Norma Tirado
Senior Vice President - Employee & Information Services
Agnesian HealthCare, Fond du Lac
About Me
My name is Norma Tirado. I am a hospital administrator for Agnesian HealthCare, an integrated healthcare system with two hospitals, a retail pharmacy and durable medical equipment business, a reference laboratory, multiple physician clinics, a nursing home and assisted living facilities, a hospice home, and an ambulatory surgery center. We employ 2,700 employees and partner with over 140 physicians and other healthcare providers.
I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a small island in the Caribbean in 1962. I lived in Puerto Rico through my first year in college after which I transferred to Marquette University in Milwaukee. In Puerto Rico we study English from first grade on; otherwise, our first language is Spanish. I studied foreign languages and literature at Marquette University. I was an athlete all through college; my first year I ran track for the University of Puerto Rico, and when I transferred to Marquette University, I played volleyball.
Before going into healthcare I worked at a several other places which gave me a great deal of experience and knowledge. I received my MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, about 13 years after entering the workforce. I love working in the healthcare industry, mostly because we have a fantastic reason to come to work every day. We help people from the moment they are born to the moment they take their last breath and everything in between.
Currently I am a wife, mother and employee and balancing all those roles can be a challenge, but working in healthcare helps me balance all those roles. I have three children: a daughter in college, a son in high school and a son in middle school.
I love to go to shows, sporting events and am an avid golfer, skier and knitter. I am very involved in a number of volunteer organizations outside of work, some related to my profession and some not.
I love what I do because I love to be a positive influence in people's lives and I like to influence the decisions that impact the performance of the organization.
Why this Profession?
My professional title is Senior Vice President of Employee and Information Services. In that role I am in charge of departments that serve employees (Human Resources, Staff & Organizational Development, Safety, Security and Risk management and Employee Health) and I am also in charge of our information technology function which deals with all or our computer systems, telephone systems and other technologies used to deliver care and services.
I did not start my career in healthcare. I started my career working in a small community-based organization, helping people who had lost their jobs, find new jobs. I then went to work for a public utility (electric and gas company) and worked at this company for 11 years. During that time I had five different jobs and several temporary assignments. I received a great deal of training and gained a lot of experience in many different fields. It was during this experience that I decided to make human resources my area of focus. I left the public utility and went to work for a small privately owned company. I started their human resources department and they paid for most of my schooling for me to get my Master's Degree in Business Administration. I left this company and worked as a human resources consultant for about a year and then found my first job in healthcare as a director of human resources. It was then that I fell in love with the healthcare industry. Not only could I help people through my focus in human resources, but I would be able to help people who were helping other people live a better live.
In my current position, I develop strategies for the organization that are meant to make Agnesian HealthCare a great place to work. In this function we:
- hire employees
- provide training and development
- make sure we have a work environment that is safe and free from harassment
- coach, mentor and counsel employees
- set the employees wages and benefits and administer those programs
- administer performance programs
- provide support to all leaders in dealing with employee issues
- develop reward and recognition programs for staff
- terminate employees
- provide reports to the organization regarding our performance around the strategic area we call "people".
In my role I also oversee the safety and security of employees and patients and manage and respond to any claims of wrongdoing that may be made against our company.
Most recently I have also taken responsibility for overseeing our information services function. That means that I lead the organization's information technology group. This group is responsible for all the computer (hardware and software) within the organization to facilitate the delivery of services. This includes financial and human resources software as well as all the clinical software for medical records, ordering prescriptions, admitting and billing patients, etc...
My main role is to ensure that our technology facilitates the goals the organization is trying to achieve.
I chose this profession by chance (human resources) and I fell in love with the work. I applied for an open position at a time our company (at the time a public utility) was going through a hiring freeze. This meant that any open positions had to be filled by internal candidates. I applied, got the position and received all the training I needed.
Recently, I was given yet another opportunity. When another vice president left the company, those of us left took on additional responsibilities, I volunteered to take over information technology and have been learning a great deal ever since.
The reason I love human resources is that it gives me the opportunity to influence the quality of life of the people I work with. The reason I like information technology is that technology is and will continue to be one of the ways we depend on to deliver better care and to do our jobs more efficiently.
I tell people that I am in charge of the two most important things in an organization; people and technology!
True stories
In the area of human resources, the decisions that I make influence our ability to hire the best people to deliver care to our patients. For example, we started a new cardiology program at our facility. To be able to attract the best people in the field of cardiology we had to adjust pay practices and be flexible in some of the benefits we offer to meet the needs of the people we were trying to attract. As a result, we now have a team of “super stars” in our cardiology department and we can be sure that the patients are getting the best heart care they can get.
In the area of technology one of our most exciting situations was when a patient who was delivering a baby wanted her husband to see the delivery. Her husband was a soldier in Iraq. We brought in the technology to "web-cast" the birth of the baby, so technology allowed the mom and dad to "be together", so to speak, when the baby was born.
Getting through school
I have a bachelor's degree in foreign languages and literature from Marquette University and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. During my first few years in college I did not know "what I wanted to do when I grow up" therefore, I took a lot of different classes. During that time of uncertainty, I continued to study foreign languages (mostly French), so after four years and still no idea what I wanted, I graduated with a degree in foreign languages and went to work. It was 10 years later that I decided to get a degree in business, given my interest in business and human resources.
Some advice
In middle and high school I will suggest students give math more attention. Also think about getting involved in a lot of extra curricular activities, from sports, to academics, to charity work. I did a lot of volunteer work and participated in a lot of extra-curricular activities including: sports, honor society, and tutoring. These activities help teach you how to be a good leader, a good follower and a good team player. I will also suggest paying attention to history and politics.
You must take math and science and if you want to be in a leadership position, and you must be a good writer and have the ability to make decisions with input from others. It is also an advantage to learn a foreign language, and I would highly recommend Spanish. This may give you an advantage when applying for colleges.
The Future
I believe the biggest change in the industry is the enormous amount of new technology. From PDAs for inputting patient information to robotics for distributing medications and even assisting with surgeries, there will be an explosion of new technology in healthcare that will blow our minds!!
Given that I am the head of IT, this is very exciting! I have to keep on learning about all of these new technologies, so that I can keep our organization in the forefront of high quality healthcare delivery. In my human resources role, it means that I have to make sure I bring people to the organization that are comfortable with new technology and open to constant learning and change.
Some day, I would like to be the president of a hospital system. That is why I continue to learn about new areas in healthcare and I accept any new challenges that come my way.
The healthcare industry is a very important part of our society. We touch so many lives in so many different ways that working in healthcare brings meaning and value to our work in ways no other industry can do. We are a part of people's lives, from the moment they are born, to the moment they die and we can help people through the journey we call life, to make positive impacts during the happiest moments and the saddest moments and everything in between.
Last Thoughts
If you want to make a difference, healthcare is a great place to be!!!