Tuesday, April 15, 2014

BEGIN A “WeCare” PROGRAM IN YOUR OFFICE


“WeCare.”  Obviously almost all dentists and staff members want patients to know and sense a “WeCare” attitude in every aspect of each appointment.  Such an aura is key to keeping loyal patients who recommend your practice to others; patients who accept treatment plans and return regularly for Recare.

The “WeCare Program” I want to describe for your consideration, similar to one we have at Practicon, is a step beyond the sensitivity shown to patients during each appointment.  Practicon’s WeCare Team meets regularly to address opportunities for serving others in our community and to consider Practicon staff members’ needs including such things as help during a family death or other crisis, a loan to meet an unexpected financial need, or ways to find a professional counselor if a staff member is seeking that type of care.  Obviously, confidentiality is maintained by Team members involved in such personal assistance. 
For out-of-office activities, the Team manages Practicon’s charitable efforts, choosing, organizing, and scheduling our out-of-office “give back” work to help various causes and organizations in our area.  Additionally, the Team plans fun, fund-raising events in which all 65 employees participate so that the WeCare Team has money with which to help individuals and organizations.  Practicon often matches the money raised by the WeCare Team, and some Practicon employees choose to have a small donation deducted from each of their paychecks that goes into the WeCare Team fund.

You get the idea…the entire Practicon staff supports and participates in a variety of ways in the projects that the WeCare Team undertakes, whether in-office or community-wide.  Everything from ringing the bell for Salvation Army’s Christmas kettles to hard physical work helping to refurbish an old school to become a badly-needed Community Center, Practicon staff members tackle a wide variety of out-of-office give-back efforts.  And they also support one another through the WeCare Team, helping to alleviate personal crises individual staff members may be experiencing. 
Suggestion:  consider implementing some form of such a program in your practice.  Whether a practice employs two or three staff members in a single office or several dozen in a multiple-dentist-multiple-location practice, a WeCare program can boost morale, pride, fun, and teamwork far beyond expectations.

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