Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center

The core of the Lovell FHCC strategic plan is made up of the men and women they serve. Patients are at the center of everything the Lovell FHCC does, every decision they make. For Lovell FHCC patients, and through its staff, the organization is able to uphold its 5 Guiding Principles. These Guiding Principles will serve as the strategic directions that support our mission and vision to ensure they are achieved.

The core of the Lovell FHCC strategic plan is made up of the men and women they serve. Patients are at the center of everything the Lovell FHCC does, every decision employees make. For Lovell FHCC patients, and through its staff, the organization is able to uphold its five Guiding Principles. These Guiding Principles will serve as the strategic direction that supports the Lovell FHCC mission and vision to ensure the principles are achieved.

The Lovell FHCC reinforced its longstanding commitment to patient care by rolling out a new strategic plan that outlines the direction for the next five to seven years for the nation’s first integrated federal health care facility. At its core is every Lovell FHCC patient.

The new plan took months of work, including many leadership meetings and multiple revisions and improvements at the hands of the Lovell FHCC’s Executive Steering Committee, and finally, the plan for “The Way Forward” debuted in January 2012.

Lovell FHCC Director Patrick Sullivan stressed during the development phase that the Strategic Plan belongs to every FHCC employee. “We’re all invested in it. From the beginning, we gathered the most representative team we could to ensure that we came up with the best way forward.”

The plan was built with patients at the center of everything the FHCC does, explained Chris Moorman, Lovell FHCC Program Specialist. Moorman, working with Patrick Hull, Lovell FHCC Assistant Director of Resources, led the team that formalized the well-ordered strategic plan process.

“Patients are at the core,” said Moorman. “Our core is made up of the men and women we serve. They are what defines the organization’s purpose and drives our plan.”
Next, staff and volunteers are depicted encircling the patients in the diagram.

“The staff and patients go hand-in-hand,” Moorman continued. “Both are critical to defining and fulfilling our mission. You are the human touch  ... You have the awesome responsibility of setting the example of excellent care to every patient, every time.” Sound familiar? “Excellent care, Every Patient, Every Time” is the facility’s customer service motto.

For 2012, the Lovell FHCC will focus on 17 initiatives that support the new strategic plan, include the adoption of a “Good to Great: Transformational Leadership Model;” implementing the holistic and patient-centered Planetree model of care; relocating the Kenosha, Wis., Community Based Outreach Clinic; bringing Room-Service-Style dining to inpatients; and constructing a new medical/dental clinic on the East campus.

Some Patient-Centered Care initiatives have already been implemented, for example, the new Caregiver Support Center is an example of the Planetree model. A new outreach committee potentially reached hundreds of Veterans at the recent “Grayslake Salutes Our Military” event, and the committee has compiled a list of other community events to participate in this year.

In the years to come, many new strategic plan initiatives will be formed to continually prove that “Readying Warriors and Caring for Heroes” is more than just a phrase – it's a promise that every Lovell FHCC patient can count on.

By Jayna Legg, Public Affairs Officer