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The mission of Prevent Blindness Texas is to prevent blindness and preserve sight. We are leaders and change agents in the eye health space here to empower you!
Hey, it's your eye health experts, Prevent Blindness Texas, and welcome to Eyespiring, a conversation about all things vision and life. Doctor. Hi, and welcome to Eyespiring with Prevent Blindness Texas. I'm your host, Heather Patrick, the CEO.
Heather Patrick:This morning, I am super excited about our guest. She's got a wealth of knowledge and perspective on community health and partnerships, and we're going to talk all about that this morning. PBT, Prevent Blindness Texas, is a social impact organization focused on health care and vision and connecting the two and serving the entire state to ensure people get the eye care they need and the support they need. We've been here for almost seventy years. This past year, we served 61,000 people, provided over 9,000 individuals with financial resources, educated over 100,000 people.
Heather Patrick:Our staff is small but mighty, and we have an incredible board. So we can't wait to have this conversation and share out all the great information. I am super excited to introduce Ryane Jackson. She is the Vice President of Community Health Network at Memorial Hermann Health System, where she leads efforts to address community health, health access, and non medical drivers of health through strategic development and deployment of clinical and operational services and programs. So we're going to talk all about that.
Heather Patrick:But she's also a nationally recognized leader in community health. She was named one of the Modern Healthcare's top 25 emerging leaders and Becker's Hospital Review's 37 emerging healthcare leaders under 40. She's also actively involved in the community, which I think probably gives her great perspective, on how to move community health and best practices forward. All right, so are you ready, Ryane?
Ryane Jackson:I think so. I think so.
Heather Patrick:So give us a little bit about you.
Ryane Jackson:Well, great. I mean, you did a great job of just, in general introducing me, but, I guess to dive a little bit deeper, as you said, I am the Vice President of the Community Health Network for Memorial Hermann IVAC or Memorial Hermann Health System. I've been with the system now for next month. It'll be a year and a half. Prior to that, I spent a little bit more than eleven years of my professional health care career with Houston Methodist, which is a also a local health care system here in Houston, assuming that some of your audiences may not live here in Houston.
Ryane Jackson:So just to have some context. And I would say, you know, from the time I entered into Methodist all the way to my time here with Moral Herman, my entire career has really been focused on exactly what you talked about, creating access to care for underserved and underrepresented communities, which means a lot of things. Underserved, underrepresented oftentimes do fit into that general definition of typically being uninsured, financially indigent, which means that they're more likely living below the poverty line. And of course, we all know that with that type of socioeconomic status and uninsured status, how that can lead to so many other additional disparities. So my whole career has been focused on that.
Ryane Jackson:A little bit about me personally, I am a native Houstonian, so born and raised here in Houston. And I think we are a dying breed. There aren't as many native Houstonians. And I did grow up in Northern Houston closer to spring. For those native Houstonians, sometimes they say that's not Houston.
Ryane Jackson:It is. It is. It is now. So I grew up in the Northern Part Of Houston and really had the luxury of going through the public school system here, specifically through Spring ISD. Had a really interesting journey.
Ryane Jackson:Went to college here in Texas for undergrad and my master's degree. Happy to call those out too if needed or if the audience is interested. But I always say I had a very untraditional journey into health care. But I also think that though it was an untraditional journey into health care, it was because it essentially was my natural calling, whether I knew it or not at the time. So really excited to talk to you again today, Heather.
Ryane Jackson:I know we've known each other for a while and have always admired, Prevent Blindness, so looking forward to it.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. All right. Let's dive in. So what do you think motivated you to pursue a career focused on community health?
Ryane Jackson:So great segue into I'll tell you a little bit about my untraditional pathway. So I like to think that many people that we encounter who work in health care, a lot of times they knew they were going to be in health care. They, you know, in high school were often like, I want to be a nurse, I want to be a doctor, I want to be a researcher. And same for college. That was not my initial thought process around where I thought my career would take me.
Ryane Jackson:I graduated high school and went into college wanting to be in journalism, specifically Really? Yeah. I was like, I thought I was going to be a journalist, specifically a print journalist. And so went into college, majored in journalism, worked on the school paper because I saw myself writing for newspapers and magazines and, not ashamed to say, but it'll tell you a little bit about my personality at the time. My dream was to write for Cosmo Magazine.
Ryane Jackson:I was like, I want to write for Cosmo. So that's that's where I That's awesome. That's where I was. And, by my second year or sophomore year of undergrad, I had an opportunity to take a public relations class.
Ryane Jackson:And in that PR class, I one of my projects was to help promote a local business that was in that college town. And just through that class and that project, it started to make me wonder, do I see myself doing journalism or print journalism for the rest of my life? I really like the PR aspect because I'm getting to, you know, from the journalism perspective, I get to interview people. But I also love love the idea of highlighting and promoting a need or raising awareness of, you know, services and, you know, accomplishments of others. So I got really excited about that PR class.
Ryane Jackson:And by the end of my sophomore year, I decided to add PR to my degree plan. Fast forward, by the time I graduated college, somehow it morphed into I want to be in sports PR And because I like sports, I like PR. So I said, why not? Let's merge them. Ultimately, though, and I promise you I'm going somewhere with this story.
Ryane Jackson:It'll help you understand how I wandered into space. But I think there were common threads throughout my journey that led me into community health. And you're hopefully you're starting to see it with the PR aspect of raising awareness, you know, of advocating even for something. It's so funny, the company that I was, promoting for my class or that project, it was a lingerie store in this small East Texas town. I'll tell y'all, it's Nacogdoches.
