As Bayada Nurses approached its 30th anniversary, Jan. 17 this year, company president and founder Mark Baiada, MBA, had an epiphany. "I realized that our company needed a clearer expression of what is most important about the work we do and the way we should work, in spirit and in action. I felt our values, when more clearly expressed, would provide us with a powerful shared understanding and commitment to guide our daily work."

Bayada Nurses, a JCAHO-accredited home health agency, provides skilled, rehabilitative, therapeutic and personal home health services to children, adults and seniors nationwide. The agency is committed to helping people have a safe home life with comfort, independence and dignity. In order to achieve that goal, Baiada realized, staff across the country must share a common vision.

"I want to go to each office and meet everyone in person," said Baiada. "When it was just me and a few others, I could do that more readily. As our group gets larger, I've found that I have to articulate our missions, values and beliefs even more clearly so that we can share between ourselves and attract others who think the same way."

That is no small task if you realize that Bayada Nurses has 124 offices in 87 cities and 15 states.

The Bayada Way Campaign

Baiada asked Al Freedman, PhD, the parent of a Bayada Nurses client, to work with him to identify core values for the company. Through a 3-year process of interviews, focus groups, surveys and retreats with clients and employees, three values were chosen to reflect The Bayada Way: compassion, excellence and reliability.

Baiada began to introduce The Bayada Way in employee newsletters, at annual meetings and in training programs, but was concerned these forums lacked the personal touch he had found so effective in the early days of the company.

"Now, it's time to take our message on the road, to go to the field offices and share The Bayada Way," Baiada enthused. From mid-September to spring 2006, he and his wife, Ann, RN, CRRN, director of rehabilitation for the company, begin travel on the Bayada bus, a specially-wrapped 38-foot RV, to each company location.

Baiada's message will be simple and straightforward: "The Bayada Way is the light that shines within each one of us - the spirit that connects us to each other. This spirit brings meaning to our lives and to our work, and brings us together for the higher purpose of providing support and care to people in need."

Compassion, Excellence, Reliability

Baiada is enthusiastic when speaking of the core values that personify The Bayada Way. "I'll talk personally about what we expect, and what everyone in the company needs to do if we are going to have integrity. I'll greet everyone, give a short talk and then show the videotape of client and employee testimony about The Bayada Way."

Reliability is a value that's particular to home care, and it comes into play when a client is depending on Bayada Nurses to cover a shift. "I want everyone, from the director to the administrative personnel, to chip in to meet the needs of the client. A caring spirit only counts if we deliver," Baiada emphasized.

Excellence comes about when employees hold themselves to the highest standards, whether their responsibilities are clinical, administrative or support related, said Baiada. "For a member of the administrative staff, excellence includes doing the job really well and returning phone calls promptly. A nursing supervisor must establish the rapport to monitor and support the nurses in the field. A staffing coordinator needs to be readily available to clients and to staff, and the director of each agency needs to be setting goals and chipping in when necessary to meet client needs."

Within The Bayada Way, compassion is reflected in the empathy, respect and kindness that employees show not only to clients, but to each other. "This is very important to me - I believe this is at the heart of home care," Baiada said with feeling.

Even before his personal visit to the field offices, Baiada has seen significant results from The Bayada Way. "We do a quarterly survey, and 25 percent of our employees are writing in the comments section that they're proud of being part of something good where the work they do is important."

A Vision for the Future

Baiada sees nothing extraordinary about his plan to spend 7-8 months traveling around the country. It is, he pointed out, the most effective way to instill The Bayada Way among his 10,000 employees nationwide. "With a strong commitment from each of us, Bayada Nurses will make it possible for millions of people worldwide to experience a better quality of life in the comfort of their own homes. We want to build and maintain a lasting legacy as the world's most compassionate and trusted team of home health professionals."

Sandy Keefe is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to ADVANCE.