Just Stopping By... with snacks!

Thursday, something pretty simple happened at the hospital… and it made me smile all day.

A snack cart made its way around the hospital manned by your executive team.

No agenda. No “big announcement.” No long conversations pulled away from patient care. Just a quick hello, a snack (or a stress ball), and a sincere thank you from your executive team to you.

And I want to explain why that matters.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about “seeing what we see” — moving our senior team huddle board out where it’s visible, because trust grows when our actions are in plain view.

Snack cart rounding is the same idea, just in a different form: showing up consistently and intentionally, in the real work, with appreciation – not only when something is broken.

Why a snack cart?

Because sometimes the most meaningful leadership touchpoint is also the simplest one.

You don’t always need an hour-long meeting to feel seen. Sometimes you just need a leader to stop, look you in the eye, and say:  

“Thank you for what you’re doing.”

“How’s it going today?”  

Maya Angelou famously said, “People will forget what you said… but people will never forget how you made them feel.” That’s what this is about.

How this will work going forward

Snack cart rounding will happen on a rotating basis, with different executives at different times so we can reach team members who don’t always get traditional visibility. Our goal is to keep this simple, consistent, and respectful of the flow of patient care—a brief touchpoint of appreciation, not a disruption.

We plan to do this roughly once a month, and it will evolve as we learn what works. It’s very much a work in progress, and right now, it’s focused on the hospital, where so many of our teams rarely get a moment of pause during their busy shift. For the rest of the health system, we’re actively exploring other ways of “showing up.”

And it’s part of something bigger

Snack cart rounding is one small expression of a larger commitment we’re making as a leadership team. You’ll also see more executive rounding, shadowing, and intentional presence connected to our Lean Management System work (more to come on our LMS overhaul soon!). These efforts all support the same goal: living up to  our 2026 leadership pledge.

It’s important to me, and to this entire executive team, that we bring those words to life. My hope is that you’ll see through our actions that we meant what we said—we want to be closer to the work, understand challenges firsthand, and model approachability & transparency.

So, when you see the snack cart coming through, say hi (even if it’s just a quick wave) and grab a snack. If there’s anything else you want to share while we’re there, we’ll always be happy to listen.  

See you out there!

Employee Spotlight

George Robinson

Referral Coordinator Lead

Gilchrist

How long have you been at GBMC HealthCare?

14 years

What is one key way you support a zero harm/safety culture?

Even though I am not clinical in my role, it's paramount that we do the best we can in getting care to our families and patients as quickly as possible. We strive to make that happen within 24 hours so that the patient has access to comfort care.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

The saying began some time ago that we should provide the care for patients as we would want the care provided to our own loved ones. To this day that never leaves my mind. I have not yet had a mom or dad or son need hospice, but when that time does come, I have been given the opportunity to be prepared, and my mind is at ease knowing that Gilchrist will assist with this. No other career has made me more humble and grateful to be helping people alongside such great clinicians and leaders.

What's one unique thing we'd be surprised to learn about you?

I love kayaking!