Beth Charlton, BSN-RN, MSA, President/CEO

"I started at St. Luke's Hospital in 1989 as a student nurse extern while in the nursing program at Saginaw Valley State University. I transitioned to several different roles in the hospital ranging from Clinical Nursing to Information Technology and then to Administration throughout many years with the organization.

Ahead of the merger, I was the Nurse Manager of 3 North Main, the Chest Pain Center, and the Heart Failure Clinic when Spence Maidlow, the President of St. Luke’s hospital at that time, contacted me about the merger proposal. Spence and a committee of administrative folks were evaluating whether St. Luke’s was the right partner for Saginaw General Hospital.

I was asked to show the Saginaw General group around Nuclear Medicine and the other areas I managed. I remember how nerve wracking it was to make sure you were putting your best face forward. We really wanted their team to be impressed with the work we were doing. It was almost comical because these individuals were literally from ‘right across the street,’ yet here they were to learn about what we were offering in way of care at St. Luke’s Hospital.

Bill Heath, who eventually became the CEO of Saginaw General, also visited us as an administrative leader. At that time, he and Spence talked through our clinical service lines, what we were doing and what we were proud of at St. Luke’s. I also feel they were doing ‘a temperature check.’ They were reflecting on the two hospitals as separate organizations and asking questions to themselves. Were they similar or different? What were our cultures like? Could we work together? These were all very important questions ahead of the merger.

At the time, I wasn't as involved in the detailed strategy about why it made sense for the whole hospital to merge and blend. But I knew from a service line standpoint that it might make sense for areas like Cardiology. We had redundant services that both hospitals provided, so if we could do something far better together with the talents of the medical staff and providers from both campuses, why wouldn't we explore that?

I remember the day we heard Saginaw General had selected St. Luke’s as their partner. I was proud that the committee had the wisdom to be able to see that we could do so many wonderful things if we came together. If Saginaw General had brought in a different organization, it just wouldn't have made the same kind of sense that Covenant HealthCare did then—and still does today, 25 years later!"

Pictured: Beth Charlton, RN
(Former Student Nurse, St. Luke’s Hospital)

Pictured: Beth Charlton's Mementos from St. Luke's

"I love the amount of intent our leaders had about the mission, vision and values of Covenant HealthCare during the merger.

Everyone from both Saginaw General and St. Luke’s attended values training, where we learned about these key cultural drivers together in one massive room. It didn't matter what department or hospital you came from or what role you were in—everyone heard the same exact message. Covenant was going to be a place that was built on the foundation of a solid mission and vision, care-oriented values, and a good culture.

To me, even the Covenant HealthCare logo represents passion, peace and promise.

The promise is in the Covenant name—it's inherent that we're promising to deliver on our mission of extraordinary care for every generation. The logo also contains a dove and a flame. The dove signifies peace—the serenity and peace of mind our caregivers provide for those we serve. The flame indicates an extraordinary passion for the work we do.

Where Covenant HealthCare is today, a quarter century after the merger, shows that our forefathers and mothers knew what they were doing. Looking back, I think the biggest successes were these cultural and foundational elements and believing that—even when times were hard—1+1 could equal 3, and we could do far better together! I think we've proven that time and time again over the past 25 years.

Though some things have changed, these core values still stand strong today."

Pictured: Covenant HealthCare Logo Explanation

"There are many people who have influenced my career path, and a few really stand out. In the very beginning when I started as a student nurse in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at St. Luke’s, my assigned preceptor was Nancy Dole, who is a phenomenal woman.

Realizing we may not have a large opportunity for me to experience everything I wanted to with the limited number of patients we had at the time, she encouraged me by saying, ‘It would be good for you to be open and willing to care for critically ill children as well as adults. You will get so much more experience during this externship if you are open to every potential learning opportunity and experience that comes your way.’

