Meridian's diverse IT team comes together as a 'work family'
"We have a wonderfully diverse staff," says Rebecca Weber, senior vice president of information technology at Meridian Health System. "They are truly amazing. All different backgrounds, all different prior experience, but with one overriding desire: to provide the very best services to Monmouth and Ocean Counties."
Meridian, just a stone's throw from the Jersey Shore – "the best shore in the United States!" says Weber – is a fun place to work "because there's so much to do in the community and we're very community oriented," she says.
For example?
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"Our department is one of the largest contributors to the local food bank,” she says. “We do specialty events to raise money to give to the food bank and to other charities. We do bake-offs. Mystery hunts around the office. Walkathons."
One of the biggest team-builders is meals at the health system's data center, where members of its IT team, who hail from different corners of the globe, bring cuisine from their native countries, she says.
"Everyone brings something from a different country. There's so much diversity. We've found that the best way to learn about somebody's culture is to eat it. I've learned that I really like kimchi."
Such social bonding is critical, says Weber. After all, "you spend more time with the people you work with than you do with your family."
And these days in health IT, there's lots of work to do – critically important work, maintaining technology that could mean the difference between life and death. That said, it's important to find time to enjoy each other's company between the rigors of working toward meaningful use and ensuring data center uptime.
"You absolutely have to keep a balance, it's very important," says Weber. "We try to become a 'work family' and have fun together. Everyone cares about one another, and I think it makes a big difference."
That sense of camaraderie was put to the test in the fall of 2012, as Hurricane Sandy descended on New Jersey, destroying countless homes and throwing the region into chaos.
"We ran our corporate command center out of the data center building," says Weber. "Our CEO was here, I was here, and a number of staff. We did not lose any data and we were not down at all. We were stuck here and didn't get out for four days.
"Much of our community was devastated," she says. "People that were in here lost their homes. Many of us had severe damage to our homes. One of the first things we did was find out who, internally, was homeless. People would have people stay with them until they could get things worked out. People were bringing in clothes, anything they had to get people going for a while."
Those were difficult days, says Weber. "But in those types of times, people are amazing. Throughout the health system, the outpouring to the community and to each other was absolutely amazing."
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