This message was emailed to all Ballad Health team members from Alan Levine, chairman and CEO of Ballad Health, on Monday, Sept. 15.
Good morning:
First, let me say that, as part of an organization the size of Ballad Health, there are, no doubt, many opinions about a variety of issues. Each of us informs ourselves in various ways about issues of the day. We have people of various political ideologies, and each of us comes by our positions based on our own experience, upbringing and perspective. Given this variety of perspectives, we use our mutually agreed upon values, which were written by our own team members (Caring, Creativity, Honesty, Respect, Faith and Quality) to provide a road map for how we conduct ourselves. As an example, the value of “Respect” requires that we are mindful how we communicate in everything we do. In fact, each of our values provides a unique opportunity to demonstrate the kind of organization we want to be, and with whom we want to associate ourselves professionally.
Over the past several days, we have each seen the events play out all over the nation, and the world, in reaction to the murder of Charlie Kirk. I am NOT providing insight here on how anyone should feel about Mr. Kirk, or the events, as that is your own personal decision to make. That having been said, what has motivated me to be communicative with you about this has been the number of people throughout the country who have been on social media celebrating the murder of Mr. Kirk – and then being shocked or surprised when their employers have fired them.
So I’m clear, and to be fair to everyone, when you express your views on social media, they are neither private, nor without consequence as it relates to your employment with Ballad Health. You are certainly free to express yourself on social media. That is your First Amendment right. But don’t be confused about what First Amendment rights mean. No, your government will not send you to jail for expressing your protected rights. But you are not guaranteed employment by anyone, and public expressions by a team member which undermine the confidence of the public with the type of people we employ will very likely come with a consequence. For people to publicly celebrate murder is a deviant behavior, and this would make such a person unworthy of being a part of the Ballad Health family. It would be a clear violation of our values, and I just want to be clear that the leadership of Ballad Health will hold us all accountable for acting within our values.
I have seen teachers, nurses and other people in serious positions of trust publicly cheer Mr. Kirk’s assassination, or make seriously deviant comments about it. Shocking to me is their surprise at losing their jobs. Given our own core values, I would be surprised if anyone associated with Ballad would make such thoughtless comments. But I thought it would be fair to make sure I am clear about our position on this. Each of us does represent Ballad Health, and no matter what others may think or say, it is important that we, as a family, do everything we can to earn trust through our actions and words.
I appreciate everything we all do to serve our patients and our communities. And in holding ourselves accountable for our values, it should be known we will not tolerate anyone who acts to undermine the hard work done every day to earn the trust they place in us.
Thank you, and God Bless each of you.
Alan
