Compass Blog #006_By Nick S
Sally Schisler is an involved Board Member at Compass Community Health.
When I say involved, I mean she shows up at our long Marketing meetings (I’m assuming for free) and dives deep on Compass’ brand messaging and identity with us, advocates for honest and clear relations with the public, and just generally tells us when she thinks something is a good idea or a bad idea. She’s tactful about this.
I became curious about Sallie and Board-Membership at Compass. Who are these people? What do they do? So, I arranged a call with Sallie, and asked her a few questions.
1. What kinds of people compose the Compass Board, and what do you guys do?
She answered that the board of an FQHC has to be made up of at least half consumers. And by “consumers” she means people that are patients of Compass, to ensure that the quality of care of patients is understood and fully empathized with by those operating the health center.
Board members are largely selected for their expertise, and representatives of the area’s different communities.
The 9 Board Members meet once a month with other staff to discuss financials, new services, marketing, strategic planning, quality data, credentials, etc.
2. When I asked Sally why she was asked to join the Compass Board, she told me about her experience.
First and foremost, Sally is passionate about access to care a strong point for Compass Community Health (with conveniences like Payment Assistance), and a mission for most Federally Qualified Health Centers.
But her journey to Compass included 24 years through the traditional Healthcare System at Southern Ohio Medical Center, where Sallie’s focus was things like “external and internal communications, marketing and communications, patient satisfaction, and patient representation.”
The story that stands out for me from Sallie’s experience at SOMC is the story of how SOMC got their slogan at a focus group. (Sallie shares a number of parables like this, when appropriate during meetings.)
She said that one man in said focus group at SOMC, when prompted to talk about this or that regarding SOMC efforts, said something like, “You know…it’s not great, but it’s good.”
What emerged from that man’s pragmatism is the SOMC slogan: Very good things are happening here.
Sally notes that one of the largest challenges in her career was the merging of 3 hospitals in the Scioto County area (Mercy Hospital, Southern Health Hospital, and the General County Hospital) into what is now SOMC.
I got the feeling from Sally that there was a lot of public concern about this merging.
I also get the feeling from Sallie that she’s the kind of person that deals with the public concern. Sally is the deployed person.
This is Sallie’s thing.
3. What do you hope to accomplish for Compass during your time on the board?
Sallie hopes to see continued growth, and desires for more people to benefit from having a Federally Qualified Health Center like Compass in the Portsmouth, Ohio area.
She continues to be passionate about affordable and quality care, and encourages people to explore the services that Compass Community Health has to offer. One noteworthy area of service, in her estimation, are the Pediatric Occupational Therapy programs—seen as highly specialized programs.
Sallie and I both agreed that, career-wise, Compass Community Health is part of a happy ending.
She gets to participate in her passion for accessible care at Compass, and see this mission play out in a community she cares about.
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Compass Community Health is here to help.
Reach out today!
-Email: info@compasscommunityhealth.org
-Message us on Facebook @ Compass Community Health
-Call: 740-355-7102
-Address: 1634 11th St, Portsmouth, OH 45662