“In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.” John Curton Collins
Eastern Iowa’s recent adversity – the massive flooding – is giving us the opportunity to truly know our many, many friends. And although we can never thank them adequately, I’d like to highlight just a few of the kind gestures we’ve received.
When the flooding first began, we had clients emailing and calling us for status reports. You might think their concerns were about us meeting project deadlines or business continuity. Nope – our daily communications had answered those questions. What we heard were concerned voices asking what they could do to help and where they could send financial support for our impacted employees. We set up a Helping Hands fund for the generous donations from concerned clients. Those funds are greatly appreciated and will be used to help our employees who have been displaced and whose homes have been flooded.
Yesterday afternoon, two of our clients who are near enough to drive to our offices brought their vehicles loaded with supplies. We know for a fact that these thoughtful people have a full schedule of meetings, deadlines, and priorities within their own organizations. For them to take time out of their week to lend us a hand means more than they can know. Their donations of clothing, cleaning supplies, and furniture will be incredibly useful as our employees begin the recovery phase.
One of my favorite client support stories is from Mercy Medical Center, who at the height of the flood had to evacuate all their patients. You can read the blog post of how we worked with them during that event. What hasn’t been shared is a conversation with their Marketing Manager the very next week. After the kind comments, “I cannot thank you all enough for everything you’ve done,” came the amazing offer, “Are your employees OK? What can we do to help them?” What remarkable generosity of spirit.
And it’s not just our clients. We’ve had concerned emails and calls from prospective clients and friends from across the healthcare industry. Last Friday, one of our friendly competitors demonstrated their support by having pizza delivered for all of our employees. There was no reason other than they wanted us to know they were thinking of us. Thanks, Paul and team – you’re a class act!
On behalf of all our employees – those who were displaced from their homes, worried over the pets they had to leave behind and were later united with, waited anxiously to find out if they would have to demolish or clean and repair their homes, and are now spending their evenings and weekends throwing out mold-infested furniture and personal belongings … and those of us who worried and prayed for them and are now doing our best to help them rebuild – thank you.
When I first interviewed at Geonetric two years ago, one of the selling points was the kindness within the healthcare community – people who choose to help others for a living approach “business” a little differently. It sounded nice, but being a skeptic at heart, I wasn’t sure I totally bought it. I am now totally convinced. Thank you, friends – I’m humbled and proud to be a part of this community.
