From Alaska to Orlando: Linda Carroll on Leadership, Culture & Connection
Download MP3Hi everyone, I'm Daniel Williams, Senior Editor at MGMA, and we are still at the twenty twenty five MGMA Leaders Conference. And I am here joined by Linda Carroll. Let me see if I can get this right. Linda is from the Aurora Maternal Fetal Medicine Practice in Alaska. Perfect.
Daniel Williams:Linda, yeah. Linda, thank you so much for joining us.
Linda Carroll:Absolutely. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Daniel Williams:Yeah, no, we were talking. You traveled all the way from Alaska to Orlando, but what we found out was didn't travel the furthest distance.
Linda Carroll:We did not, not this time. So there is an attendee here from Qatar, Mary Anne, and she's amazing. I met her last year at conference, and yeah, we stayed in touch. And so, yeah, it was great. She was reached out prior to conference and asked if I was coming, because she said she was gonna be here, so.
Daniel Williams:Yeah, that is so cool. So let's just talk about that, because thank you for your dedication to travel all the way from Alaska. Was that travel like? Where did you you traveled from? Where to get here to So
Linda Carroll:fortunately, it was a nonstop flight from Seattle. So we go from Anchorage to Seattle.
Daniel Williams:Okay.
Linda Carroll:Short layover, and then we can get a nonstop from Seattle to Orlando, which was really nice. Okay. It was still about a six and a half, seven hour flight nonstop from Seattle to Orlando.
Daniel Williams:Are you a good traveler?
Linda Carroll:I am a good traveler.
Daniel Williams:Okay. What do you do to occupy your time when you're on a plane that's that's six or seven hours, a flight that long?
Linda Carroll:Well, usually I take a Dramamine. Okay. So I usually sleep, but depending on the time of day, like this was an overnight flight, I definitely was able to get some sleep on a plane and I can sleep fairly easy
Daniel Williams:on
Linda Carroll:But a usually I'll watch some sort of in flight entertainment or if it's a daytime flight, I'll have a book with me that I read.
Daniel Williams:So, yeah. We've talked about books before. So Linda, you've joined us on the podcast before. We were talking about what's the book, H Mart? What's the title of it?
Linda Carroll:Crying in H Mart.
Daniel Williams:Crying in H Mart. So what have you been reading lately that's good?
Linda Carroll:So there is this book, and it's the tie it's not what you think based on the title, but it's called Sex Before Dawn.
Daniel Williams:Okay.
Linda Carroll:Basically, it's just like talking about just like the history of, like, couples or, like, why people wanna be coupled up or just like that kind of natural progression. Or there's this, like, tendency to the natural evolution is you don't necessarily wanna be coupled up just because, you know, like at the dawn of man, it was about just like creating population. And so it just kind of is supposed to go into all of that. I've had this book for months, and I cannot get past like the third chapter. So I'm just like, it's I don't know.
Linda Carroll:I guess maybe I'm not finding it interesting, but I start it, and then I'm like, okay. And then I'm, you know, read for a little bit and then I go to do something else and I'll read another book. And then I'm like, oh, I should try to go back to that book.
Daniel Williams:But I
Linda Carroll:just haven't been able to get back
Daniel Williams:to Okay. Well, the way you set it up, it was so fascinating, but then sometimes the description of a book is better than the book itself. So, wow, okay, okay. So you've got a lot going on here at the Leaders Conference. You led a resource group on AAPI, is that correct?
Daniel Williams:Tell us a little bit about that resource group. Have y'all already met or are you gonna be meeting We
Linda Carroll:did meet. We met on Sunday.
Daniel Williams:Okay.
Linda Carroll:And so I actually co hosted last year at the twenty twenty four conference, and I think it was the first year you guys had
Daniel Williams:these Right. That's correct.
Linda Carroll:Resource breakout groups. And so yeah. So it was really great. We've had quarterly calls throughout the year. My co facilitator, Deepa, she's amazing.
Linda Carroll:And it's really nice just because the two of us, you know, we have different perspectives. Obviously, what do you think about this? What do think about this? Or, like, questions neither one of us maybe would have thought about to kinda help facilitate the conversations that are happening there. For us, it's a small group, but it offers to me, I feel like it offers for a little bit more personal conversation and we can really kind of dive into certain topics.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. Did anything emerge from this year's discussion that y'all had that really stuck with you?
Linda Carroll:Think a lot of it is just like in our roles as leaders, typically in our company, I think like with the physicians we work with, it's kind of funny because we talk about having some cultural sensitivity and maybe they're aware of it more with staff, but I gave an example of one of the physicians I used to work with who was like, Oh, we should have a particular holiday off because we have an individual who's like, that's important to their culture. And I was looking at that physician like, do I get a holiday then?
Daniel Williams:Right.
Linda Carroll:And he just kind of looked at me kind of like dumbfounded, like, what do you mean? And I was like and so it's I feel like sometimes just because you're on a different level Mhmm. You know, you're on a higher level as far as like staffing goes that sometimes maybe they're oblivious to some of those things, which I mean, in one sense is good that they're not like just seeing someone's outside physical exterior, but at the same time it's like, oh, please don't tell me you're like that naive to because to something like that. And so we talked a little bit about that. And some of the conversations, of course, just one of the things that we talked about right now, like, what are we gonna do if certain entities show up at our practice?
Daniel Williams:Okay.
Linda Carroll:The physician I work with, for her, she's Caucasian. She even think about Those kinds of things never cross her mind about, I'm afraid to go to an appointment. I'm afraid to go to the grocery store just because I don't know what's gonna happen to me So right in having this conversation of telling her, Well, we have to have a game plan for our patients when they come to the office. Or if they no show, we always call our patients to say, Can we get you rescheduled? Your appointment with the doctor is very important.
