Community Commitment A Hallmark For Fallon Clinic | Focus on helping extends outward and inward at the physicians' group
It is, no doubt, a lofty goal, the president and CEO plainly acknowledges.
Still, that doesn’t mean it isn’t attainable — or that his organization isn’t pushing just as hard for it.
Simply put, “We want to be the very best place to get healthcare in Central Massachusetts,” Fallon Clinic President and CEO Jack Dutzar said from his seat on the 14th floor of the Worcester Office Tower on Front Street, with floor-to-ceiling windows partially curtained and overlooking downtown Worcester’s mid-afternoon traffic.
It’s an ambition the multi-specialty medical group cultivates through intense dedication to the community that has been its home since 1929 and to the 1,700-plus employees who keep it humming.
“Fundamentally, it’s a business strategy,” said Dutzar, a Montana native and recent Seattle transplant who has been at the helm of the 82-year-old organization for just about three years. Yet, he says, “It’s also the right thing to do.”
Community Roots
But Dutzar’s modest tone belies the breadth of Fallon Clinic’s efforts, which earned the organization the 2011 Worcester Business Journal Corporate Citizen of the Year award.
For one, the organization has been a prominent, long-time supporter of The United Way of Central Massachusetts. Employees donate “thousands and thousands of dollars” to its workplace campaign, according to Tim Garvin, United Way of Central Mass. president and CEO.
But it goes far beyond just financial contributions. Recently, 30 Fallon Clinic employees took part in the United Way Day of Caring, transforming a room at Worcester’s Union Hill Elementary School — rated one of the state’s lowest-performing schools — into an art studio.
In describing the clinic’s impact, Garvin doesn’t temper the praise. “I cannot imagine our United Way being successful without Fallon Clinic being involved,” he said. Overall, he said, Fallon has a key role in Worcester and Central Massachusetts’ “growth and success and excitement. It is to our great advantage that they are here.”
Fallon Clinic has a similarly longstanding and distinguished presence with the Greater Worcester Employment Resource Collaborative, a group of local employers and organizations that meets monthly to assist people with various disabilities with job searches, skills and placement.
Through that initiative, Fallon Clinic recently partnered with the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission: Last year, it placed 10 people in paid, 12-week, on-the-job evaluations in various positions throughout its more than 20 clinics. Five were eventually offered permanent employment with Fallon Clinic, according to Ellen Spencer, job placement specialist with MassRehab’s Worcester-area office.
In the end, it was a prime opportunity for people who otherwise would not have made it through the regular application process due to inexperience or lapses in employment, Spencer said.
“This helped give people a chance, a new start,” she said, calling Fallon Clinic an ally and noting that she can often get the “cold shoulder” when trying to place disabled people in jobs.
But with Fallon Clinic, she said, “I know they’ll answer my call, and they’ll give me the straight story.”
Similarly, the clinic offers various other internship opportunities and training programs, and partners with local schools, including the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Meanwhile, its charitable arm, the Fallon Clinic Foundation, sponsors select events, programs and projects, and provides community grants to entities such as Toys For Tots and Reach Out and Read, according to Dutzar.
But its contributions go beyond the swath of Central Massachusetts. Many of Fallon’s 250 doctors have been involved in work abroad with destitute and disabled populations, Dutzar explained.
Emergency Contact
Charity goes inward, as well, with employees rallying around one another in times of need. One conduit for this is the HAVEN (Helping Assist Valued Employees In Need) Fund, which gifts tax-free donations of up to $2,000 to staffers dealing with short-term emergencies. Employee contributions have ultimately assisted more than 400 employees over the past 20 years. Similarly, employees can donate earned sick time or extended sick leave to co-workers.
Ultimately, being a good corporate citizen is a core value “because virtually everybody in the community is a potential patient,” Dutzar said.
At the same time however, he noted, charity is also a responsibility and an obligation. This is a mindset that extends to Fallon’s doctors, nurses and support staff, who constitute the engine that drives the organization.
To become the best, Dutzar noted, you can’t have “grumpy” or “disaffected” workers.
“We have to have every one of our employees actively engaged,” he said.
This is an especially pertinent point to consider with Fallon Clinic’s long-term campaign to go lean by eliminating both physical waste and wasted time. Since starting the initiative about a year ago, the time patients spend waiting between various stages of a doctor visit has been reduced from 30 minutes to 14.
As Dutzar explained, every human process at Fallon Clinic can ultimately be improved.
Thus, the overall goal of the medical group — with a mantra of “treating you well” — is to ensure that every employee, from new hires to senior staffers, are always developing new skills.
Dutzar is open about the organization’s areas of needed improvement, most notably the flow of communication throughout its offices and more than 20 clinical sites.
In “constantly trying to make it better,” Fallon puts out a continuous stream of newsletters. Dutzar also hosts occasional town hall meetings to address employee concerns.
Overall, feedback has been positive — Dutzar recalled how employees have said they “feel they’re part of a large family.”
It’s a feeling he reciprocates. “Every day, I’m increasingly proud of the things they’re able to accomplish, sometimes against incredible odds,” he said.
Taryn Plumb is a freelance writer based in Brookfield.
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