FBLA Members Partner with Hospital

By Cloe Kilwein

FBLA Partner

Left to right: Nathan Weaver, Cloe Kilwein, Gwen Kristy, Jim Long, Dr. Houle, and Barbara West.

Three of Hettinger’s FBLA Chapter members chose to take on a challenging project for this year’s Spring Leadership Conference which took place on March 27-29 in Fargo, ND. Gwen Kristy, Cloe Kilwein, and Nathan Weaver attended the National Leadership conference in Anaheim, CA during the 2009 summer. While there, they watched teams compete in the Partnership with Business Project. “I really don’t know how we ended up watching that specific competition. We just kind of ended up in that room. But we were immediately inspired. We are all good speakers, and we knew it was a project we could definitely succeed at,” stated Project Chairperson, Cloe Kilwein.

The first step of the project was to select a business to partner with. The chairpersons immediately thought the hospital would be the greatest choice. WRHS is one of the town’s most honorable establishments, and employs more people in Hettinger than any other business by far. The chairpersons arranged a meeting with CEO, Mr. Jim Long, to discuss the project and gain permission to involve the hospital. Permission was granted, and the chairpersons worked with Mr. Long and Public Relations Officer, Ms. Cindy Ham to establish three phases for the project which was named, Professional Partners Program.

The first phase was to create a brochure with a brief history of the hospital and a simple map of the new addition. The goal of this phase was to help the hospital create a more “patient-friendly” atmosphere by providing a map that would ease confusion of how to get from place to place in the new facility. The second phase was to organize a mass assembly to improve communication between the hospital and community members. The assembly involved three speakers: Jim Long, CEO; Mrs. Barb West, registered nurse and diabetes educator; and Dr. Cathy Houle, Family Practice and OB. The three spoke about their education and daily lives as professionals. Hettinger Public School’s entire student body grades 7-12 attended the assembly. Community members and school staff took part as well. The final phase of the project was to establish a job shadowing program with the goal of allowing FBLA chapter members to gain firsthand knowledge. Students shadowed a variety of jobs from environmental service workers to nurses and doctors. This last phase really tied the entire project together.

The Partnership with Business Project had two requirements: a lengthy, written report of the project that must be mailed prior to competition, and an oral presentation which is given during the State Leadership Conference. “We knew that meeting these requirements would not be easy. But we also knew that Hettinger FBLA could handle the challenge,” stated Chairperson Gwen Kristy. Kilwein, Kristy, and Weaver worked diligently to complete the

06/28/2010