Ryane Jackson:So I went to Stephen at Boston State University for undergrad, so axe and junks. But, it was a small, like, lingerie store, which, you know, in that in that town at the time, that was a big deal. So but it was still I still recognize the importance of, you not know, only trying to get a good grade, but, hey, this is I get to do something to help somebody in a way that maybe they're not, may not have the time to do it or know how to do it. So ultimately though, graduated college, somehow decided to go into sports PR. And when I graduated, college and moved back to Houston, my first job, though it was seasonal, was with the Houston Rockets and media relations.
Ryane Jackson:And then about a month later, I got the job that actually paid my bills and allowed me to have health insurance. And it was with a local or with the oil and gas company, NOB, as a tech writer. So I had my job as a tech writer, had my side seasonal role at the Rocket. So I'm getting to use my degree, but still not quite sure where I want to be. And then, you know, when it became clear to me that the oil and gas field was probably not for me just in terms of personality, I looked for something else and it ultimately led me to what I think is the first role that I had that opened my eyes to the different layers of disparity that people experience here in Houston.
Ryane Jackson:And, you know, looking at where I am today versus what I completely was unaware of entering into that university, it's wild on some level that I was so oblivious. But then again, my sister has always called me oblivious. So I'm like, baby, like, that's what it was. Older sister, by the way, which people can relate. Your siblings keep you humble.
Ryane Jackson:But Oh, yeah. She's the only one that can call me ditzy and I not get upset. So, but, you know, I started working at, University of St. Thomas here in Houston, and I was hired in as the assistant director of annual giving. So my role was to raise funds for the school, specifically their annual fund.
Ryane Jackson:It supported the operating. But in that work within their advancement office, I had the luxury or the privilege to get to meet a lot of alumni. So I worked alongside the alumni relations team, got to meet a lot of people. And so within that, my time at St. Thomas, the first eye opening moment of, oh, there's there's there's disparities here that I just never crossed my mind was every single year at the I think it was approximately maybe thirty or sixty days.
Ryane Jackson:Don't quote me, but thirty to sixty days. I said, don't quote me as I'm recorded, but it's like, you know, thirty to sixty days, you know, into the school year, into the semester, the drop date would come up.
Ryane Jackson:You know, there's there's always a role and then there's the drop date that every university has. And like clockwork, every year around the drop date, we'd have a few students come into our office. So I worked in the advancement office development fundraisers. Right.
Ryane Jackson:And these students will walk into our office asking for help because they were about to be dropped and they didn't have the they didn't have the parents or the structure where they could just, oh, I'll just pay your tuition for you. And of note, University of St. Thomas was known and I believe is still known as a really strong local university that has a lot of first generation college students. So you see this dynamic of a larger population of first generation college students. The drop date is coming and every year you have students coming in like pleading, for help.
Ryane Jackson:I'm about to get dropped. And they had no parents that they could call to say, hey, I'll I'll cover it. Not say they didn't have parents, but they had no parents that they could tap into for that. And that was my first eye opening. Wow.
Ryane Jackson:Like, it's not even just that, you know, they have this amazing opportunity to go to college, especially if they're the first of their family. And that's still not enough. Like, it's still not enough. They can't afford it. And the school did a great job of really trying to do the best they could to support the students and allow them to stay enrolled.
Ryane Jackson:But the school wasn't always able to do something, nor was the advancement office, because in development, as you probably know very well with prevent blindness as a nonprofit, you know, the funds that you raise are often restricted or they're allocated for very specific things. So we didn't have the ability to do, at least at the time, these emergency. Okay, well, here you go. So students were getting dropped. And I always often wondered, I wonder if they were ever able to reenroll or go somewhere else.
Ryane Jackson:Fast forward, you know, as time went on and I was with the university for four years, I looked up about two years into my role. And I hope I say this the right way and your audience takes it in the spirit of what I mean it. But, you know, I worked around a lot of alumni and we went to alumni events and reunions and mixers and all kinds of things. And one day, two years in, I was looking around the room and I literally thought to myself, where are the black people? And it just it never crossed my mind.
Ryane Jackson:I mean, Houston's diverse. I mean, I'm used to seeing everybody. Sometimes you're the only of your gender or your race or or whatever in a room, and that's fine. It is what it is. But that one day at this event, I was just like, wait a minute, this room does not reflect the city that I know and where I'm from.
Ryane Jackson:And it took me on a journey. I started asking questions of the staff, my colleagues, some of the alumni I knew. And I got really curious and interrupt me, Heather, if you want to move on, you know, if I'm taking too long. No, no, I think. No.
Ryane Jackson:Yeah. Yeah. But I got really curious about, okay, well, I'm not seeing the diversity in these alumni events that reflect what I feel is the diversity of this city. We're considered one of the diverse most diverse cities in the country. I don't see this.
Ryane Jackson:So it took me on a journey to try to understand why. And, you know, I will make it a shorter story than it really could be. But I got the green light from my leadership to explore it. Because not only were they not coming to alumni events, they also fundraising wise weren't donating either.
Heather Patrick:Right. Yeah.
Ryane Jackson:And it took me on this amazing journey that allowed me to actually connect with alums who had graduated in the fifties. And I was working there in like the mid early, I guess, early two thousands or so, but early two tens. Is that what you call it? Is that twenty tens in that in that era? But I got to talk to alumni who had graduated in the fifties, black alumni who graduated in the fifties and the sixties and the seventies.
Ryane Jackson:And every single one, like on the phone via email, like I used my journalism skills almost to really start to unpack it. And they all unanimously said, I loved my education. I loved my professors, the priests, you know, who often were the professors. They loved the academic experience. But they said that depending on the era they were at, they said they were there.
Ryane Jackson:They said they never really fully felt included. It's like they loved the academic. They didn't feel included in the bigger body of the university. And then the few who had come back to a few alumni events said the same thing. You know, I I respect the school, but I just didn't feel like I had a place there.
