Spread Change: 2010 Union Delegate Conference

At the Union Delegate Conference

Where are you going to get the likes of KP CEO George Halvorson, John Sweeney, AFL-CIO president emeritus, the LMP’s Barb Grimm, John August of the Union Coalition, Darth Vader, Spider Man and a small cast of cuckoos in one place? Hollywood, that’s where! The 2010 Union Delegate Conference was held at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel in the heart of La La Land. Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood walk of fame, Jimmy Kimmel’s theatre and at least one tattoo parlor (where we attempted to negotiate a discount on an LMP tattoo) were right out the front door. 

More than seven hundred (that’s correct, seven hundred!) union delegates attended starting as early as Thursday and staying through Sunday for the festivities. This year we had more delegates, more workshops, more managers, and more physicians attending than in any previous year. Managers, along with co-leads from the regions and LMP staff trainers and educators gave a multitude of workshops.

Conference highlights: Our workshop

As our first workshop started (a panel consisting of physicians Dr. Howard Fullman and Dr. Shawn Dufford, Medical Group Administrator, Martha Gilmore and  Walter Allen, president of OPEIU Local 30), we noticed The Permanente Federation Executive Director Dr. Jack Cochran sitting in the front row. Talk about pressure!  We were delighted by the interaction between the audience and the panel and wished we had videoed the session. Some of the comments and answers from the physicians and manager were nothing short of amazing --things none of us would have heard as little as two or three years ago. There was agreement among all the panelists that unit-based teams are the platform for how Kaiser will do business and become the leader in healthcare now and in the future.

Working from dawn to dusk and loving it

Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. (actually 6:00 due to Daylight Savings Time), we had a breakfast meeting with the UBT consultants, improvement advisors, union partnership representatives, and a few trainers thrown in for good measure, to discuss where we are at currently in our work. We talked about how we are communicating with each other, the obstacles we need to overcome, and we got a general overview of performance improvement and teams. Despite the extremely early hour, the packed room was buzzing with energy from all of those dedicated people doing the work at the front lines. Dennis Deas, senior director of performance improvement, Dr. Shawn Dufford, medical director of perioperative services in Colorado and the famous Performance Improvement Consultant Bridget Hurley joined in the fun.

Join us next time

If you’re a union member and  never had the privilege of attending one of the Delegate Conferences, talk to your Local union about joining us next year. So much happens that it is tough to do it justice in a blog post. Next year’s should be bigger and better than ever. Hope to see even more of you there!