---by Tom Fodor, Executive Director CEO

You work hard. You might as well try to be the best.

I’m not exactly sure when that noted philosopher (at least in my family) Andy Fodor imparted that above nugget to his chubby little boy Tommy. But it stuck. Tommy did remember that advice in the summer before eighth grade football when he was so far down the depth chart that he wasn't sure he would have his own helmet. But he eventually got his helmet and his opportunity. 

This pearl resurfaced in November as Morning Light’s Abbie Hunt Bryce Home was honored with the first ever Serious Illness Management Innovation Award, presented at Boston University.

That’s me (with Boston U’s Dr. Julia Randall) representing our team, which has grown from six staff to 13 in two and a half years. Eighty attendees at a health care summit listened as I explained how we keep serving the community while providing our services at no cost to our residents. How did we turn things around?

Board and Home Committee Members believed there were people who weren’t being helped because of our less than collaborative approaches- and they never let me forget it.

Provider Relations Specialist Penny Davis told me the first day on the job that we would fill the Home- which at the time had one resident- one- receiving care.

Then-Project Specialist Madison Gonzalez – barely two months into the job-convinced a friend to don his Santa suit to deliver handpicked gifts. The Indy Star took notice and suddenly the Home was front page news.

Newly hired Operations Manager Rachael Winbush instituted a new med cart system-even though conventional wisdom stated that storing medications in lockers was fine. It was. But the med cart was better.

You work hard. You might as well try to be the best.

By the way Tommy started every game in eighth grade. In November he accepted a national honor on a sunny day in Boston. The topic of the acceptance speech? I think you can figure it out.

Click here to find out more details about the award.