Do you engage your customers in your community involvement?
We have a wide range of stakeholders that includes the State, our providers, our members, the communities we serve and more. Many times we partner with one of our providers to conduct health screenings at events we sponsor or attend. In other opportunities, we support community efforts that further state initiatives like curbing the opioid epidemic. With everything we do, our members are the focus, and, because we are part of the community, we hear from members and neighbors about what their needs are. This is what drives our community efforts — to help form partnerships that build healthy, strong, vibrant and safe communities.
What drives your passion?
Day in and day out, I am fortunate to witness all the best things our world, state and community have to offer. I get to see the bright smile on a little boy’s face when he sees Deputy Leo come to visit. I get to see an elderly person stay in her home because of gracious volunteers who brought the electric to code, when she was expecting her house to be condemned. And I get to see the gratitude of a parent who is struggling with a sick child, but has a warm bed and hot meal at the Ronald McDonald House to come home to. Best of all, I get to witness firsthand the transformation of the health of our community, one person at a time.
How do you determine the causes AzCH supports?
Our philanthropic activities are centered on social determinants of health, those things that impact our health but take place outside the clinical setting. These factors may include things like housing, employment, access to healthy foods and safe neighborhoods. Our investment may be philanthropic in nature, but many times, it goes beyond a monetary investment and focuses on volunteer efforts, network connections, board advocacy and more. Additionally, our teams are comprised of members of the local community who all have a voice in the process. We take immense pride in meeting with each organization we support, hearing their mission, vision and outcome goals, and try to best align ourselves and our goals with the goals of the organization. From there, we have a cross-functional committee that reviews all requests and makes a determination of which and how we support organizations.
How do you encourage your employees to become community leaders and agents of change?
Our mission of transforming the health of the communities we serve draws a certain type of individual to work here. Our team is a reflection of the communities we serve, so our employees take great pride in going above and beyond their day-to-day duties. We have an Employee Council that ensures the voice of our employees is heard, and we have a Fun Committee that channels employee engagement out into the community through volunteer opportunities. And, through my own work, I am able to share the many different initiatives in which we are engaged where employees can actively take part. Some employees choose to donate weekly to a campaign via payroll deduction. Others prefer to volunteer their time, like cooking a meal for families at the Ronald McDonald House Charities or volunteering at St. Mary’s Food Bank. Our employees are empowered to choose how and where to give what they can, when they can. As we do with our members, we meet our employees where they are and support the many different ways they choose to give.
Michael B. Cyrino is the community relations representative with Arizona Complete Health.
