Stephanie Axelrod, Joe Rutledge, Joan Wellman, Lynn Martin, Cara Bailey, Pat Hagan, Barb Bouché, Jennifer Abermanis
Jennifer Abermanis
Jennifer Abermanis has been involved with Seattle Children's CPI journey since its inception. As Vice President for Diagnostic, Therapeutic and Support Services, she is a key leader in both teaching CPI concepts and leading change. Jennifer is certified as a Lean Fellow at Children's and was on the inaugural Children's team in Japan in June 2007. Prior to her current role, Jennifer was Director of Clinical Laboratories at Seattle Children's and Children's Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. She holds an MS in health services administration and a BS in clinical laboratory science. Jennifer is the board treasurer for the Washington Poison Center.
Cara Bailey
Cara Bailey is Vice President of Continuous Performance Improvement at Seattle Children's. She joined Children's in 1998 and was involved in the medical center's earliest CPI projects. In her current leadership role at Children's, Cara is responsible for functions that support continuous improvement in the organization, including clinical quality improvement, patient safety, training and development, regulatory compliance and patient and family support services. Cara is certified as a Lean Fellow, teaches CPI courses and has helped lead trips to Japan to study continuous improvement methods. She has more than 20 years of broad healthcare management experience and is passionate about building a continuous improvement-based organizational culture.
Barb Bouché
Barb Bouché is Director of Continuous Performance Improvement at Seattle Children's. Barb has been a consultant in the application of Toyota System principles at Children's since 2000. Prior to her work with Continuous Performance Improvement methodology, Barb was an organizational development consultant, working with executive management, division leaders, clinicians and staff members on a wide variety of organizational initiatives. Barb has been at Children's for 26 years, working in both clinical and non-clinical divisions.
Patrick Hagan
Pat Hagan, President and COO, teaching CPI methods.
Patrick Hagan joined Seattle Children's in May 1996 and currently serves as its president and chief operating officer. Over the past 25 years he has held executive positions at children's hospitals in Ohio, Arizona and Seattle. Learning from Joan Wellman (of JWA) and the experiences of Toyota, Boeing, Genie and other companies utilizing continuous-improvement principles and tools, Pat has led and helped develop the CPI strategy at Children's. Uniquely, Children's CPI strategy builds not only upon continuous-improvement methodology but also upon the Service "Hardwiring" lessons of Quint Studer and others, and the Engagement philosophy espoused by the Gallup Organization. This multidimensional approach has much to do with Children's outstanding success in improving its performance in service quality, clinical access, patient safety, staff engagement and financial results. Pat has sponsored, led or participated in several Rapid Process Improvement workshops, and teaches Children's week-long Lean Leader Training course. Over the past several years Pat has spoken at numerous conferences and institutions about CPI and Seattle Children's successful application of this transformative strategy.
Lynn Martin, M.D.
Lynn Martin, M.D. completed his training as a fellow in pediatric anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1990. He is board-certified in pediatrics, pediatric critical care medicine, and anesthesiology. He has been an attending physician at Seattle Children's since 1994, serving as the chief of the Anesthesiology department since 2001. Dr. Martin is involved in the resident and fellow education program and holds the rank of Professor of Anesthesiology and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Martin went to Japan with a team from Seattle Children's Hospital in 2007 to learn more about the "Toyota Way." He is very enthusiastic about applying the Lean methods to the Anesthesiology department and hospital practices.
Joe Rutledge, M.D.
Joe Rutledge, M.D., Medical Director of Laboratories and Professor of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington, has been with Seattle Children's for 20 years. During that time he has been exposed to many management fads that have yielded only transient improvements, usually directed at the bottom line. He and his colleagues, with outside help, established a work cell in their core laboratory to meet increasing clinical demands for testing. They have since utilized Children's CPI methodology to institute improvements in most sections of the clinical laboratory, though they admit there is much more to be done. Dr. Rutledge has shared the laboratory's success with pediatric pathologists around the country, many of whom are now utilizing the same techniques in their laboratories.
Stephanie Axelrod
Stephanie Axelrod is Administrative Director of Special Projects at Seattle Children's, where she formerly served as Director of Marketing for more than 12 years. She has previously held leadership positions in healthcare marketing in San Francisco and Seattle. In her current role, Stephanie continues to learn and practice the principles of Continuous Performance Improvement. She has served on a number of boards and is involved in national organizations where she speaks at conferences and meetings on how Children's has implemented an organization-wide transformation by hardwiring the principles and philosophies of service, engagement and Lean methodology.
Joan Wellman
Joan Wellman has spent over 25 years consulting to large-scale change initiatives in the aerospace, telecommunications, high-technology, energy and healthcare industries. She pioneered the application of Lean principles in healthcare starting in 1995. Her healthcare clients have included Seattle Children's, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical Center, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Overlake Hospital and Jefferson General. Joan is a frequent speaker at national conferences, including Organization Development Network, American Society for Training and Development, Society of Pediatric Anesthesia, MGMA and the National Association for Healthcare Quality.