“One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”. For many of us it was chilling to hear those words replayed again many times during the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong‘s walk on the moon. Some of us heard it live and remember that dramatic moment, and everyone else has heard the recording at some time. We all got to celebrate again that remarkable event, even more unbelievable now as we see how much technology has changed.
Everyone – newspapers, media, and individuals – had their own unique insights in celebration of the 50th anniversary last week. They were many and varied and we were deluged with reminders photos and recapitulations. The most captivating story that I remember reading was from the LA Times. Much to my surprise they analyzed how we would be accomplish this feat today.
Bemused to see the headline, I had to read it since it was so counterintuitive. Technology is greater, our computing power is incomparable to the 60’s, our economy is greater by far, and our knowledge base has expanded so much that the this era seems primitive. The NASA team had few tools compared to the scientists and knowledge we have now. We should be better than them – we have much more.
However, the surreal message was that they had much that we do not have. Teamwork, dedication, cooperation, and vision – to name a few. Morbidly but accurately, they noted that our society just does not seem to be working well and fares badly in comparison with that legendary 1960’s era.
There were many problems during that era – too many to enumerate to call it the Golden Age of civilization in America. My college history professor said that the 1820’s were the true golden age, and I have not convincingly been able yet to prove him wrong. But during the remarkable decade of intensity getting a man to walk on the moon for the first time, we were capable of working together, striving to do the impossible, overachieving, and pursuing a grand and glorious vision. And succeeding at it as well.
They say that we cannot do that now as a society. As I reflected on their words and their thoughts, I reluctantly agreed that our society does not appear capable of doing that in these divided and partisan times. But I disagreed that no one can do that, because we are going to our own Moonshot, and we are also going to succeed just like NASA did.
Catholic Health is also preparing to make the changes needed to walk on the moon. Our goal is to become a top decile healthcare system and to be recognized unequivocally as such. We have always been the quality leader in our area, we have always focused on quality and quality improvement, and we already know that we provide high quality care.
But we also need to pursue the metrics. We need to focus on the numbers that will show that we are doing a better job than everyone else. We plan to continue improving our quality every day, and develop the data that all can see showing what we have achieved – or will achieve. We plan to be the best.
Moon shot? I say it is. I’m not sure if it’s easier or harder than the challenge NASA faced in the 1960s, but the same requirements are there. We have to be dedicated, we have to collaborate, we have to have a vision, and we have to have an unvarying and thorough commitment to getting to our goal, and we have to be excellent. Our patients should expect nothing less from us, and we should expect nothing less from each other
All of us are part of this Moonshot team, and it will be an exciting next few years for Catholic health. Many changes are upon us, including but much more than our transformation to our new EHR, Epic. But if we work together, share the same vision and goal, and know our stuff, I am confident that we will be seeing these remarkable achievements come to fruition – and it will take everyone’s contribution to get there.
