Legacy Award: Monte Coffman

Monte Coffman is from Coffeyville, Kansas, which is about as far south as you could get in Kansas without being in Oklahoma. And he was selected by the governor to represent the second Congressional District on our board. I am the first Congressional District. We are the only two that have any rural areas. It's really important to have representation from the outlying congressional districts, so that the board and the organization can understand the divergent needs across Kansas, and having those voices at the table is helpful for the health system.

Monte understands the importance of great health care in the rural setting, as well as here in Kansas City. You think about his contributions over a very long period of time. He's chaired the quality committee. He's been there. He's been a steady contributor and a leader in our quality committee and on our board. If there’s, if there's sensitive issues, he's not afraid to deal with those.

He's also ready to sing the praises of quality effort as well. Health care can get pretty anxiety provoking. There's a lot of things that happen, and especially with Monte chairing the quality committee, we have really good things to share and sometimes we had some hard things to share. One of the things that I loved about Monte on the Quality Committee was he could always put things in perspective.

I wanted those responsible for quality performance at the health system to know that the process of oversight was not a gotcha process. We were all invested in in getting better. I will take a quick listen to ya. So having a process where there was tight surveillance and system guardrails was really important for the outcomes that we had for the health system.

Whatever Monte touches, it's better because he was involved. And we're fortunate here at The University of Kansas Health System that he's been a part of our board and the leadership on the board for years. One thing Monte did was push us towards zero harm, which was no harm to the patients by anything we did in the health system when the patient was in house.

And so I think that by him pushing those numbers down and focusing on that, it made a difference. Zero harm is a never ending process. A journey toward perfection. Our patients at the health system have high expectations of us, and we want to deliver the care that they want and need. He would remind us how very unique and very special our teams are.

Sometimes we would feel bad that things weren't exactly as we wanted them to be. And he would say, of course they aren't. You're working to get to zero harm, but be proud of where you are because you're pretty special. Your teams are pretty special. I think the best way to describe Monte is kind of like the E. F. Hutton of the board.

He didn't speak often, he didn't speak loudly. But when he did speak, people listened. He was very consistent, you know where he was coming from. You knew where his heart was. You knew it was all about making sure we were as good as we could be. When he participates, you listen to what he has to say because he's done his homework and he knows what the issues are.

And he has opinions about them. God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listening is an essential skill to be a leader. Listening was essential to make sure that every perspective around the table was heard and considered, so that we could come up with the best solutions possible for the health system. Passion. Commitment. Honesty. Loyalty and just, he's always got the patient, which fits our culture perfectly well, always has the patient-first approach. Monte's leadership has had an impact over the course of many years, and I think that's actually so important. And that's what has made him a Legacy Award recipient at our place. Monte Coffman is one of those people who, in his own quiet and silent way, put an impact on our organization because he believed in us.

He was confident in our performance. He would pick us up sometimes when things were hard, but he always wanted to make sure that the University of Kansas Health System was the best it could possibly be. Monte is such a genuinely nice human being, and he cared about people so much. He cared about our patients so much. He just made people understand how much he cared.

So then we all cared more. I can't think of anyone more deserving of the Legacy award than Monte Coffman. I'm honored to have my name associated with Monte in any effort, and the fact that we're both receiving this recognition at the same time, it makes it a plus for me. When I got the call from Bob letting me know that I was going to be an honoree this year, I was overwhelmed.

I would hope that my legacy as being an honoree was that, in some small way, I took the God given gifts and talents and his grace and use them to make a difference in the lives of other people.