TriHealth named a 2012 Working Mother 100 Best Company

Working Mother Magazine has selected TriHealth for the eighth time as one of the 100 Best Companies with family-friendly benefits. This year we ranked 11 on the list out of hundreds of companies nationally who participated in the survey.

“This award carries significant prestige and to be honored for an eighth time is definitely a wonderful achievement,” said TriHealth President and CEO John Prout. “I continue to be proud of the national stature that this award gives TriHealth, but even more pleased that together, we continue to earn it. Congratulations to all team members for making TriHealth a “Best Company for Working Mothers” once again.”

Companies were selected for the 2012 Working Mother 100 Best Companies list based on an extensive application with more than 600 questions on a survey of benefits, women’s issues and advancement, childcare, flexible work arrangements, parental leave and company culture, both in terms of access and usage company-wide.  

According to Working Mother’s scorecard, TriHealth’s highest scores were for:

• Programs offered for women’s issues and advancement
• Work/Life programs
• Company Culture
• Benefits

Honored companies will be recognized in the October/November issue of the magazine, on workingmother.com and will be honored at the Work Life Congress in New York City on Oct. 8. At this event, Suzy Hummel, Operations Supervisor, Preventive Health Systems, in TriHealth Corporate Health, will be honored as TriHealth’s 2012 Working Mother of the Year.

Suzy Hummel, Working Mother of the Year

Although her “official” job designation may be that of Supervisor for the Preventive Health Systems division of TriHealth Corporate Health, Suzy Hummel easily could add mentor, teacher, motivator, and all-around role model to her title. Every day, Suzy makes countless contributions to our organization, her customers, our staff, the community, and, of course, her family. The staff of wellness coordinators who report to Suzy marvel at her seemingly effortless ability to balance her work and home life despite how incredibly busy she is with both. She somehow manages to give the necessary attention to all areas of her life without ever making anyone feel neglected or shortchanged.

Whether it’s to answer a question or to serve as a sounding board for our ideas or concerns, Suzy always makes time for her team. We appreciate her willingness to step into a situation when necessary but also her leadership in allowing us the opportunity to learn on our own. In addition to the work of our division, Suzy commits time to integrating our services with the other areas of the TriHealth system to better serve our customers. She serves on so many teams and committees, it’s difficult to keep track and impossible to list them all!

Suzy works as hard for our community as she does at the office, as evidenced by her commitment to “Building Blocks 4 Kids” (www.bb4k.org), a non-profit organization which she helped to found and currently serves as a board member. The Building Blocks for Kids’ mission is to improve the quality of life for children with health-related needs that are unmet due to a lack of insurance, government funding, and/or family resources. They assist families by finding alternative resources for them and/or providing financial assistance to meet the need. This organization holds a special place in Suzy’s heart as her inspiration to start Building Blocks came through personal tragedy. Suzy and her husband David experienced the loss of their first son, Andrew, shortly after he was born. Andrew inspired her to become personally involved in helping other families who have children with medical issues. What an awesome example of overcoming a personal obstacle by putting her energy into serving others.

Not surprisingly, Suzy has passed this value onto her children. Both of Suzy’s children (Ryan, 11 and Erin, 8) are heavily involved in volunteer work around the city. Suzy once shared a story of how then nine-year-old Ryan took all of his Christmas money and bought personal hygiene items to donate to those less fortunate. You can’t imagine many nine-year-old boys at Christmas volunteering to do that, but we’re convinced he too was inspired by the superb example set by his mom! Suzy and Ryan also helped to form “Kids for a Cause,” a local organization that provides kids with opportunities to become more involved with community service.

Suzy embodies everything that it means to be a working mother, and we all admire her greatly. She sets a perfect example that we only could hope to emulate. Many women both work full time and care for their families, which is not easy. Every working mother truly deserves an award. But there are those few special women who do more and are more than would ever be expected at work, at home and in the community. Suzy Hummel is one of those special people.