HCD & EVG Headlines 1-10-2023

Rachael
Jan 10, 2023
4 min read

New year! New me! New you! New possibilities! New opportunities for growth! New car? Yes, please! Let's get started on a new headline post!

Evergreen Change Up

With a new year comes a new team at Evergreen. Mikhayla is moving into new opportunities, but will still be with us on a part-time basis. This transition will happen over the next few months. We're so grateful for everything Mikhayla has done (and continues to do!) to help EVG grow into what it is now. So many people have come in because of her influence. Many of the patients who didn't know her before consider her a friend and have come to rely on her as part of their dental care. Mikhayla is such a great part of our whole team and we're sad to see her leave - partially leave - but we're grateful we'll still have her on the team in a different role! Thank you, Mikhayla, for being such an awesome person! :) <3

To help EVG continue to grow, Dr. Paul and his crew have found two great additions to the team: Kristin S. and Heather L. They both start tomorrow! You may have met them when they were here at HCD a few weeks ago.

Kristin is the new Office Manager. She will handle all marketing, front desk tasks, HR, etc. for Evergreen. These tasks will be eventually given to her 100% once she's completed training with Mikhayla and myself. She is a previous business owner in Palmer and is super excited to help EVG grow to the next level of awesomeness.

Heather is the new EVG Assistant. She is going to learn both sterilization and front desk to help fill those needs as... well... needed. As the practice continues to grow and we work together to figure what is best for her skills and what is best for EVG's needs, she will either be a Dental Assistant or a Front Desk Coordinator. She is a lover of horses and has recently moved back to Alaska.

Mikhayla will help us train our new team members and eventually move into an Insurance Coordinator position.

We'll get to meet everyone at the team meeting, so get your personal questions ready so we can make it an awkward welcome. JK... don't do that.

HCD Cleaning Crew

As you know, it has been hit or miss with our cleaning service provided through the property management. I need your help to help keep them accountable. This means we need you to keep an eye out for anything that is not clean when you come into the office every morning.

Their role as cleaners is to take out all trash, clean the bathroom, and sweep/mop/vacuum all the floors throughout the entire suite. During this time of salt and ice, there is a natural build-up that happens in the high traffic area. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be cleaned in the evening.

If you find anything that is not complete, please let me know by either texting me a picture or leaving a note on my computer. Between Kolina and myself, we will let them know every time we see something that is not done to our standards. It may seem picky, but the more they're aware of their shortfalls, the better provider they can become. (Sounds kind of familiar, eh?)

Sick Symptoms

As we continue to move through the cold and flu (and all other diseases that come and go) season, we want to review again when a patient should stay home and when they should come in.

Stay Home:

Fever
Coughing so much they can't sit still for more than 15 minutes
Recently diagnosed with the flu, COVID, or other contagious illness

Come in:

Small cough
Symptoms are minor enough that the patient feels they can handle sitting through an appointment

This is a great article on whether or not patients should come in (HERE). If their symptoms don't fall under the STAY HOME category, let them know we'd be willing to see them and we have the proper protection to help reduce the likelihood of our team getting sick.

Next Team Meeting

Our next team meeting will be January 19th at 7:35AM AK time. Here are a few of the topics we will discuss. Please let me know if you have any further topics you'd like to discuss or present.

Cone beams and pano frequencies
Caring for hygiene ultrasonic tips
Goals for 2023 - HCD, EVG, production/forecast/schedule
Proper use of the term "literal"
Chart Audit Follow-up

The other porcupines that were written up will also be discussed in a fun, absolutely amazing manner. JK... it'll just be amazing. So please be prepared to help resolve some of those prickly situations.

Chart Audit Follow-up

Another big part of our meeting will be looking at how chart auditing is going. Chart auditing goes hand in hand with schedule auditing, huddle prep, and all the other terms we've used to refer to a clean, accurate chart. Please be mindful of the tasks you're doing now to ensure you schedule the "PERFECT APPOINTMENT" and "CHART AUDIT" prior to the patient's arrival. Let's discuss as a team how your attention to these details has improved, strengthened, frustrated, or (___insert your emotional verb here___) your daily routine.

Stop Searching for Your Passion

One of my favorite TED Talks to help inspire us at the close of the headlines. Remember to send me your favorite flag emoji for this week to show me you've read through the headlines.

“January looks forward to the new year and back to the old year. He sees past and future.” – M.L. Stedman