seems like it's just real pushy and um and then you're able to give that carefully.
SPEAKER_02:It's real pushy, trust me. Because the relationship between Francis and the medical uh facilities and companies uh is another aspect of what case management really is. Because, you know, we have great relationships with some of our, you know, like Golf Coast uh is one example. Great relationships with them to where their doctors don't quite understand maybe the OSHA regulations around care management, where we have to go in and help teach them what that looks like. For instance, uh an employee has a cut on his finger, you can clean that cut up and put a stereo strip on it, and it's not an OSHA recordable. But if you put a stitch, it's an OSHA recordable. So a lot of people might not know that, but the doctors don't know that either. So we try to link up with clinics that understand proper care first, but also, you know, OSHA regulations and what you know record keeping reporting uh looks like. So Francis will go into these clinics and pretty much teach them how to do case management as well and like our expectations. So there's another side of that that's on a professional level. And look, they 100% welcome Francis. So an employee comes in, you know, and Francis might be escorting or someone else, they openly accept that and they want that because they want to provide the best service they can for us, but care for the employees always first. They that has never been an issue of negotiation. Our clinics that that Francis vets herself, they give the care that's needed, and Francis makes sure that all the technical parts are taken care of as well. And sometimes she has to argue and uh you know get on some of the doctors because uh they just might not know. That's the business side of it. Uh the employee doesn't see that, by the way. That's that's between her and doctors, and so there's a lot that goes into it.
SPEAKER_01:A lot behind the scenes that you would never think about all of those details that Francis and your team, y'all think about all that.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, we we vet our clinics, you know, in advance, so we have all of our vet and we make sure that they understand occupational medicine. It's not just your, you know, somebody will hang a shingle out there and they say, We do occupational medicine, you know, and and so there's a there's a difference. They say they think it's just the workers' comp kind of standard. Well, workers' comp and occupational medicine are actually two, two set, they're different. We want them to understand what their tasks are and their job and what it is to perform that job up against what their health is and their ability and their agility, right? So, and what their safety-sensitive roles are out there. Uh, a lot of clinics will, like I said, they'll say that they are where they understand workers' comp, but they don't understand that some medications can't be used out there on the Gulf of America and certain clients and in our industry. So we make sure that we have our clinics that understand that. If it's in a remote location and there's nothing else, then we make sure that we bring to them the OSHA resources to train them and educate them on what that is, you know, or through ACOM or the American College of Occupational Environmental Medicine, some other resources so that they can educate their teams. We have done that quite often, and we share that with them so that we're we're gonna have good partnerships with our providers out there and have need to be able to get that good outcome. You know, you have A muscle strain and and you go to an urgent care, they're gonna give you some medications that aren't for a safety-sensitive position, and then they're gonna take you out of work. Well, that means our gentleman now cannot go back to work, provide for his family, you know, that he wants in the way he would like to. And so having that specific vetted Achmed, they understand that, and they know what the boundaries are for that, and making sure and we're caring for our employees. And the other thing is, is that with our care management team is like I said, we're we personally are there, we're there for them. You know, when you have that other party, they come in there, they don't they don't advocate that. They're not advocating for that and that care for them. So it it is a lot in the background of that.
SPEAKER_01:How about our customers? I mean, I imagine that would be something that that they appreciate. Do you get feedback from them or they you know they welcome your team to take the jump into those roles? What does that look like?
SPEAKER_02:You know, first of all, we're held accountable to our employees who get injured, you know, and our employees who have non-occupational uh events. Every year, sometimes a couple times a year, we have BPRs, business performance reviews, and those things are looked at. So there's that's something that that can count for us or count against us. I have to say that if I had to grade our company for the you know past 16 years, it's been excellent. And I think we're leading the industry in those cases. But yeah, our our customers are very different from each other too. Some are alike, but some are very different. You know, customers in Texas are different than customers in the Gulf America. And so you have you just have a very, I guess, rainbow of different expectations. Some of them have their own system to where they'll use their own care manager, they'll use a third-party company, and sometimes it's just a hotline, and they'll expect us to use that. Well, to us, that's just an and. That's like a bolt-on. Yes, you can do that, but we're still gonna take care of our employee. So it's non-negotiable. They might still want to use whoever it is in whatever company, but we're still gonna go pick up our employee. We're gonna provide the care that we need. So we haven't had any pushback on that. And Frances and the relationship that she has with those other companies, especially the majors that have their own system and care managers, she has personal relationships with those. Now that's big because our customers are another big part of our company purpose, right? We want to make sure we're taking care of our customers. And for them to know Frances is a good and a bad thing. If they know her, that means that we have employees that are injured or are sick. So it forces them to have a relationship. But on the positive side, they have a relationship where they can talk and communicate. And that's extremely important. That's fairly new. I would say Francis, maybe in the last five years, have our customers really been as involved. And so people look to us as the standard, to be honest. They're other third party or contractors might not have that. So they they'll ask me to speak, you know, on behalf of that subject in front of, you know, a forum that has other contractors on what we're doing. So I think that's a compliment of Danos, a compliment of what Frances does and how she leads. I wish she would speak a lot more at those events, but she's she's nervous about the podcast today. I think she's doing awesome. I think she's doing great. But yeah, so um our customers really uh really uh value how we treat our employees and care for them. But also, Fran, is the the feedback, the it's the the end result after. It's not just what's happening right then and there, it's having that employee return back to work, getting a full duty release, and she follows them until they they're 100%.
