Grafton's Unity Medical Center makes Modern Healthcare list of best places to work for second year

Ingrid Harbo, Grand Forks Herald
·2 min read

Jun. 9—GRAFTON, N.D. — For a second year, Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota, has been named on Modern Healthcare's list of Best Places to Work in Healthcare.

The award program "recognizes outstanding employers in the healthcare industry on a national level," according to the Modern Healthcare website. Modern Healthcare is a leading healthcare business and policy news publication. According to its website, the magazine is ranked first in readership among healthcare executives.

Having Unity Medical Center named on the list for a second year in a row was rewarding, CEO Alan O'Neil said.

"It was not only rewarding, but confirming, because there are organizations that make the list one year and then for whatever reason, don't repeat," O'Neil said.

The application process to be on the list includes employer questionnaires and employee surveys. The anonymous employee surveys allow employees to really share how they feel about working at the organization, said O'Neil.

"We have no buffer or filter on what our employees say, so it's kind of like throwing the hood open on a car and checking to see what's going on in the engine, so to speak," O'Neil said.

Mary LaHaise, VP of ancillary services at Unity Medical Center, says everybody working at Unity Medical Center shares a common goal.

"I think everybody here, no matter what department we work in, has patients first," LaHaise said. "The patients are the most important thing."

The medical center has grown in recent years. In 2021, the organization

opened a multi-million-dollar hospital addition.

To match growing patient volumes, the organization has added 60 to 70 new employees in the last few years, O'Neil said.

Unity Medical Center will find out where it ranks on the list at the 2023 Best Places to Work Awards Gala in Chicago on Sept. 28. Last year, the medical center found out it was ranked as the seventh best critical access hospital out of around 1,200 in the country, O'Neil said.