Ryane Jackson:And I took that feedback, shared it with the leadership, but it ultimately led to me being able to engage some of those exact alumni I had started to reach out to. And we came together to form the university's first black alumni organization called St. Martin de Pourre Society. I don't know if it's still there. And it was named after St.
Ryane Jackson:Martin de Porres. I'm not Catholic, but I learned, he is the patron saint of social justice and also barbers. I was like, all right, that's cool. And he the name was so and he was one of the few, black saints or I think Afro Latino saints. So it was a good merging of culture also.
Ryane Jackson:So we started this alumni group with this strong, really powerful group of alums, which included, I don't know if you knew him, Heather, but Larry Payne, Lawrence Payne. Been pretty well known here in Houston in the nonprofit space. He he passed away a couple of years ago, but he was one of those alums. And we came together and really formed this organization and it brought alums back together. But what was exciting is because of the social justice aspect of, the namesake, we were able to bring in like guest speakers and all kinds of events that centered on really inclusion.
Ryane Jackson:We brought in a gentleman named Anthony Graves, who'd been falsely accused of murder and incarcerated, but freed, you know, because they found him innocent, like after being imprisoned for decades for a crime he didn't commit. And we learned about just a lot of history and things. But as a result, again, it's that community awareness. It's the importance of inclusion. You've got the affordability aspects from the university perspective.
Ryane Jackson:Just educational access as a whole with us being in a first generation university. So I think that really began the process of me like, opening up in me what was probably I mean, you know, you know your fate, right? It started opening up and implanted seeds in me that one would get watered tremendously, you know, when I left the university to go work for Houston Methodist. So I worked for Saint Thomas for four years, really enjoyed it. I moved on just because, you know, nothing's forever right.
Ryane Jackson:You decide, hey. I'm looking for something a little bit different. Was looking for a higher paycheck. But there was that too because, you know, I was like, I guess. I'd like to pay for my gas.
Heather Patrick:Giving you is that introduction. Right? It I mean, now now hearing that, it makes total sense of how you made that transition because it's bringing voices together to change the outcome. Right?
Ryane Jackson:Yeah. It's and and it requires, like I it's an awareness too. It's bringing voices together to change the outcome and being inquisitive enough Yeah. To try to understand the environment that you're in, which I think is the premise of really everything in community health. It requires a level of, you know, asking questions.
Ryane Jackson:Well, why? And I mean, I can fast forward even to some of the work I do here and even the work I did at Methodist, always being willing to ask why. Why don't people why can't people afford health insurance? Why are some groups sicker than others or more prone to this particular disease state versus others? Why can't people afford their food?
Ryane Jackson:You know, there's always a reason beyond what you see. And in community health, I think when you lean into the why of things, well, why is this happening? It allows you to, I guess, be more, not even innovative, it allows you one to have more empathy. So starting there. And I think empathy is core to really advancing community health strategies and even the work, obviously, with prevent blindness.
Ryane Jackson:You have to develop an empathy. You're asking why and therefore you're suspending assumptions and allowing yourself to break through stereotypes that might have been embedded in you unconsciously. And then once you understand why people are where they are and that empathy is developed, then you're able to actually put forth solutions that are actually designed to solve the problem versus and it's coming from a, I'll call it evidence based or like community, the community voice. It's putting forth solutions that are truly best equipped to solve that problem. I'm gonna steal a quote from one of my friends from a podcast she was on because it really just resonated.
Ryane Jackson:But I remember her saying even in her conversation with her interviewer, which I thought was a really strong way to say this is there is a difference between help thinking you're helping and actually helping. And so asking why of things ensures that you're actually helping versus just thinking you're helping because you're deciding what communities and people need.
Heather Patrick:Yep. It's interesting too because I think, right, the why is being curious. Right? And when you approach people and communities and problems with curiosity instead of assumptions, or instead of coming to the table and thinking you already have the solutions, but just really being curious, I think changes the game completely. It's also interesting, right?
Heather Patrick:Because that's what good journalists are, right? Curious. So I love that. It is, it's so, and that's why I love doing these because you just start to see kind of these paths that you see kind of are just kind of all over the place when you get here, but really it was designed, right? It really was.
Heather Patrick:The things that you were a part of leading up to what you're doing that were really designed, right? Because you see all the different components that have put you and positioned you to be able to lead this effort throughout your career. And I think that is really cool.
Ryane Jackson:Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm definitely a believer in everything happens for a reason, is interconnected, whether you see the reason now or you see it down the line. I mean, I can draw a connection or there's a connection to almost every single thing that I've experienced, even though at the time they felt completely disjointed and disconnected.
Heather Patrick:Tell me some of the biggest challenges you've had to get to this place in life and your career. What were some of the things that happened that really shaped you? You you you worked through it, but what were some of those challenges for you?
Ryane Jackson:Oh gosh. That'd take a whole another hour. You know, Oh, a couple of few things, so I'll talk about, you know, with me being in the community health space and, you know, working in health care, the challenge, the foundational challenge for me as someone who didn't go to school to be in the health care setting, but ended up in a health care setting and, you know, truly all of their duties as assigned, basically, it was getting over that learning curve of understanding the intersectionality of health care and social drivers or nonmedical drivers of health, understanding the the nonprofit world like I had to I genuinely learned it organically. I was true on the job. Like I learned, you know, I didn't know what FQHC stood for when I first started at Houston Methodist.
Ryane Jackson:It's federally qualified health center for the audience if they're not sure. But and if you work in a community health space, especially with health care, you know, like FQHC are like, you know what that is. So not knowing what that was and the role that they played and, you know, that there was a phrase such as social drivers or determinants of health. What's that? And understanding, you know, the importance of even the ACA passing.
