Frontline Workers

Kaiser Permanente medical assistant Abelene Cerezo-Kirtley used to fear computers, but not anymore.

Inspired by her 84-year-old father, she took a pilot digital fluency course that made her more comfortable with technology, empowering her to provide better care for her patients—and her family.

As her father’s health advocate, she used her training to create a spreadsheet to track his insulin injections, consolidated his medical records on an iPad, and presented it to his physician.

“He asked me, ‘Are you a doctor?’” Cerezo-Kirtley says. “I said, ‘No, I’m a medical assistant.’ It made me feel 10 feet tall, and I’m only 4-foot-10.”

The new online program is free to all members of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions through the Ben Hudnall Memorial Trust, the SEIU UHW-West & Joint Employer Education Fund, and National Workforce Planning and Development. Visit kpcareerplanning.org, the Ben Hudnall Memorial Trust or the SEIU UHW-West & Joint Employer Education Fund websites to sign up.

A workforce development strategy

The digital fluency program, which takes four to six hours to complete, helps employees understand the role of technology in health care and know where to find additional learning resources. It’s part of a larger workforce strategy to encourage employees to upgrade their skills, advance their careers and meet future health care challenges.

“Digital fluency is one of four critical skills we’ve identified that Kaiser Permanente employees need to meet the changing demands of health care,” says Monica Morris, National Workforce Planning and Development director. “Whether you work in a medical center, clinic or office, we encourage employees to take the digital fluency program.”

Gaining skills builds confidence

Cerezo-Kirtley, now studying American Sign Language to better serve patients who are deaf or hard of hearing, has constantly upgraded her skills during her 19 years as a medical assistant at Kaiser Permanente’s Sacramento Medical Center. Her father, a retired airline mechanic who earned a master’s degree, modeled lifelong learning, and KP has enabled it through negotiated benefits such as tuition reimbursement. Cerezo-Kirtley, a member of SEIU-UHW, jumped at the chance to improve her digital fluency.

“The digital fluency program gave me the confidence to keep wanting to learn more,” says Cerezo-Kirtley. “It helped me care better for my family and my patients.”

Her manager, Jennifer Henson, RN, agrees. “It’s important to support our staff to advance themselves, which in turn promotes better health within the company,” says Henson, who has used tuition reimbursement herself to earn her nursing degree and is now working toward a master’s degree.

As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Labor Management Partnership, Hank would like to call out the tens of thousands of individuals who have made partnership a success: the frontline workers, managers and physicians who have believed in our ideals and taken the time to build the positive working relationships that are the backbone of this groundbreaking endeavor.

Visit Humans of Partnership to read their stories—and look through their eyes into our past, our present and our future. 

“You have two ears and one mouth for a reason,” television’s Judge Judy frequently says, quoting an ancient Greek philosopher. “You should listen twice as much as you talk.” Successful co-leads realize that making a partnership work requires listening and learning from one another. 

Caroline Masikonde, RN, had been a management co-lead with the urgent care team at Largo Medical Center in the Mid-Atlantic States, an experience that helped her understand the importance of valuing her partner’s input. But when she accepted a new role as clinical operations manager in Northern Virginia Audiology in January 2016, she didn’t have any experience in audiology. So she’s relied heavily on her new labor co-lead, Lynn M. Reese, Au.D., a UFCW Local 400 member. Masikonde has learned why audiology UBT members escort patients outside (so they can try out new hearing aids in different conditions)—and her willingness to listen helped the co-leads bond quickly. 

“Lynn is very experienced,” says Masikonde. “I lean on her even now.” 

Reese, on the other hand, was new to the unit-based team structure, since the audiology UBT had just formed. That’s where Masikonde’s expertise came in. “We fit together pretty well,” says Reese. “Caroline is very open to listening and learning new things.”

Reese, too, expanded her knowledge, growing into an appreciation that she and Masikonde have equal say on what’s now a Level 4 UBT. “Everyone contributes,” says Reese. The ability to speak up led to Reese and the rest of the team requesting and receiving approval for an additional booth to test patients’ hearing. 

Relationship tested

Their new relationship was tested when a member—after waiting more than 12 weeks for a refund on a hearing aid that had cost more than $1,000—alerted them, loudly and angrily, to the problem. 

Instead of pointing fingers, UBT members figured out the issue: The refund request had to be processed through a department in Southern California, but the team had no way to follow up once the request was submitted. 

