SkillBridge

From page 1 my way in an organization without starting from scratch,” said Lopez, who served from 2016-2022 in a human resources capacity.

She said she was interested in being in a hospital setting, although unsure if she wanted to focus on the clinical side or human resources. “It’s a setting I’ve never worked in before, so I wanted the opportunity to jump in there to see what that was like, to find my path,” Lopez said.

An extra advantage

From May 2022 to late May 2023, the new CHRISTUS associates joined the system through the SkillBridge partnership.

Luis Sepulveda, manager of talent acquisition for CHRISTUS, said the system first became aware of the program through Dr. Sam Bagchi, executive vice president and chief clinical officer, and a contractor named Bill Cooper, who is a veteran with his own SkillBridge experience.

“Dr. Bagchi really fell in love with the idea of helping out veterans, helping them transition to the civilian sector, and also giving them the opportunity to do their internship with CHRISTUS and then, hopefully, be able to employ them on the back end,” Sepulveda said.

More than 200,000 service members separate from the military annually, according to military discharge data. Of one buddy patient, and some staffers are waiting to be matched. Estes manages the program, keeping a running list of staffers and patients and working to match personalities. She gets assistance from her sister, SSM DePaul nurse manager Hilary Estes.

“We did this not thinking it would become anything huge,” Stacie Estes said. “This is a simple need that these patients had. So, we did it. You find ways to be creative and do things. And it is an easy thing to do that has such a huge impact.”

To keep the program in compliance with federal privacy regulations, Obrock and Estes ask for permission from the guardians of patients before pairing anyone with a buddy.

They only accept employees within the campus as buddies. That makes it easier to maintain patient privacy. For the same reason, they pointed out, it would be difficult to bring in an outside volunteer group to be buddies to patients.

‘A basic need’

In May, the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory calling attention to the those, nearly 21,000 were projected to separate in Texas alone in fiscal year 2019.

Sepulveda, a Marine Corps veteran who served for 13 years, said SkillBridge is a blessing for those transitioning from military service to civilian careers.

“I see the benefit of how great it is and how important it is to have a really good structured program on the employer side for these veterans because it truly is a challenge,” Sepulveda said. “The stress level that they have of leaving that secure paycheck that they receive the first and the 15th, their benefits and all that, and then transition back into the civilian sector, it’s a big life-changing event.”

Finding

Her Way

While she was in CHRISTUS’ SkillBridge program, Lopez worked in various departments — from assisting nurses to talent acquisition to human resources. “I kind of made myself available to anybody that needed some assistance,” she said, “and that’s kind of how I found my way.”

She worked closest with the talent acquisition team and was hired full time as a talent acquisition specialist at the end of her SkillBridge tenure. She transitioned to a human resources role last December.

“What I found in that (talent acquisition) role, in comparison to the role I have now, was it’s like a revolving door,” Lopez said. “You don’t really get to see associates beyond the initial onboarding, beyond that first interaction with them. And for me, wanting to help people on a different level was something that spoke to me.”

To get SkillBridge started, the system public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection in the United States.

“Given the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis,” Dr. Vivek Murthy wrote in his report.

Research shows that loneliness can lead to various physical and mental issues. Loneliness and social isolation were associated with a 29% increased risk of heart disease and a 32% increased risk of stroke in many adults aged 50 and over, as well as with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Loneliness can lead to issues like depression, alcohol abuse, child abuse, sleep problems, personality disorders and Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic Research

For those already being treated for mental health issues, Obrock said loneliness can exacerbate their illness. “Human connection is a basic need,” she said. “And I think established a pilot program at CHRISTUS Children’s hospital in San Antonio. The program has since expanded to all San Antonio facilities, as well as to others in Texas and Louisiana.

SkillBridge-affiliated employees attend CHRISTUS’ new associate orientation and undergo a background check like any other employee. Associates in the program have held positions ranging from registered nurse to respiratory therapist, along with some entry-level jobs such as patient care tech, patient sitters and patient transporters.

“Those are really good entry-level positions for military members that always wanted to have that medical field experience but didn’t get that opportunity in the military to be able to do that as their job,” Sepulveda said.

Veterans helping veterans

Sepulveda said SkillBridge has been a great resource for finding qualified job candidates. As of May, at least 10 associates had transitioned from SkillBridge to full-time employment. CHRISTUS hired most of those associates at its San Antonio, Westover Hills and New Braunfels locations in Texas.

Two CHRISTUS recruiters are retired Air Force veterans with backgrounds in human resources. “Now they’re on this end helping veterans transition, and they can definitely relate because they went through the program themselves,” Sepulveda said.

Renee Holloway, a CHRISTUS human resources generalist, was so impressed with her SkillBridge associate Sharon Bar- day to day we can get lost in that because we take it for granted.”

Estes said she had one patient come to her office every day for a week, repeatedly asking if her buddy was coming.

Finally, one day Estes asked the patient, “Has she ever not showed up?” When the young woman replied no, Estes told her: “Well, I need you to learn to trust that she’s going to be here. And if she doesn’t, I think she will call or email or let me know in some way.”

The encounter has stayed with Estes because that young woman “didn’t trust that anyone was ever going to show up because she’s probably been let down many times throughout her life.”

Highlight of the week

Obrock said that employees love the program just as the patients do. “I would argue they were more impacted than we would have anticipated,” she said. “It’s been kind of a highlight of a lot of the staff’s week.”

The buddies do whatever activity strikes them. They color, they paint rocks together, they paint their nails — one patient even proudly got her hair cut like her buddy. Once they get to know one another, they have genuine conversations, Estes said.

Obrock played a kids’ version of the card game We’re Not Really Strangers with her buddy, a young woman. Players get to know each other by asking various questions. At the end of the game one day, she told Obrock, “This is helping me talk to people.”

One buddy pair enjoyed playing chess together. When the patient was discharged, his buddy gifted him a chess set.

One day, Estes noticed two patients who have the same employee buddy sitting together. One patient was reading to the other. “That warmed my heart, because I think it’s building further relationships,” she said. “These guys are here for so long, and they’re making healthy relationships, too.”

Obrock said the impact of having a buddy can be especially profound for young patients. “If you sit down and look at the trajectory of a child’s life, you just don’t know what one person showing up for six months for 30 minutes can do,” she said. “It can do a lot.” vhahn@chausa.org bosa that she shared a testimonial with her CHRISTUS colleagues.

“We had five associate engagement events in a week and a half, and there is no way I could have done these without her,” Holloway wrote. “She has a servant’s heart and senses needs before you even ask her to do something.”

Sepulveda said the training and flexibility that come from being in the military are helpful for service members and their CHRISTUS supervisors.

“Those soft skills that they bring to the table are truly what’s valuable about having that military skill background, no matter what MOS (military occupation specialty) they come from,” Sepulveda said.

Lopez said that task management is one of the skills she honed in the military and brought to CHRISTUS. “There’s a lot of moving parts, and being able to be flexible with whatever comes through the door was something really helpful,” Lopez said.

Lopez called her experience from SkillBridge to now an “incredible journey.”

“I often think about how grateful I am that this came about when I really needed it,” Lopez said. “And I recommend anybody who’s looking to make the transition to consider CHRISTUS as their way in, because we’ve got a good family here, we’ve got a good culture.”

Between April 3 and late May, there was a nearly 50% increase in SkillBridge applications, according to Sepulveda. For more information, visit: careers. CHRISTUShealth.org/working-here/ skillbridge.