Ryane Jackson:I remember right during the greatest part of the debate around the Affordable Care Act, under President Obama trying to push it, you know, I remember hearing all these different opinions and I think I was young but also uninformed. I was working at University of St. Thomas at the time. And I remember not really understanding, well, why are people so, you know, about the ACA and what do you mean, well, everybody have access to healthcare? Like, I just didn't understand the concepts of it.
Ryane Jackson:But once it passed and at the time I was then working at St. Thomas, it has been fundamental in everything that I do. People's inability to afford insurance can completely change a person's entire trajectory in life. And I mean, I won't go on a rant there, but I'll say the challenge, just to sum it up, challenge was understanding the healthcare industry and I'm still learning it. Like, I'm a natural organic student in it.
Ryane Jackson:Other challenges, I don't know if you can relate to this or you've, you know, maybe met people like this. I am very I love I will ask why. I love being inquisitive, but I also can form very strong opinions. And when I have an opinion, this is what I think. You know, I have to be very conscious of not forming an opinion that is immovable.
Ryane Jackson:And I had to really learn that in my career. My biggest challenge throughout my journey from leaving undergrad and then up until where I am today is I had to master letting go and being willing to suspend what I think, and allow myself to be open to new information shifting. And that sounds simple, especially working in community health. And as I said, I'm always about the why, it builds more empathy. But me asking why helped me do better at that.
Ryane Jackson:But also, you know, I've had, you know, lessons learned, you know, even in a work setting. You know, I was not always the you know, I'm not a perfect employee, but, you know, I've learned, like, through my other leaders, you know, through conversations with them on, like me getting comfortable with, you know, I want to do something, but my leader is in disagreement with it and learning how to not mentally position that in my head as a loss, you know, which can be, you know, which I think can fuel that.
Ryane Jackson:Like, I don't want to let go in learning not to die on every hill that I that I walk up. So those are my challenges, I think, growing up, like developing career wise and their challenges that I think sometimes are your personality is what it is. And I but I'm aware of it.
Ryane Jackson:And so being always being very conscious, like, let go. Let go. This is not the hill to die on. It's not a loss. It's not a win lose. Just because what you think should happen didn't happen, you didn't lose anything. Pivot and let's go. Yeah,
Heather Patrick:Yeah. Yeah. I think sometimes as strong women, right, that is part of it. We do have strong opinions. But early in my career when I worked for Kellman, I was actually part of the LINE program at One of the exercises we had to do was basically kind of ranking different qualities or skills and we had to have objective feedback, third party feedback.
Heather Patrick:The one thing that I got rated low on was building consensus. And so that really stood out to me. And I spent the next several years in my career really understanding and learning how important that was and how to do it. And certainly now as a CEO, you have to have that skill. You have to be able to show a consensus.
Heather Patrick:But it was really eye opening for me. And so I do, I think it's something that as women that have strong voices, strong opinions, sometimes you feel like you have to control it all, own it all, do it all. Was part of the University of Houston's Population Health inaugural cohort for health coaching. And that program was so instrumental in shifting my leadership.
Heather Patrick:And they spend so much time talking about active listening, and really understanding what that is, and how to do it. And it was incredible, incredible experience, but I I absolutely understand. Yeah.
Ryane Jackson:It's it's it's it's interesting. Like, as much as you know, when you were told you needed to, you know, when you were rated lower on consensus building, in your mind, you were probably like, what do you mean? People I built consensus. What do you mean? Because it's yeah.
Ryane Jackson:When you hear something that feels counter to how you view yourself, especially because you know your intent, it can be hard to absorb that. And and yeah, it's it resonates a lot. And something else I'll say another challenge, something I had to learn is not only not dying on every hill, but also learning the importance of timing. And because I'm very like, I can be very passionate. And I think that works to the advantage of people on my team.
Ryane Jackson:I'm very loyal to my team. And I will advocate for our nonprofit partners. Like, I'm working for them and I have to be reminded, You're over here. You're working. I'm like, Yeah, but Like, I will go to the mat.
Ryane Jackson:And my dad used to say, he's surprised I wasn't an attorney. And just to put it into perspective. But when I say timing, it's I had to also learn that, is this the time to correct somebody? Will they hear me in this moment? Will they be offended in this moment?
Ryane Jackson:Or is it better to wait, even if it's an hour or a day or a week later, and then go share what you actually think or whatever that correction is. Reading the room, I think is the equivalent. I had to learn to get better at reading the room and not being so focused on, I've got to say it. Like, you don't have to say it right now. Wait.
Ryane Jackson:Wait. And that was a big, big, I'd say challenge for me as I developed. And you probably and I think I've gotten pretty good at it. If I don't read the room well, it's not because I didn't read it. I just said, I don't care.
Ryane Jackson:I'm just gonna do I'm gonna blow it. I'm gonna as my former colleague used say, just gonna throw a grenade in here and call it a day. But I try not to. But you'll probably note that most of the challenges I've talked about have been more about my own leadership development. You know, there are lots of challenges, I mean, in the nonprofit world, especially now we know.
Ryane Jackson:I mean, laws change, bills change, your health, your company's priorities change, and that can be a challenge. Like, it's always that's gonna happen no matter what. But how you develop as a person, as a coworker, as an employee, developing as an employee, knowing how to be led by different people and how you lead has made a difference. And I also think me being open to acknowledge those flaws that I've had in myself and know that they still exist, I just have to be more thoughtful, has also helped me to grow in my career. Because as I said, I mean, as I said at the top when you were when you introduced me, I'm VP of community health at Memorial Hermann.
