January 2017, Stanford ValleyCare

Jeanette Conley says, “It’s is an amazing feeling to know that you are valued and considered as a member of the team.” After just 15 months as administrative associate for the hospitalist group at ValleyCare, Jeanette’s colleagues nominated her for Employee of the Month.

Dean Winslow calls Jeanette an “outstanding employee” and notes that although she was new to Stanford last year, she “quickly became integrated into the Stanford GMD team and larger SoM organization. She has provided outstanding support to our hospitalists and other SOM faculty working at Stanford ValleyCare.”

Daily dedication

Jeanette assists with onboarding and credentialing of new hospitalists and manages resident/PA/student rotations (including housing). She also schedules meetings for the team (and for David Svec) and facilitates streaming of Grand Rounds. It means that the hospitalist group is extremely reliant on her.

Wiehan Chu agrees. “We could not function without her daily dedication,” he says. “She consistently goes above and beyond to ensure the hospitalist division at ValleyCare operates smoothly.” In addition, he says, she “helps with planning for the constant changes and expansion of our team.” He notes that much of this has been taking place during the founding years of the program.

David Svec credits her with providing much needed structure in the new environment/setting. He says, “Jeanette greatly assisted in the creation of the Stanford ValleyCare Hospitalist team.  She was the first Stanford SOM employee to go to Stanford ValleyCare, and she did an amazing job understanding the new setting and meeting all of the new people at ValleyCare.  She assisted with the starting of the team (hiring, faculty affairs, billing set-up, etc.), the educational programs (PA rotation/resident rotation) and many others.  The team would not have been successful without her help.”

Shared mission

Thomas Lew says, “Jeanette is the glue that has held the rapidly expanding ValleyCare hospitalist group together! She is always keeping the group organized and is passionate in expanding the footprint of both the hospitalist group and Stanford, overall, throughout the Bay.”

Minh-Chi Tran also sees Jeanette’s work as central to work and mission of Stanford. He says, “Jeanette is the biggest asset to our ValleyCare hospitalist group. She keeps our cogs and wheels turning… whether it is supporting our office renovation, helping arrange our student and resident rotations or always ensuring our paperwork is getting processed. I love that she takes an interest in all our activities and shares our mission of providing quality health care and medical education. She not only works on keeping us functioning but also adds to our core mission as a Stanford medical group.”

Team player

In addition to dedication and vision, Jeanette also contributes to the ValleyCare “team spirit” in other ways. Svec says, “She is always optimistic and professional.  An amazing team member!” Lew says she’s “extremely responsive and pleasant to work with,” and Winslow calls her a “great team player [who] always has a smile for everyone who comes into her office.”

It’s an office Jeanette may not have found if it weren’t for a 2014 layoff from a prior position in the insurance industry, where she’d worked since arriving to California from the East Coast in 2005. After the layoff, she began working on temporary assignments, which is how she arrived at Stanford’s ValleyCare program. She was offered the permanent position in October 2015, which she says “was a great opportunity to return to the healthcare industry and work in an amazing institution!”

Jeanette appreciates the chances for growth available to Stanford employees both professionally and personally.  Specifically, she says the “amazing benefits include BeWell, HIP, commuter programs, continued education and work/life balance.” Thanks to that balance, she says, she gets to “enjoy picnics with the family, going to the movies, cooking, dancing and spending time at the beach”… though she says she wishes it were warm year-round!