As healthcare leaders, we have a responsibility to address the needs of our communities in various aspects.  An important focus is to ensure that we have engaged young (and not-so-young) leaders who are prepared to address the issues of the future.  That is one reason why I have such a passion for mentoring emerging leaders.

Prior to moving to Waco and becoming the ACHECTX President, I served as the President of the North Texas Chapter.  North Texas is known throughout ACHE for having the leading mentorship program in the country as we employed a rigorous interview process to match approximately 60 mentor-mentee pairs each year.  I enjoyed mentoring students, early careerists and even some mid-careerists who had recently moved to the area and always felt that I got more from them than they did from me.  Another benefit was the engagement of the retired leaders who wanted to continue giving back to our profession.

This year, ACHECTX will be creating the infrastructure for a formalized mentorship program that we will kickoff next spring.  As we communicate more about that, please consider serving as a mentor and encourage those who could benefit from having a mentor to apply to the program.

Thanks for all that you do!