3- FOXcast OT: Jen Basile On Workplace Culture

Jimmy: Welcome to FOXcast OT, a podcast for clinicians made by clinicians. It’s brought to you by FOX Rehabilitation. Find out more at foxrehab.org.

And welcome to FOXcast we are talking today with another FOX colleague Jen Basile. Welcome to the show.

Jen: Thank you so much. I’m happy to be here.

Jimmy: We want people to know that you can check out past episodes of FOXcast on foxrehab.org and if you have any suggestions if you have some topics that you think we should cover you can drop us an email. It is foxcast@foxrehab.org.

I’m excited to bring on the show because I think you epitomize a lot of the different things that FOX does when compared to other practices. What’s your role right now?

Jen: First off and most importantly, I’m an occupational therapist and I am a regional director for the PA South 2 team.

Jimmy: Working in Pennsylvania, but you’ve also held roles at FOX that are a little bit different like, I don’t know, director of morale.

Jen: I was. I was!

Jimmy: What does that mean?

Jen: Director of staff morale: This was this was a number of years ago when we a bit smaller. The whole piece is about the culture, and it’s something that I felt was very important. I feel it’s something that comes naturally to me.

It’s important to have people who believe in what they’re doing but also to make them feel appreciated. You know, we ask a lot of our FOX clinicians. They work hard. They’re dedicated. But I feel sometimes they need to know that more, that we do appreciate their hard work.

They called me up and said you know would you like to start this role? And I was like absolutely.

Jimmy: Describe a day in the life of the director of morale at a physical, occupational, and speech-language pathology practice.

Jen: Well, the role I actually included a regular day of being a staff clinician and on the other hand of what I was doing was seeing what can we do to bring teams together. What can we do to align the teams where a lot of people would always come out for certain events?

But then, you had people who you just weren’t connecting with. So we were like, “What can we do to hit everybody?”

So, we would do different team activities.

Jimmy: Can you just give me a favorite?

Jen: Ohhh, mine was to celebrate PT month. We went to sky zone.

Jimmy: Sky zone? What is that?

Jen: So it’s where you kind of simulate skydive and it was super fun. And you know you had people who were kind of terrified to do it and there’s the rest of the team cheering everybody on saying, “Come on we’re all doing it. Let’s get out of your comfort zone.”

And so, it was turned into a team building event a team appreciation.

Jimmy: Where were you on the spectrum of scared to do it and yeah let’s get the jumpsuit on?

Jen: Probably like a six. I was excited but I saw everybody else doing it, so yeah.

Jimmy: Why is culture important at a practice like this? Why is culture important for any business?

Jen: Culture is so important because it gives everybody something to feel connected to.

Anybody can do their job. You get the certifications. You get the degrees, but you don’t want it to become just a job.

Every time I walk into FOX headquarters, I am rejuvenated. You know, it’s like the FOX juice. You get that injection, and it’s so true. Everybody is so passionate about what they do. They want to get FOX’s name out because we’re proud of what we do.

We’re proud of our teams. We’re proud of the people going to do their postgraduate and different certifications. And I think the culture, it kind of pushes those people that maybe just were used to doing their job, pushing them out of that comfort zone and allows them to be a little more than they thought they could be.

Jimmy: We wanna make sure that the people that you’re working with appreciate what you do.

Jen: Absolutely. We say at FOX happy, well-trained clinicians are what makes this company.

So if we have clinicians who aren’t feeling appreciated, possibly feel that they’re not getting the support that they need, are we doing our jobs?

And, I believe that culture pushes the top leadership to always achieve more. So if we want to continue to grow, we need to support we need to have that culture. We need to be different than our competitors and we truly are.

Jimmy: What’s your favorite memory since you’ve been at FOX with a client? What do you have for me?

Jen: I had this woman that I evaluated. She was young. She had had a stroke.

She was in a senior living community. She had upper extremity weakness. She could not go back home until she was independent.

Not only were we working on the physical components, but there was an emotional component that this happened to me. So as I got to know her, I got to meet her family and her daughter, and her daughter comes to me and says, “I don’t know if my mom told you what her main goal is.”

And, I looked at her and I said, “If you’re alluding to the fact that she wants hold her grandchild. Yes. It was the first thing she told me.”

And, the woman’s eyes welled up because she was obviously pregnant. It was the client’s first grandchild. So, we literally worked in so many different functional ways to increase her upper extremity strength to make her safe.

And, I discharged her one month before her granddaughter was born and I was still obviously working in the senior living community. Her daughter brought the baby in, and I literally couldn’t not stop crying because she was sitting in her room and they were like, “Jen, you need to go and you need to see.” She was moving out that week, but I opened the door and she is holding her granddaughter with the biggest smile. And I was like: “That is why I do what I do.”

Jimmy: Wow.

Jen: It was amazing.

Jimmy: That’s great. What should someone who doesn’t work for FOX know about this group of PTs, OTs, and SLPs?

Jen: You’re going to come in and absolutely feel that you are important, that you are supported, that you have the autonomy  to treat as you feel that client needs. You are not structured under parameters. Your clinical judgment is trusted respected and valued.

Jimmy: Alright, Jen Basile, last question I will ask: You have to sum up FOX rehabilitation in one word, what’s the word?

Jen: Inspiring.

Jimmy: I like it. Jen Basile, occupational therapist. I appreciate your time for coming on FOXcast.

Jen: My pleasure.

Jimmy: Thanks for listening to FOXcast OT, a clinically excellent podcast. It’s brought to you by FOX Rehabilitation. Listen to other episodes or read articles and position papers at fox rehab.org.