An Interview with Healthcare Hero, Winnie Fritz
“Go where there is no path, and leave a trail.”
Recently, we sat down with a close friend Winnie Fritz, who is also a greatly-respected colleague within the healthcare industry. We asked about her day-to-day, as well as what she finds challenging and compelling about healthcare.
What is your role in the healthcare industry, and how’d you get started?
I guess I would describe myself as a healthcare professional who’s had the honor of filling clinical, educational, and leadership roles in our military, non-profit, and for-profit health systems… who has done so in the U.S. and around the world. Clearly, becoming an Army Nurse was the powerful launch to my career.
Not only that, but the University of Missouri (where I received my initial degree, a Bachelors of Science in Nursing) honed my critical-thinking skills so I wasn’t intimidated by new challenges.
Currently I’m working on international healthcare projects in the Middle East, Africa, and UK — assessing and developing competencies; helping teams create or enhance the environments where they provide healthcare. “Environments” includes actual facilities (like hospitals and clinics), as well as the management and operations of these facilities.
What’s the most rewarding part of what you do?
Watching “the light bulbs come on” — when competencies are enhanced, when complicated situations are made simpler, when chaos becomes organized. When safe, effective, low-cost care is provided.
What’s the most challenging?
Working through teams who suffer from “stuckness”; “we’ve always done it this way” or “our system will never allow that.”
As a healthcare system, we’ve got to focus upon the Quadruple Aim: Better care, Better health outcomes, Lower costs, and Engaged patients & care providers.
What’s the driving force that gets you up in the morning?
From my roots on Fritz Farms in Illinois, my parents sent me off to Missouri (MIZZOU) with this message: “Go where there is no path, and leave a trail.” Without trying to be dramatic, I simply have to know when I die that I made a difference for my time on earth.
If you were to ask a close friend, how would they describe you?
I think they’d say passionate, high energy, persistent, very organized, and present. I think they’d say I focus on teamwork and collaboration.
Once, in the St. Louis market (home of Budweiser), I was in a director position at a prominent hospital. Another director colleague was saying, “ I’m going to recruit all the quarterhorses in the market to be on my team.” My response, “Please proceed. I don’t care about having a team of quarterhorses who need special food, who run around a track in circles, who often break a leg and have to be put down. They have to be whipped over the finish line, and only one wins.”
“I want a team of strong, beautiful Clydesdales who get up every morning, put on the harness with the team, and together, pull the wagon forward.”
What is your greatest achievement? Why?
I can think of two chapters in my life where I was honored to work with highly effective teams — and we worked together to achieve.
1) When in Vietnam. Since that time, I’ve given equally great care, but never better than when we provided as a team there…learning, innovating, and supporting one other.
2) Living and working in Jordan. Since 1972, Jordan and its healthcare system have been an important part of my life. (I still have a home and am there every year.)
What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind for your family and friends?
I guess in the end, I would want those around me to note: She tried; she sometimes failed, but she got up and tried again.
On my computer I see this message as I begin each day:
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” John Wesley.
How would you describe a real-life hero?
One who keeps on trying; one whose actions speak louder than his or her words.
Winnie is currently the COO/Sr. VP of Operations & Clinical Services for HCCA Management (Intl) in Nashville, TN., which provides organizational assessment and development for international hospitals and health systems. She works to develop health professionals’ competencies and create and manage care organizations.
In the past, she’s served as Chief Clinical Officer, Chief Nurse & CEO of a hospital, and has worked internationally, including 17 years in Jordan. While there, Winnie served in research, education, and management roles, and received the Medal of Honor from King Hussein. During her time in the U.S. army, she served in leadership assignments in the US, Thailand, and Vietnam, where she received several commendations, including the Bronze Star.
Winnie has a legacy of working in diverse organizations around the world (across the continuum of care) where she is known to: clarify complexities, develop staff talent, create new care delivery models, and improve the way healthcare is provided — all while reducing harm and improving clinical & financial satisfaction.
