Reid Hospital Governing Board
New board member sees 'Community of Care'
Bonita Washington-Lacey
Focus: 'How We Treat People'
Bonita Washington-Lacey brings more than 20 years' administrative experience to Reid's governing board. She joined Earlham College as Assistant Dean of Admissions in 1979. In 1981, she was named Associate Dean of Admissions, holding that post until 1989, when she became Associate Dean for Student Development. In 1982, she accepted additional responsibilities as Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs, a position she still holds in addition to Registrar and Associate Dean of the College, positions she assumed in 1995 and 1999. respectively.
Students and staff describe her as "an active and engaged listener."
Those skills will serve her well in her new role at Reid, but her experience in the community will also provide the hospital with a valuable perspective, especially since she has been assigned to the board's Human Resources Committee.
"I am interested in how we treat people, both as an employer and a heath care provider — that we all matter equally." Washington-Lacey said.
"Her personal values, qualities and experience make her wonderfully suited to make a real contribution to the Reid team," said Reid President Barry MacDowell.
Washington-Lacey looks forward to the Reid association, encouraged by what she terms MacDowell's "affirming leadership style."
Washington-Lacey and her husband, Paul, are parents of two children, Jacob, 9, and Allison.
When Bonita Washington-Lacey joined Reid Hospital & Health Care Services' Governing board in January 2002, she was prepared for a learning curve regarding health care.
Her multi-page list of credentials and experience in academic committee work at Earlham College, her professional associations and community involvement are extensive and impressive.
But she had no experience in health care, except as a patient and consumer of health care services.
"I have always been on the receiving end. I have been treated very respectfully and with a level of human dignity when I was a patient at Reid," she noted, recalling a radiological procedure during which Reid staff members took extra time and care to focus on her specific needs.
"The public sees health care, in general, as a large, impersonal bureaucracy," she said, to some degree because their experiences come from waiting rooms and bill paying.
What she has found at Reid, however, is a "community of care" not only for patients and clients but "care for one another."
"The surprise to me has been the remarkable level of personalization and care that Reid provides for the residents of Wayne County. We rarely hear the appreciation for this."
She hopes to carry a positive message of the complexities of health care by helping people see it's not only the physician who is involved in providing care, but it's everyone who has a task to perform. "While some responsibilities are weighted heavi er than others, all are essential to caring for the patient."
Washington-Lacey also was surprised at the "level of information required to make a hospital work and work efficiently."
The academic setting has prepared her for the levels of trust that are necessary to allow committees to function effectively, but in health care, she said, there are so many levels of financial checks and balances, clinical credentialing and certific ations and patient care quality issues that governing boards oversee.
"Each decision we make, we are making on behalf of an entire community. We lead through service. It's more than maintaining a fiscal and financial equilibrium. Every decision affects someone we serve."
Washington-Lacey also points out that there is more decision-making weight on Reid leaders because the hospital is the number one employer in Wayne County as well as a provider of needed health services.
"Reid is in partnership with the community in a caring, nurturing enterprise that promotes wholeness and wellness."
Washington-Lacey is an advocate of that message.
"I realize that I have a level of privilege to have health insurance coverage. When I see those deductions from my paycheck, I want to know that money will help those who can't afford health care."