Ryane Jackson:When I left Houston Methodist, I was there for eleven years. I came in as a project manager. And over the in in eight years time, I went from a project manager to a vice president, you know, which is a pretty fast trajectory when you think about it. And I was in my early mid thirties at the time. And I think the key to that growth, you have the knowledge, but it's being able to being willing to adjust and change and be what your team needs you to be at that moment that day or be the employee that your leader or your boss needs you to be.
Ryane Jackson:I think that was probably key.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. Yeah. I have definitely learned, especially as you move through leadership in both big organizations and small organizations. And I often share with my team, it's kind of our stake in the ground. Every business is about people.
Heather Patrick:It's a relationship business. And learning how to build those authentic relationships takes understanding you and what you bring to the table and how you bring it to the table to build those relationships. And I think you strike me as someone who's just a lifelong learner. That's part of that curiosity, right? That's part of that growing.
Heather Patrick:And that's how I am too. And I think that is what drives me to be a better leader is I am always looking at how do I evolve? What do I need to learn? What gap is there? How can I close it? And so I think that's what makes the best leaders is continually asking that question of what do I need to bring to the table and how do I do it better?
Ryane Jackson:Yeah, I agree. I agree.
Heather Patrick:So who have been some of the people that have influenced you, mentored you throughout your career?
Ryane Jackson:Oh, good question. Influenced me and mentored me. You know, I take something from, you know, almost everywhere, everyone. Almost, not everybody. It's like, I try to take a little bit of something from everyone and mentor me.
Ryane Jackson:I will say this. Obviously, you know, your family. And I think the work ethic that I have and my sister has, as I said earlier, you know, that we have, it was instilled in us as children because we come from a family mom, dad, grandma, aunts and uncles and a family that really were focused on us centering education, but also having a voice. And I think especially from my mom, she was really big on us not quitting. And I remember that as a kid.
Ryane Jackson:Like, we couldn't quit anything, Heather. Nothing. If we started something, we had to finish it and finish it cleanly. Now we didn't wanna continue it after we hit that final mark or do it again. Like, that was okay.
Ryane Jackson:But if you started something, you finished it. Even if it was hard, even if you didn't like it because and to me, as an adult, I can look back and realize that she was teaching us the importance of, I think, having integrity. You know, committing to something, recognizing that you can't tap out just because something is hard, uncomfortable, or you're not good at it. And as frustrating as it was as a kid, it it's something that I have seen professionally. And you probably have seen the same where what a skill to have.
Ryane Jackson:And it's a mentality. It's a way to, you know, it frames how you approach everything and even your work. So I'd say early in, it's my family structure and my mom embedding in us, you can't quit at all. Then going into my professional life with that naturally embedded in me and even academically, helped. There because are so many classes I wanted to drop.
Ryane Jackson:I was like, oh, my God. And when things weren't going well, we were like, Okay, we'll just work harder, try harder, find a new pathway. Like, we learn how to find the path that you need that you need to get on to get to that end result. So it also made us. I'm going to say scrappy in thinking, but we learned that which in the nonprofit world, you got to be a little scrappy, like you got to learn how to, okay, this door is closed, but this one over here looks like it might open.
Ryane Jackson:It's closed too, but it looks like it might open based off So of it taught us how to pivot. Beyond that, I would say I've had different important people throughout my journey. I'll even say my leader when I was at Methodist, I was thinking about this not too long ago. I told you I didn't have an, I just kind of entered into health care. I always say like wandered in and then just kind of was like, oh, guess I'm here.
Ryane Jackson:And I had left University of Saint Thomas. I was looking for a role, you know, while I was at Saint Thomas. And, you know, my previous leader, you know, she was one of the people she was the person who interviewed me when I applied for the role. And once working at Methodist, I realized that she could have picked anybody already there. Like, one, was an external hire, which we all know how challenging that can be.
Ryane Jackson:I'm an external hire to this big, big health care system with no healthcare background. But she was able to see the connection, I think, in my maybe experience, personality, who knows? I don't fully know all that she fully saw, but she saw something in me that made her say, I want to I'm going to take a chance on someone who doesn't have what we consider traditional background. And by working alongside her in or working with her in the years that I was there, I I learned all everything I know now, you know, in terms of like FQHCs and the concepts. They were built in that role under me working directly for her.
Ryane Jackson:She was a very senior leader. And I feel comfortable saying that she was at one point for me, I considered her a mentor. And beyond a mentor, she was an advocate and a champion for me, which you don't always get. And somebody who decides that they're going to be your champion or your advocate. I mean, it just opens up an entirely different world.
Ryane Jackson:I was in board meetings when I was a project manager. I was in board meetings that other executives weren't even allowed to go to. You know what I mean? Like, so I got early exposure. So I would say just that entire experience, I'd say she was a great advocate and a mentor for me at that time.
Ryane Jackson:That was pivotal. And I'd say if I hadn't had the experience that I had with Methodist and working directly for that senior leader who put me in, helped put me in some of those rooms, I wouldn't have gained the knowledge and the growth opportunities that I had that then led me to Memorial Hermann. And now that I'm here, you know, I would say Pivotal is, you know, who I work with now. And my leader is, Teal Holden. She's our long title.
Ryane Jackson:And I've gotten better at it. Like she's senior vice president of ambulatory services, post acute care and community health. Wow. It's a mouthful. It's like it's our whole title.
Ryane Jackson:I know. And it took me an entire sixty days to say it right, by the way, when I was working there, when I first started. But I would say for her, working with her, I'm learning a lot because she's been with the system a long time. She has a very unique leadership style, in my opinion, from the previous leadership style I was under. And it's become a good balance.
