By NINA TALLEY,
Assist. Director, Health Innovators Community
Health Innovators' Resident Healthcare Executive, Beth Rudloff, has the unique experience of being both a cancer survivor, and a cancer center administrator. Beth spent nearly 30 years as an administrator at Orlando Health, before ending her time with the company after a 4-year stint as the COO for the UF Health Cancer Center Orlando Health. After receiving her cancer diagnosis in the summer of 2013, just months after receiving a normal mammogram, she continued her work as COO, utilizing her experience as a patient at the Cancer Center to fuel ideas for process innovation.
"One of the things that's important to me - I was treated phenomenally well during my treatment - is that everyone gets that level of treatment. A lot of what I do now is work with the team to talk about how we can make this an even better experience for the patient. The hardest time is when you think you have cancer but you don't know what the treatment is going to be. We have really tried to shorten that time frame tremendously," Beth said in an interview last year with Orange Appeal, a digital publication.
Because of her new perspective as a patient, Beth worked hard to implement a faster appointment turnaround policy. You can now get a next day appointment for an exam at the UF Health Cancer Center Orlando Health, instead of waiting days.
Although Beth persevered and worked through her cancer diagnosis to survivorship, shenow finds herself faced with chronic fatigue, a side effect of her treatment. Reluctantly, Beth stepped down from her position at Orlando Health in early 2016.
"Due to my debilitating fatigue after (my) breast cancer treatment, that phase of my life is over. I can no longer run cancer center operations, participate as an executive in a large healthcare organization, stay late to greet the night shift and come in early to strategize with the oncologists. Although I battle with my energy level and get frustrated with what I can and can't accomplish in a day, I am beginning to accept where I am. I am free from cancer, which is truly a blessing and that blessing was given to me by the team I worked beside for years. And because of this gift, I have also been given the opportunity to look at my career - and my life - differently. So forever the innovator, I am in the process of innovating my own career."
Beth joined the Health Innovators team about 5 months ago, providing quality healthcare innovation content published through our blog, and guidance to our community on service line integration inside of hospital systems. Make sure to check outmore of Beth's story and insights at www.beatrixhealthcare.com, or at our blog at healthinnovators.info