“This lady forced us to look at this and do better for our members,” Masikonde says. “It prompted us to come up with a better workflow,” and now the team has names and contact information for the people who work on the refunds.

“Even though it was a bad situation, she made us want to improve,” Reese says. 

Because the co-leads already were accustomed to relying on and listening to each other, they were able to quickly and calmly handle this tense situation with the unhappy member.

“We really learned our lesson,” Masikonde says. “Recently, we did a refund on a Monday—and by Friday, the member had the check. Lynn and I know our parts and do our dance.”

They finish each other’s sentences; they call each other “Mrs.”; they praise in public and correct in private.

Antronette Moore-Mohead and Joanna Harris are a model couple. They’d make a marriage counselor proud. 

They’ve been together for three years, but they’re not married (to each other, that is)—they’re the unit-based team co-leads in the National Claims department, based in Oakland. Since co-leads frequently move on to new positions, Moore-Mohead and Harris are a long-term couple in the world of UBTs. 

“We are all for the team,” says Harris, a national claims processor and OPEIU Local 29 steward, the UBT’s labor co-lead. “Praising workers’ effort or accomplishments helps keep morale up and folks engaged in their work.” 

“Being transparent is key to succeeding as a team,” adds Moore-Mohead, the department’s processing supervisor and the management co-lead. “Also, honest, clear, concise communication is a must. So is having fun.”

'Let's talk it out'

They share stories and photos of their families, they tease each other about maybe not needing that sugary snack, and they can tell when the other is “in rare form.” Even on days when stress is high, the two know when to give each other space or when to say, “Let’s talk it out.”

“We are free to bounce ideas off of each other, without fear of being shot down,” Harris says.

The positive vibe and mutual respect between the co-leads is apparent, but they are clear that they don’t mix outside of work time to alleviate any appearance of favoritism. 

“I love that Antronette is passionate about her work. She operates from the perspective of ‘there is no Big Me, little you,’” explains Harris. 

The department they lead is responsible for collecting fees and processing claims from services performed outside of Kaiser Permanente facilities. Last year, the high-functioning Level 4 team of 39 claims processors and examiners, who are represented by OPEIU Local 29, saved more than $6 million by negotiating better rates for services rendered outside of the network. 

“It’s important to pay it forward,” says Moore-Mohead. “We want to make sure we are growing our team and others have opportunities to learn.”

Su-Xian Hu and Runeet Bhasin make partnership look easy. The telemetry team co-leads at Downey Medical Center in Southern California share a relaxed rapport that belies the time, planning and occasional friction that are part of running a busy inpatient unit. 

Together for more than a year, the pair attribute the success of their budding relationship to communication and a commitment to partnership principles—especially consensus decision making. Those core values came in handy recently when a disagreement arose about the best way to educate patients about medications. 

Nurses preferred a less overwhelming one-page sheet, but managers wanted to switch to a detailed three-page form that had been adopted by other units in the hospital. 

“It was a major issue,” says Bhasin, RN, a staff nurse and member of UNAC/UHCP who is the team’s labor co-lead. “We had to come up with a solution to fulfill management’s needs and labor’s needs.”

At the time of the disagreement, UBT members turned to consensus decision making to determine next steps they all could support. A subsequent test of change resulted in a short-term fix: Nurses used the short form with patients, while the longer handout was provided as a resource guide in patient rooms.

New to partnership

Managing in partnership was a new experience for Hu when she joined the team in April 2016 as assistant clinical director and became a co-lead. She previously had overseen a Kaiser Permanente inpatient nursing unit that was not part of the Labor Management Partnership. Bhasin, a co-lead with two years of experience, served as mentor and coach.

“Runeet was wonderful with helping to bring me onboard,” says Hu, who is also an RN. 

Both say LMP training has given them a shared understanding of their roles as co-leads, the purpose of UBTs and how to use consensus decision making. A business literacy class both took proved especially fruitful: With the information they brought back, the team tackled an affordability project that reduced overtime costs by more than $95,000 last year. 

“The UBT classes,” says Bhasin, “made me realize the real meaning of partnership, the collaboration of labor and management to work toward the same goal to provide high-quality care and to have a great work environment.”

The pair’s approach seems to be working. Their 75-member UBT is at Level 4 on the five-part Path to Performance, and it has earned accolades for outstanding patient care and gains in workplace safety and affordability. 

“We want what is best for patients and for staff,” says Hu. “We might have differences, but we always come together with open and professional communication, sitting down together to solve those issues.”