Ryane Jackson:She's very calm and approaches things, very measured. And I am measured, but I'm not I'm not calm. I don't think anybody would ever say, oh, she's really calm. So it's a good balance. And so I'm learning that other side of leadership development, but also what I oversee at Memorial Hermann.
Ryane Jackson:It is an amplified, candidly, version of what I did at Methodist. Now I'm overseeing clinics and like our health center for school clinics and our neighborhood health centers, are charitable clinics and our community resource centers, which support addressing social drivers. And then I also oversee our employee volunteer program. And I mean, anything community health falls under this area. And I'm learning about aspects that and I'm learning about aspects of the community health work that I didn't have as much exposure to before, but the foundation, you know, obviously, skill set and foundation and strategic approach is there.
Ryane Jackson:So I'm I'm I'd say all of it. That was a really long answer, but I'm like, people, like my mom, my family, my previous leader at Methodist, just that advocacy and champion that I received in her. Then now my current leader, I mean, all all the above, I learned from my employees. I mean, I could go colleagues. I can go on and on. Everybody.
Heather Patrick:So do you find yourself now having been in that experience of having a champion who opened doors, who helped you, who positioned you? Do you find yourself now doing that same thing or looking to do that same thing for your employees or for your team?
Ryane Jackson:I do. Like, that's something that, it's really important to me to do that. And I've realized in my, leadership journey, it takes effort to do it. And when I say effort, not because I don't want to do it and I have to like it's just it requires a very specific level of intentionality. Yes.
Ryane Jackson:And because receive that, I am trying to pay it forward, but I'm getting intentionality. Better at it. So there was this kind of window, especially when I first became a VP at the previous health care system. When you first move into that level, you're learning yourself and you're not quite I don't I don't know if you felt like this in your executive leadership journey, but nobody prepared me for that move from like director to like VP. And you're still in the same department doing a lot of the same work, you kind of assume it's not gonna be a big difference.
Ryane Jackson:And it is night and day. The way you are viewed, the expectations of you, the and it's also a very lonely kind of place to be because the you've heard the phrase, like, the higher up you go, the less you have the less people that you have to lean on and to talk to. And people who are your your work buddies and your work friends. You can still talk to them, but now you're privy to things you can't talk to them about. Yeah.
Ryane Jackson:And so in my first, I'd say, few years at that level, was it. I was just trying to get my own bearings and really understand not only the work that, you know, the work I'm doing, but what does it mean to be at this level and how do you meet the expectations of others as a VP? Now, years later now where I'm at, I do feel more comfortable at this level and it's allowed me to be more thoughtful with my team and go, you know what, like how can I position people? Like, there's there's a few people currently on my team who I mean, I love everybody on my team, but there are a few who've who stood out to me where I really want to support them. Yeah.
Ryane Jackson:And I and I ask everyone, you know, how can I help support you with things? But there are a few who've kinda gotten on my radar in a way that I am really wanting to support their professional growth and whatever that means. And I've never felt like your professional growth means you have to stay with me. Like, I've never believed that. So I'm trying to be thoughtful around them telling me what interests them.
Ryane Jackson:And now that I know that, helping to put them in those positions. I also know that in order to move into management, oftentimes you have to have experience as a manager, which is so how do you okay. Like, how do you do that? But so in recognizing that and knowing, you know, kind of the loopholes that you can go through to help someone get there, I'm being more intentional of trying to position some people on my team to lead work groups, lead little committees and where they're not formally somebody's boss, but they're demonstrating their ability to lead different people. And so and then exposure is a big piece, too.
Ryane Jackson:You know, have you heard the phrase when people see you, they see themselves sitting with you.
Heather Patrick:Yeah.
Ryane Jackson:And so the more I can have people on my team go to those committee meetings that maybe have a lot of VPs and above in it and they may not be a VP, they might be a director right now or a manager or not management at all. But the more people in those executive leadership roles and other or director, depending on what it is, see you in the room with them, one, you're learning from them organically. You're seeing how they operate.
Ryane Jackson:But also when it comes time to make those promotion decisions or new job openings happen, or you need advocates or others to wanna say, hey, they'd be great in that role. It's easier because they're they're used to being around you and seeing you in action. Yeah. So I'm I'm doing a lot of that.
Heather Patrick:Absolutely. I think it's critical. I remember through my movement through Coleman, I had two very specific champions and they would absolutely do that. Put me in meetings with different people. One, so they could get to know me, but also so I could learn to see how executive level leadership, how they thought, how they went about problem solving, the approaches they took. and it really changed my path.
Ryane Jackson:Oh yea
Heather Patrick:I am forever grateful for those women that opened the door and really gave me so many opportunities to learn.
Ryane Jackson:And you were interested. You know, you observed. Like you took in what you saw and then said, okay, how do I, within reason, model that while also still being authentically who I am? And I always think, I don't know if you can tell me, you know, how you've gone about striking that balance. Like for me, it's always important to be authentic.
Ryane Jackson:My personality is my personality. I'm not a stoic leader. I'm not a I don't have a poker face at all. Like, if you don't do anything in front of me that would normally create a reaction, I don't have one. But a lot of, you know, most very prominent executive leaders do have that.
Ryane Jackson:And so I have worked on, Okay, how do I take a little bit of this from them? Like, I'll use Teal as an example. Very poised, very balanced and measured. And I fully respect that. So I'm trying to take a little bit more of that, like, okay, she's got a good poker face.
Ryane Jackson:Trying to take a little bit more of that, but also still being, you know, I am who I am too. And, you know, it's a good balance. How have you created that balance?
