Angel Kids Pediatrics (Angel Kids), a medical and behavioral health practice with multiple locations in Jacksonville, Amelia Island and St. Johns, Florida, now has two lead employees certified in quality improvement thanks to the CareerSource NEFL Customized Training (CT) Program.
Founded in 2003 by Ashraf Affan, MD, Angel Kids Pediatrics calls itself the largest private pediatric practice in Northeast Florida, with nine locations throughout the area. With more than 30 providers and 150 employees from nine countries who speak 12 languages, Angel Kids delivers care for nearly 30,000 patients from newborn to age 18.
Their pediatric specialists offer treatments for asthma, allergies, developmental disorders, anxiety, depression, autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other common mental health challenges, while pediatricians provide comprehensive newborn care, sick visits, therapy, as well as prenatal meet and greet visits and breastfeeding consultations.
Specifically, Angel Kids used CT funding to send two employees, Holly Jones and Bushra Syed, through the Lean Six Sigma (SSGI) certification program. The program trains employees to improve business operations by focusing on speed and waste reduction, combined with Six Sigma methods that focus on quality and defect reduction.
According to Angel Kids Chief Quality and Compliance Officer Juliet Rosas, who oversaw the training project, the SSGI certificate program significantly elevated employees’ critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities.
“They both had bachelor’s degrees in public health, and were involved in process improvement before the training, but their project input was minimal,” she said. “But after completing the training and certification, they began deeply probing for solutions and effectively scrutinizing work throughout our system.”
The training enabled one employee, Bushra Syed, to transition from project coordinator to quality improvement (QI) specialist, while the other, Holly Jones, advanced to Lead QI Specialist – with Jones now supervising a team of five.
They are now using their enhanced skills to influence problem-solving practices across all Angel Kids locations.
“Their ability to probe for solutions and solve problems changed completely,” Rosas said. “Before, you might receive one or two sentences out of an assessment, but now Holly is very scrutinizing of the work we do.”
Angel Kids Chief Operations Officer Ron Gobble, who had connected with CareerSource NEFL earlier and was familiar with the CT program, suggested Rosas contact the organization to get the process started.
“Juliet actually supervises the two employees who went through the program, and she was instrumental in guiding them through it,” he said.
Gobble says the financial and administrative assistance from CareerSource NEFL enabled Angel Kids to accelerate their staff development initiative.
“Without customized training funding, implementing this training would likely have taken an additional year,” Gobble said.
Both Rosas and Gobble said they received “exceptional support” from CareerSource NEFL Healthcare Industry Manager Carol Cullen who patiently guided them through the application process.
“Carol broke down every single process on how to apply for it,” he said. “She was really great at guiding us. It was very altruistic of her because she didn’t really have to.”
Rosas added that by going through the training, the practice has also stabilized its QI department – allowing them to replicate talent and build a robust team within two months.
Gobble said they hope to use the CT program again.
“We actually talk about it in the transformation meetings we have every week,” he said. “I expect we’ll identify other employees through the organization that might benefit from this program.”