Linda Carroll:And we also want to find out some factors, like if they don't have a ride, I'm like, Well, we can help you with the ride. We can get a ride for you within the community. There's entities that offer rides to doctor's appointments. So we always just at least make one call to find out if there was some barrier to that. So for her, she was like, oh, because that's not something that really affects her.
Linda Carroll:She doesn't have to think about it. She was like, oh, well. She's like, I don't know. Whatever you think we need to do. And I was like, that's great, but we also have to be on the same page
Daniel Williams:Right.
Linda Carroll:When I present this. And so that was just another example sometimes if we're just like, you know, depending on the individuals we are working with at the leadership levels, just some things that they're It's not that they don't care. They're just not aware because it doesn't necessarily affect them per se.
Daniel Williams:Right. Well, being in a maternal and fetal practice as you are, are there any of the appointments that can be done through telehealth, or do they physically need to be in that office so you can work with them in that way?
Linda Carroll:Ninety percent of our patients have to be in the office because they're having an ultrasound
Daniel Williams:at There that same
Linda Carroll:are some patients, our diabetics, if they're just having a weekly diabetic check, we can certainly do that via telehealth, and we've been doing that. We also provide pre conceptual counseling. And so those appointments, too, if they're coming from outside of our city, we will set those up as telehealth as well so they don't have to travel from Fairbanks, which is a six hour drive.
Daniel Williams:Oh my gosh. Okay. So you're serving patients that are in a six hour travel We
Linda Carroll:actually, so there's only four MFMs in the whole state of Alaska. They're all in Anchorage just because of hospitals being based there. So yeah, we provide services to patients all across the state. So we'll have people that come in all the way from Nome and Uptiavik, Fairbanks. So yeah, they're traveling like sometimes because they have to take multiple flights just to get to Anchorage if they're coming from a smaller village.
Linda Carroll:It will take them more than half a day just to get to Anchorage. And, normally, you can take a flight for half a day and be in, like, five states over. So, yeah. So it's very, yeah, it's very different in Alaska as far as providing care. And I know that there's a couple of other states like Montana, Wyoming that are very rural and population that's where everything is spread out and like the next closest city, you know, is hours away.
Linda Carroll:Yeah. And so
Daniel Williams:Well, thank you for the work y'all are doing there.
Linda Carroll:Yeah, yeah, thank you. So, and our physician, she's born and raised from Alaska. So for her, it was really important in her specialty to come back and provide care for the community.
Daniel Williams:Okay.
Linda Carroll:So, yeah.
Daniel Williams:So let's switch gears. We've been in Alaska in our Let's bring it to Orlando. You've been here for several days now. What's something that stood out to you? What's something that you'll take away from it, either from a educational session or from networking or anything else you've Well, been
Linda Carroll:for me, conference, the networking. I mean, education's great, but the number one thing is networking, meeting other individuals in my same specialty or very similar, like women's health. And just to hear not only what's happening in other areas, but, like, what are some issues that are specific to us that we're dealing with and and how are we handling that. So it's always great to have that network of peers. And then I definitely think for me, the weather.
Linda Carroll:Yeah.
Daniel Williams:Yeah.
Linda Carroll:Being here. And it's not so much like the heat, it's the humidity. It's Yeah. I those of us from Alaska, we are not used to the humidity that's here, so
Daniel Williams:Well, it is jarring, and I was having a conversation with some people last night. We were actually watching Monday Night Football in the bar here in the Hyatt, and they heard the accent, they said, Where are you from? And I said, Mississippi and Alabama. But I've been out West, either in California or Colorado, the last twenty five years. And I told them, Moving away, I do not handle the humidity.
Daniel Williams:It's not built into my DNA, you know, now that I've been away for twenty five years. I don't handle it well either. It's almost chilly in the convention center. You know, they got that air conditioner blasting, and then you go outside and you just immediately melt a little bit. But one other thing before we sign off, wanted to ask you, we were both at a party last night, the Jackson Physician Search party.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. We didn't even see each other because there was so much going on there.
Linda Carroll:Yeah.
Daniel Williams:But how was that experience? What was it like to get out and kind of kick your heels
Linda Carroll:It up, so to was great. The one thing that's nice about coming to a conference like MGMA, you're with your peers. Yeah. And for those of us in our leadership roles, we've talked about this many times for all of the years I've been coming. Being a leader, it's a lonely job because you're not really socializing with the physicians.
Linda Carroll:Right. And you're certainly not socializing with your staff. So coming to something like this, it's like a safe place where you're with your peers, your colleagues. You can, like you said, kick up your heels a little bit, relax, and just kinda be more of yourself in a social environment and, just feel good about it and have a great time. You know, have more casual social time with individuals that you've met throughout the day.
Linda Carroll:Like, throughout the day, you were like, Oh, great. Yes. Let's meet up later. We're kind of going here and there to our different classes. So it's nice to be just in a totally casual social environment and really get to know the individuals.
Daniel Williams:Now rumors have it that you made it out on the dance floor last night. Is this true?
Linda Carroll:We did. We did. We definitely took advantage of that for sure.
Daniel Williams:Well, is so cool. So sorry I didn't bump into you there, but glad to connect with you here.
Linda Carroll:Absolutely, thank you so much. It was great to see you here as well.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. All right. Well, Linda Carroll, thank you so much for joining us here in Orlando. Safe travels to you back to Alaska.
Linda Carroll:Absolutely. Thank you. It's so good to see you.
Daniel Williams:You too. All right. This is Daniel Williams along with Linda Carroll. We are at the twenty twenty five Leaders Conference in Orlando. Thank you so much for being MGMA podcast listeners.