Heather Patrick:So I think one of the things that I learned and you talked about it too, and it was from one of the women I worked with at Comen, it came down to really picking your battles and learning when emotion could help people get people inspired, that passion, because I am. I mean, I'm very passionate, very strong voice personality. But I think it also comes back to awareness. And I have learned to be softer in my approach as the gone years by. Both because I think, I you know, I was in counseling and marriage counseling at the time and, you know, the counselor told me, she's like, you come across very harsh sometimes.
Heather Patrick:And I really took that. I really took that to heart because I, and not necessarily because I mean to, but I'm just very to the point, right? Just get to the point. And so I think just over the years, taking feedback of what is again going to help people hear me and understand what I'm trying to accomplish and get them excited about it and engaged in it, be able to see what I see. And I've had to learn that over the years.
Heather Patrick:And it depends on who's your team and you have to really get to know who is on your team, how they respond, how they engage, what matters to them, And then really learn how to communicate with them, knowing they'll hear what I'm saying. But I just think it's evolution over the years. You have to be, as a leader, open to learning and learning the hard things about yourself. And you get to make the decision. Do you want to take it with a grain of salt and move on?
Heather Patrick:Or do you want to think, okay, you know what? I recognize that about myself. It is a barrier to moving forward or to building better relationships. That's really for me what it a lot of times comes back to is if I really work on this, will it help me build better relationships? That's usually kind of my lens of, okay, how do I make this happen?
Heather Patrick:Because ultimately for me, both personally and professionally, relationships make your life. And so I think that I always come from, will this help you build better relationships?
Ryane Jackson:Yeah, that's a good question to ask. I was like, yeah, And will this help me build better relationships? I like that. Yeah, I agree.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. All right, let's switch a little bit to community health and partnerships. So tell me, I'm going to ask a two part question. What do you see in community health right now, the good and the bad, and how important are partnerships to carry the work forward?
Ryane Jackson:Good question. I'll start with the second part of the question. Think that and then I'll answer the other about the good and the bad. I think partnerships are critical. May be talking, I'm speaking from a health care system perspective, specifically the type of work that I do with community health and access.
Ryane Jackson:We cannot do this work without community partners. I mean, we're a health care system. Yes, we can take care of you when you're sick and you enter our ER. We can do your surgery. I mean, we're great, you know, in those things.
Ryane Jackson:But what health care is not historically known for is doing work to address those social drivers of health. That's a newer evolution of the health care industry. I mean, some may disagree, but at least in my limited time in the field, since 2012 at least, I think we've only started accepting that health care systems can play a role in transportation access and that it does matter that the person you're discharging home has a home that has mold in it.
Ryane Jackson:Like, you know, we're just now starting to really understand that that's important and part of the whole whole person caring. So because we're newer as a health care like healthcare industry as a whole, we're newer in this space, we often have had to and need to rely on those organizations, those nonprofit partners who have been doing this work day in and day out, who've spent their entire existence, their whole mission literally, you know, depending on how long they've been around of focusing on people who are homeless or unhoused, focusing on people who are escaping domestic violence situations, people who, you know, are living in non quality homes and so they're coming in and revitalizing them and food pantries.
Ryane Jackson:I mean, the whole concept like food pantries. We have had to rely on them to help support us in the work and oftentimes take lessons from them. A lot of the programs that you see coming from health care systems or even some non health care systems in this space, most likely there's at least one or two nonprofit organizations that they saw and modeled some of their work after. So I say all that to go, they're the nonprofit nonprofit world is the nonprofit smaller nonprofit agencies are key to the work. Collaborating with them is to me the only way to be successful.
Ryane Jackson:So that's a long answer to say y'all are like clutch. We need you. It's like we need you. And we need you. And I think it's important that when organizations, especially if you're a bigger one, I mean our healthcare system's pretty pretty large here in the city, making sure that when you are working with, some of the nonprofit organizations as a collaborative partner, that you're leaning into collaborative partner and not intentionally unintentionally tilting the power dynamic.
Ryane Jackson:So bigger system, probably by default bigger budgets, you know, easily I think can intimidate nonprofits who don't have the same budget. And so they're more likely to try to just make it work like, oh, the health care system wants me to do this, so I'm going to do it because just by default, the structure, the power dynamic is there. And it's up to the larger collaborative partner in that dynamic to really make the organizations feel that, yes, we are the bigger system in size or name or partner in name or size, but we view you as an equal co partner in this. And when you have that kind of dynamic, you're able to be more effective, tell each other the hard truths, you know, because that has to happen. Like honesty and transparency is needed.
Ryane Jackson:So support collaborative partners. On the what's good and bad of the community health is what the question. The good is I mean, I'll speak only for my health care system. In light of all the changes that we've seen this year and the funding cuts and the executive orders, you know, wherever you fall in the spectrum of how you feel about them, I think most people would agree that the changes and the shifts and the executive orders aren't doing nonprofit organizations any good or any favors. We'll say that.
Ryane Jackson:Nor And health care systems, in my humble opinion, depending on, you know, which one, what you're looking at. And so the good though is that I feel that my system, they could easily say, well, let's just scale back on how we support our partners. Let's scale back on these programs, and they haven't. And as a newer employee with them, as I said, it's been about a year and a half, so newer, I've been encouraged by that. Like, we're leaning in, not leaning away.
Ryane Jackson:And, yes, some pivots have had to be made, but overall, we're not shying away from the work. And I actually see a lot of other organizations not necessarily leaning away. And that's been encouraging. The bad is, I mean, the dire straits that I see some of our nonprofit partners in increasingly because of a lot of the the decisions that are being made state, national level. And it's really highlighting it almost reminds me of COVID on some level, like the COVID era where, you know, it's challenging people's nonprofits ability to sustain themselves.