SPEAKER_01:And when it comes down to it, the role of care management, of case management at Danos, it really stems from the company's purpose to honor God, develop great people to solve big challenges for our customers and communities. Tie that in for me. What is that what does that mean to you in in wrapping all this together?
SPEAKER_02:You know, I think first of all, you know, honor God is is a big one. It's one of the the pillars of the company. For me, it's it's a personal pillar, and I think it is for a lot of our employees. You know, there's so many biblical stories that you can think about of how, you know, people are in bad situations, they were cared for genuinely, how we should care for each other, how we should love each other. I think this all stems from it. For us, it's not a prescription, it's a natural thing. But it comes also, and you can't forget about the other part of the purpose, developing great people. How do you develop a great person? Well, one is you got to care for them. You should want to care for them, and we do. So to develop them isn't just developing them and their skills, it's making sure that they're in every single opportunity successful in their health, in their well-being, in their care. So developing great people that understand that the company cares for them enough to be there when things happen. And things happen. It happens all the time. But then also solving the challenge for our customers, you know, and I think that is critical. Our customers are counting on us to take care of our employees. Not to say that they don't care, but we want to make sure that we don't drop a ball. We want to care for that employee, and so we are proactive. We don't delay. Uh, we're very responsive to that. And our customers, I think, appreciate us for doing that. And look, I think it's part of the success that Danos has. And I don't want to downplay that at all. Although care management or case management is reactive because something has to happen. Again, things happen. People do make mistakes, uh, people do have illnesses. And so uh for us, I'll I'll give the whole company an A plus. That doesn't rest on just my shoulders or Francis's shoulders. That's on everybody from the top down. It's from the simple person uh that might have just walked in, that's a six-month employee that's an admin here at the office, that lets us know that they're feeling weak and we can go and care for them. And, you know, they can go back to their families healthy. So it doesn't have to be the employee that's working on you know a platform that has a major injury. It's it's all of us, and uh caring for one another is important.
SPEAKER_00:Anything you want to add, Francis? You know, Isaac talked about when I came on board and he heard things, wonderful things, but he did not relinquish the reins very easily. You know, Isaac, you know, he was he was all about that that care management even before he knew what a case management and the care management came about. Before he invented the role. That's right before he invented the role. So now with me handling the day-to-day care management and the the the risk oversight, what kind of shift has that brought you to your role? And how easily was it for you to you asking me a question, Francis?
SPEAKER_02:I didn't write you a question that to ask. What kind of shift has it made for my role? I'm just gonna give the black and white. So Francis and I had a discussion this week, and she'll she'll come bounce stuff off of me. And I'm I'm not gonna say I I was aggressive with her, but I was real with her. She makes the best decisions. She doesn't need me to approve of her decisions. She likes to bounce them off of me because she wants the approval and she wants the support. And I know she needs that, uh, realize it. But she really doesn't. She she is, you know, for years now, you have for years now made the best decisions for our employees. And you've you've challenged a lot of things that needed to be challenged. And I think that's what progresses. For me, you know, in my position, you know, we're a pretty tight, small group. So I can't focus on every aspect. I have people in place that that do an excellent job, and Francis is just one of them. So I don't even ever second guess it, I don't ever question it. My biggest thing with with you would would be to feel empowered because you have all the skills and the care, you know, you have all the resources and you're well balanced and your aggressiveness and your flatetiveness, if that's a word. Frances was employee of the year that you mentioned earlier for a very specific reason. It's because she cares for people. It's genuine. And when people are in their worst condition possible, when they're looking at all the questions of what tomorrow brings and life-changing events, Frances brings a soothing comfort with real answers, not fake answers, not something just to fluff them off. She gives them the answers they need to feel loved, to feel cared, and to see what happens tomorrow. What does it look like? And she'll hold their hand until they get through that, and their families get through that. And there's some circumstances that are really bad. Regardless, Francis is is there in the middle of it. And uh, so anyway, this is a really big part of our company. I think it really does live every aspect of our purpose, and there's no other Francis, there's no replacement for Francis. So when when you retire one day, I'm retiring too. That's all I'm that's all I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00:They'll have our three. Start the training now. Thank you. Danos is a great company, and we've got great people, and it's a great combination.
SPEAKER_01:I agree. We do have great people, two great people, Francis, Isaac. Thank y'all so much. This has been really insightful, been really helpful to know the care and the thought and the genuine love of people that goes on with our team. So thank you so much. I really appreciate it. It was good.
SPEAKER_02:Thank y'all. A lot of fun.
