Jeremy Meredith is the face of daily operations at the Preble County Health Center, and the behind-the-scenes spearhead making sure everything is running smoothly and efficiently. Unlike many exemplary health care workers, Jeremy’s success is not the result of years of experience, but rather, the dedication he has to his calling. Coming from being a manager at General Motors to a nurse with Kettering Health Network, Jeremy’s background is unique, but he has continued to grow in his role as manager of clinical nursing and has proven himself a committed, involved, and strong leader.
Leadership can manifest in tangible roles with a clear goal, but it can also look like quietly keeping things running to ensure the success of everyone else. Jeremy embodies both of these types of leadership. He is a nurse leadership mentor, where he works to guide nurse fellows and help them to become leaders in the organization. He has ensured the health center received the Guardian of Excellence Award, indicating the maintenance of patient satisfaction scores higher than 90 percent. Jeremy also handles all staffing, including training new staff, for the Emergency Department. He stands out as an impressive leader to his employees in the way that he meets with them individually throughout the year to ask how they’re doing and if they’ve noticed any departmental issues. By doing so, Jeremy makes sure his staff’s needs are assessed regularly, proactively working to address any problems instead of waiting for their annual reviews and only having the opportunity to learn about his department on a yearly basis.
Jeremy is considered “on-call” for the Emergency Department at Preble pretty much 24/7, so he is the first to address any issues that arise as soon as they occur. In addition, he will elect to come in and offer his assistance on his days off even outside of those emergent call situations. Jeremy’s passion for his facility and what he does is evident in his constant presence. Outside of offering extra time to his regular work tasks, Jeremy volunteers for many of Preble’s community and staff events, including the Egg Drop, Lunch ‘n Learns, business expos, emergency drills, Boom N Blast, the facility’s ribbon cutting and building dedication, and active shooter drills. Beyond making certain that patient care is high quality, it is extremely important to Jeremy that the community and his co-workers have all the education they need, so he puts in the extra work to make sure that happens.
Jeremy has worked to create a collaboration within his team to ensure they feel they are an important part of the greater mission. In 2017, his staff engagement rate was 63.2 percent, indicating to Jeremy that there was room for improvement. With only two years of experience, Jeremy pushed to create a system of support among his team, emphasizing that they are a family. He makes himself available, and naturally, his personality reassures others that they can always confide in him about anything and he will work with them to create solutions. In 2018, he raised his staff’s engagement score to 90 percent, with none of his staff self-reporting as being disengaged or ambivalent. It was through Jeremy’s resolve and God-centered approach that he brought a team together to increase their effectiveness and relationships with each other. In that way, Jeremy has the kind of collaborative spirit that is an integral part of being a leader at Kettering Health Network.
In the midst of all he does for the health center, Jeremy somehow finds the time to be extensively involved in offering safety resources to his community. He is a full board member of the Preble County Economic Development Partnership and a member of the Preble County Rotary where he works to make activities such as after proms safe for the community. He is on the planning committee for the health department and participated in the stakeholder meeting and future planning events for the YMCA. Jeremy also volunteers his time to offer high school physicals, execute mock accident drills for Eaton High School, and do whatever is needed for various health and career fairs. He is a sponsoring member of the city of Eaton’s Trick or Treat Night put on by firefighters, EMS workers, and police officers. Wherever Jeremy can be of service, he dedicates his time and resources to do so, as his passion for serving others is the driving force behind all of his involvements.
