James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital - Tampa, Florida

Stepping with PRIDE graduates (front row from left) Kristen Thomas, Germane Limage, Shatwaunia Williams, Clinton Knight, Casper Vargas, Melissa Palmer, Briana Chilton, Orion Geib and Michael Howard are joined by JAHVH leadership team members Deputy Director David VanMeter, Director Joe Battle, Chief of Staff Dr. Edward Cutolo and Associate Director of Patient Care/Nursing Services Laureen Doloresco after the graduation ceremonies June 10.

After six months of training and hard work, nine James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital employees graduated from the 2016 Stepping with PRIDE leadership development program June 10.

PRIDE – Positive Results In Diversity Enhancement – is a program designed to enhance leadership potential through personalized developmental and educational experiences. The program began at JAHVH in 1999 and was adopted by Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 8 in 2007 for use throughout the network.

PRIDE participants completed seven modules of training in areas such as leadership competencies, business acumen, Lean Six Sigma and the importance of building coalitions and networks, said Dr. Ken Tillotson, JAHVH PRIDE coordinator. Each participant was also paired with a mentor to help them as they progressed through the program.

Graduates Brian Chilton, Orion Geib, Michael Howard, Clinton Knight, Germane Limage, Melissa Palmer, Kristen Thomas, Casper Vargas and Shatwaunia Williams presented reports on their final projects to hospital leadership team members, mentors and well-wishers during the graduation event. PRIDE participants were broken into two groups, with each group taking on a special project on improving communications about the CHOICE program as part of their training regimen.

According to Tillotson, the projects were chosen to allow the program participants to use their newly acquired skills in a way that would benefit the facility. One team focused on communicating about the CHOICE program with Veterans, while the other chose to look at ways to increase understanding of the program by staff members.

“I’m really proud of these guys,” Tillotson said. “They worked hard for the last six months and they deserve to be up here.”
After listening to the two project presentations, JAHVH Director Joe Battle agreed.

“Wow! What a great job you did,” Battle said. “You took on a subject matter that is difficult and I appreciate that. Now I know we have nine experts on CHOICE.”

“I know we are now a better organization and a better hospital because of the work you put into it,” Battle added. “This helps Veterans and the care they get here. I think that embodies the ICARE standards. I want to make sure everybody who works here or uses this facility thinks of it as ‘my VA,’ and you’re going to help to do that.”

For the graduates, the PRIDE experience was one they won’t forget.

“I think it was awesome,” claims assistant Casper Vargas said. “I didn’t realize the large scope of implementing ideas, but when you back it up with evidence, you give management what they need to make good decisions.”

Fellow graduate and administrative support assistant Kristen Thomas agreed.

“This was a really great opportunity,” Thomas said. “The relationships I established with my team members are relationships that I’ll maintain while I’m here at James A. Haley.”