Message from Our ACHE Regent At Large, District 4 A time to reflect… Let me begin by sharing who I am, inclusive of my diversity profile. My name is Dr. Jim Allard and I am a LGBTQ healthcare leader, who is a nurse (males are 12% of the nursing workforce), married, in an interracial relationship, and have a daughter in college abroad. I share this, because it shapes who I am as a leader, and what I offer in perspective. I also think it helps to set the stage of my learned experiences, other than I am a passionate healthcare leader. Additionally, I am honored and privileged to have been appointed to serve as the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Interim Regent-at-Large for District 4 for the next year. This role is a support role for the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agenda for ACHE, to the regents, and the DEI committees for the ten states, in District 4. I look forward to learning and supporting each of the areas. The last two years have been challenging, although we arise out of the pandemic stronger as a healthcare community. We have been tried as healthcare providers, colleagues, family and friends through this time. It truly wasn’t until I was asked by a colleague, “how are you?” three times in a row, that I realized I wasn’t OK. The struggle has been real. What I realized each time I said, “I’m fine,” the persistence of my colleague asking two more times, opened me up and I teared up. Well, it’s OK to not be OK. As a leader, we have had to manage creative staffing models to meet the needs of our patients and customers along with supporting our workforce with the challenges of working amidst a pandemic that seemed to never end, wave after wave. This experience has opened me up to be more intentional about reflection enabling me to be a more effective leader for my team. We do not have all the answers, but we are stronger as a team. To be vulnerable and ask your team how to accomplish what seemed unsurmountable was not so unsurmountable with the collective.
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A Publication of the American College of Healthcare Executives of North Texas Chapter | SUMMER 2022