She is a remarkable person. Between the quality of care she rendered to patients and the open-mindedness she has towards quality and care delivery, the way she works is admirable. Many people were either adult nurses or pediatric nurses. Nancy showed me that some had the ability to do both. She taught me to be open because, at the core, you were providing the same kind of dedicated care, compassion, and technical skill catered to a particular patient population. Broadly, this type of thinking and the ability to be able to be open minded towards all opportunities for education, learning and growing your practice has stayed with me throughout my entire career.

I was also extraordinarily blessed to be hired by a manager like Sue Casey. I can't say enough about this woman. She is what good looks like as a leader, as a human, as a nurse, and as a mom. She demonstrated how you can balance everything.

There was just something so special about the culture she cultivated in the Pediatric ICU. In those early years, I was certainly busy as a nurse, as an adjunct faculty for Saginaw Valley State University, and as a graduate student working on a nurse practitioner role. What I didn't know was that Sue had seen some potential in me. She sent me to a quality conference and when I came back, she had me present on a topic I had just learned. I didn't realize that she was constantly assessing my skills and other team members’ skills, quietly cultivating a laundry list of what people in our unit were passionate about, as well as what they were skilled in. If she found opportunities to connect the dots for people, she would.

One of the things I respect the most about Sue Casey is her ability to be appreciative of whatever gifts, skills and talents an individual has. Everyone has them, and she had an extraordinary gift for seeing them and then putting people in places and situations where they could be optimally successful. Not everyone is built the same way, and that is our strength—our diverse talents and skills are better when put together as a collective whole. Personally, now I know that growing and leveraging those diverse talents is something I want to be a hallmark of what I do as I interact with individuals around our current organization.

If you support something that provides fuel for someone's passion, they might see potential that they didn't before and realize that anything is possible. You can learn a lot about people simply by just watching and listening. Sue was a remarkable listener for me during my career, and I hope I have gained some of that skillset from her. To me, that is what good leadership looks like—being a servant leader, a team builder, a listener, and a doer!"

Pictured: (L-R) Sue Casey, Beth Charlton, and Nancy Dole

"Back then, I believed the merger was possible because there were people I respected saying that if St. Luke’s and Saginaw General were to join forces, we could accomplish more. In my role now, I can see that the groundwork laid ahead of the merger and the way it was executed was truly a hallmark performance—the best of the best.

Many mergers and acquisitions fail because organizations don't invest in the right things ahead of time. They don't focus as much on what they should—the people and the culture—but our leaders did. That doesn't mean that it wasn't rocky getting here. Sometimes when you’re in the trenches, it is challenging to see it this way because you are feeling so disrupted by the change around you.

I give Bill Heath, Spence Maidlow, the transition team, and the Board of Directors a lot of credit for having a vision and being bigger picture thinkers when it wasn't as commonplace to do something like that right in your own backyard. It's not easy to inspire thousands of people to move in the same direction, and they did that!

Thinking about the accomplishments Covenant HealthCare has had over the last 25 years, I don't know if all of them would have been remotely possible as two separate entities. As consumers of care in the region, how lucky are we that this approach was the one taken? My children were all born in this institution; parents and family members have had surgery and care provided here. We have specialists that I’m not sure would be here if we had tried to be standalone organizations.

Ahead of the merger, Spence Maidlow invited me to work on an organizational redesign project, which gave me the bug for influencing care delivery in a way that is different from direct, hands-on care with patients and families. I already had that fire. Then, seeing that it was possible to take two competing organizations and create something even better, and to see leaders hold themselves accountable and repeatedly deliver on what they said they would do—what a great lesson early on in my career.

I have true appreciation for being able to be a part of Covenant HealthCare and its history. I am extraordinarily privileged to work amongst this team.

Healthcare is fast-paced and constantly changing, so when I am asked what Covenant will look like in 25 more years, there is one very clear answer: we will remain deeply committed to our culture and delivering on the promise of providing extraordinary care for our community. I believe that premise will stand the test of time."

—Beth Charlton, BSN-RN, MSA, President/CEO, Covenant HealthCare
(Former Student Nurse, St. Luke’s Hospital)

Pictured: Beth Charlton, BSN-RN, MSA, President/CEO, Covenant HealthCare