It’s no secret: The heart and soul of any healthcare organization are its employees, and St. Tammany Health System is no different.
But what sets the Covington-based health system apart is that the unique bond between its team of caregivers and the community they serve is so heartfelt, rooted in the family mentality that defines the Northshore region.
Consequently, there’s no need to generate employee buy-in when it comes to the health system’s healing mission. They’re already invested in it – and they demonstrate it time and again.
Which brings us to today’s installment in our weekly 70 for 70 series on the hospital’s 70-year history.
Installment No. 41: Walking the walk
Today’s artifacts: The 1,100 engraved brick pavers, purchased with donations from health system colleagues, that make up the Employee Brick Pathway on the site of the original St. Tammany Parish Hospital lobby.
Why they are significant: When the nonprofit St. Tammany Hospital Foundation was founded in 2003 in support of St. Tammany Health System’s healing mission, its leaders quickly learned they had a built-in pool of donors eager to give back: the hospital’s workforce.
That prompted the founding of the WE Give Employee Campaign, an annual fundraising effort to channel and to celebrate that generosity.
Among the first major projects to grow from that campaign was the Employee Brick Pathway, in which employees could “buy” a brick to be engraved with their own personalized message.
Those bricks were then used to pave a walkway winding through a parklike pocket of serenity – including a fountain and well-manicured gardens – created on hospital grounds as part of its New Millennium expansion project.
Employees loved the idea, and their subsequent giving proved it. More than 475 colleagues contributed over $110,00 to the campaign, enough to fund the purchase a stereotactic biopsy unit for breast cancer diagnosis at the health system’s Breast Center, the forerunner to today’s Women’s Pavilion.
Among the first pavers purchased, according to foundation records, were two 4-inch-by-8-inch bricks celebrating the births of Heidi and Hayden Brewster, the children of current STHS Director of Managed Care Eric Brewster.
They and the other bricks making up the walkway were installed in January and February 2004.
Today, the bricks number more than 1,100 – and counting – commemorating births, deaths and weddings; citing song lyrics, Bible verses and inside jokes; and professing pride in the health system’s work.
“The brick pathway tells a story – a beautiful story of colleagues past and present sharing the special moments and milestones of their lives with us,” St. Tammany Hospital Foundation Executive Director Nicole Suhre said.
Each also represents a generous contribution from an employee who believes in the work and mission of St. Tammany Health System.
What’s more, the health system’s colleagues are still walking the walk.
The WE Give Employee Campaign has since been renamed the One Heartbeat Colleague Giving Campaign. Over its five-week run in summer 2023, it generated a record $120,346 in pledges from health system colleagues.
Do you have a St. Tammany Parish Hospital story or item to share? We’d love to hear about it! Email us at CommDept@stph.org.
Next week – Installment No. 42: Big personality, big heart
Last week – Installment No. 40: The first family of St. Tammany