In this episode of the Healthcare Plus Podcast, host Dan Collard sits down with Colleen Swick, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care continuum at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System in Mattoon, Illinois. Their discussion centered on what nearly two decades of sustained cultural excellence looks like and how to protect it through growth.

Sarah Bush Lincoln began its culture journey in 2007. They branded the work “Excellence as a Way of Life,” a name chosen deliberately to signal that this was not a consulting engagement with an expiration date. It stuck. Nearly 20 years later, the organization has grown from a three-county to a ten-county service area and from 1,500 to 3,600 employees, with a broad ambulatory and outpatient footprint across South Central Illinois.

But growth dilutes culture. When Sarah Bush Lincoln looked around and realized only 300 of its employees had been there for the original launch, they made a decision: bring everyone back into the room, all 3,600 of them, to reset the foundation and rewire what needed rewiring.

Listeners will learn:

· How Sarah Bush Lincoln branded its culture work to signal permanence, not a flavor-of-the-month

· Why a pre-employment commitment statement became a cornerstone of hiring and accountability

· How to recognize culture dilution and know when it’s time to refresh

· Why bringing all 3,600 employees into the same message mattered (and what that commitment signaled to the team)

· How a strong culture drove physician recruitment and service line growth in a rural market

· How outside coaching helped a high-performing organization see what its own leaders had stopped noticing

This is a conversation for any healthcare leader who wants to build something that lasts and keep it strong even as the organization around it grows and changes.