Ryane Jackson:It's highlighting where they're not sustainable. And that's always sad because even during COVID, you know, are lot of organizations that I didn't think personally were going to make it. And I didn't think they were going to make it because they didn't even think they were going to make it. And that's sad. It puts them in a desperate position which keeps them from being innovative, taking risk, which personally, when I partner with organizations, I like organizations that are willing to take a risk, think outside the box.
Ryane Jackson:It keeps them from being able to do that and everything, comes down to, well and and you're seeing a different energy behind. You know, it's one thing to to pursue funding, grant funding donations. I mean, we expect that, but there's a different energy behind the ask now. It feels I'm not saying desperate in a negative way, but there's a desperation behind it. Like, we need it versus we need it.
Ryane Jackson:We need it to do this versus we need it because something bigger. Yeah. So I don't like that.
Heather Patrick:Yeah, Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely, I mean, external environment. I would say on and off since COVID has felt this way, but certainly for the last six months, it just feels chaotic and intense on a regular basis. Even for organizations, even like ours that are pretty sustainable and stable right now, it just is an energy that is very palpable right now.
Heather Patrick:I know it will be interesting to see where the next six, nine, twelve months kind of what the landscape looks like. It's a hard environment right now. And to your point, it's hard to be innovative when you don't know what your budget's going look like in three months. So the sector, my hope is that we come together and really figure out how to maybe do things a little differently to move us forward because I definitely There's so much I think people don't truly understand the impact that the sector has on a daily basis.
Ryane Jackson:I agree. They don't realize, you know, I try to remind people that if, like, the safety net doesn't have a safety net.
Heather Patrick:Right.
Ryane Jackson:And if your safety net, if our safety net goes, much goes with it. And so I agree. I think people don't really process that the same way. And even, you know, I know we're coming up on time, but, you know, I am concerned also about what we've seen. I don't know the exact number, but what we've seen is the growing unemployment rate in the country.
Ryane Jackson:You know, we've seen lots of job loss, especially at like the governmental level, governmental roles. But the unemployment rate is concerning because, you know, in my I put on my the lens I typically look through is unemployment more times than not equals no insurance. Most Americans get their insurance through their employer. So if you have rising unemployment rates, it means you have rising unemployment rate. I mean, uninsured rates.
Ryane Jackson:And when people are uninsured, you know, that trickle down effect, it becomes, you know, they're more likely to forego their primary preventative care, which means, you know, something that can be managed by your PCP is now something that is worse or unmanageable. So they're either entering your ERs, which can, you know, is not really as sustainable either. They're being diagnosed with more serious conditions, which are costly. They definitely can't afford that. And then, it's just all the things.
Ryane Jackson:When and you know this just as much as I do, when people also have to choose between paying for their health care and preventative care or keeping their lights on, feeding their family for the day, pay their rent, their mortgage. Health care falls to the bottom because it doesn't feel as immediate. But when your health care goes off the cliff, there's nothing else but that. It's like you don't have health, you can't work. If you're not health like so unemployment is concerned.
Ryane Jackson:Like it's concerning for me because I'm like, okay. Like I see it on the horizon. Like, oh, man, this is it feels like a wave. It feels like a wave is forming some miles out, but you know it's coming. And nobody realizes it's coming.
Ryane Jackson:You're like, it's coming. Like, well, healthcare knows it's coming. But it's like, ah. Yeah.
Heather Patrick:So I mean, I think on that, right, I think that it really demands us to come together and think about how do we solve it differently. All right. So last question. What are the one or two things you want the audience, if they remember nothing else about our conversation, what are the one or two things you want them to really take away?
Ryane Jackson:Oh, takeaway. I'm going to do a plug for Maura Herman. Think an important takeaway is, you know, especially if you live here in the Houston community and you're watching, Mohr Herman is the largest health care system, you know, from market share perspective. Great system. But people I want people to remember that, you know, if you don't have insurance, you know, or you need some of your social needs met, we have a lot of community based assets that are specifically designed and were built for our community who has needs in mind.
Ryane Jackson:So we have our neighborhood health centers. We have three of those around Greater Houston. We have our health center for schools where these are 10 to 11 clinics located across Greater Houston serving HISD, Aldine ISD, ALLEAP ISD, MAR, and we have our Community Resource Centers. We currently have four of them, and those are the facilities where you can come in and get assistance with signing up for Medicaid or SNAP or other financial assistance. And they each have food pantries in them.
Ryane Jackson:This health care system is here to serve everyone. We say we're community owned, and you know, we're a community owned system. And our mission, if you want the exact or vision, you know, it's to create healthier communities now and for generations to come. So we really lean into that. Aside from just the fact that we're here to support our community, takeaways too, ask the why.
Ryane Jackson:You know, no matter no matter who you're talking to, what issue is put before you, ask why. It's okay to have an assumption of what it is, but then ask why and take the time to really, like, unpack it. Like, why do people do this? Why are people saying this? Like, ask why.
Ryane Jackson:And other than that, I think that would probably be my biggest. It's like, Laurel Herman, ask the why. Community partners are important. Support your local nonprofits. They need you.
Ryane Jackson:I'd say that's it. And my last one I tell people, it's okay to follow your instinct even if the pathway it's leading you down isn't the pathway you have planned for yourself because it'll probably lead you to where you most are supposed to be.
Heather Patrick:Yeah. I love that. I love that and ask the why. I think that's It really has been awesome to have you on the show. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, your experience, your insight.
Heather Patrick:We truly appreciate you. And for those that are listening, we are always happy to have people come to PBT to volunteer, obviously to donate, but always looking for people to join our family and move this mission forward. You can always reach out to us, go to the website. We are happy to have you engage in any way you would like with PBT. And with that, we always end with, Thank you for joining us.
Heather Patrick:Follow us. And of course, we always want to know what your vision is. Thanks. Have a great day.