FOCUS on wellness: Coastal Carolina telecom partners with Novant Health to offer on-site employee and family care

As companies work to attract and retain employees in an extremely competitive labor market, many overlook one key ingredient – culture. People want to work for an organization that cares, not just for their customers, but for their employees as well.

FOCUS Broadband understands the role well-being plays in building a culture of service. People shouldn’t be deterred from seeking healthcare due to the cost of lost work. A healthy workforce is a productive and engaged one. For nearly a decade, Novant Health Employer Solutions (NHES) has been proud to partner with FOCUS Broadband to help increase access to care by bringing healthcare services directly to employees.

FOCUS Broadband knows the importance of meeting people where they are. When the big telephone providers refused to cross the Cape Fear River to service rural North Carolina, local business owners and farmers banded together in 1955 to create a telephone co-op. Formerly known as ATMC and Atlantic Telephone before that, the 356-person Shallotte-based organization continues to grow, now providing telephone, cable and internet to 10 counties across coastal Carolina.

One of employees’ favorite perks of working at FOCUS Broadband is its on-site wellness clinic, run by Navy veteran John Fillmore, NP. Although Fillmore is a proud member of the Novant Health team, after more than eight years seeing patients on-site in Shallotte, he feels like a member of the FOCUS Broadband family as well. “Everyone absolutely loves him. They call him Doctor John, even though he is a nurse practitioner,” explained Shannon Engelhardt, FOCUS Broadband’s director of human resources.

“I blush when they say doctor. But I think they're just being polite, and they just don't know quite what to call me,” said Fillmore.

Fillmore spends weekday mornings at the FOCUS Broadband Wellness Clinic seeing employee patients. What the clinic lacks in size it makes up for in convenience, located just over 100 yards from the main building and right next to the warehouse. During clinic hours, the door is always open, and walk-ins are welcome from employees and family members alike.

“Doctor John, as we call him, is very approachable with a good bedside manner. He's serious, but pleasant. And just easy to talk to,” said Matt Cox, who works in FOCUS’s level-two tech support department.

Employees appreciate the convenience of having a healthcare professional just steps away from their workplace. And FOCUS Broadband’s leadership team recognizes the value of a healthy team and the absenteeism reductions and productivity gains that go with it.

“Typically, employees would need to take a few hours out of their day to go to their doctor for something as simple as a sinus infection. If the employee is able to go to the on-site clinic instead, it often only takes 30 minutes or less to be seen. We also don’t require them to use paid time off if they visit the on-site clinic,” said Engelhardt.

Feedback from employees has been overwhelmingly positive. FOCUS Broadband has shown that when an organization invests in the well-being of its employees, everyone wins – from the workers to the customers to the business’s bottom line. Employees who feel valued are more likely to be committed, innovative and dedicated to their work.

“It shows that you care about your employees,” said Cox. “That’s one of the things I value most about working here [at FOCUS Broadband]. I don’t feel like a number on a spreadsheet. I feel like a person.”

In the coming months, the Wellness Clinic will also begin performing Department of Transportation physicals for FOCUS Broadband employees who need them to maintain their commercial driver’s licenses. Getting such a Department of Transportation-mandated physical off-site would take the better part of a half day. But by coordinating with the site safety manager, Fillmore expects to be able to get company drivers in and out on-site in a fraction of that time. And with 15 or more drivers on the payroll, those savings could really add up.

Novant Health is excited to continue its support for FOCUS Broadband’s growth with the implementation in coming weeks of virtual Wellness Clinic visits for nonlocal employees working in more distant areas like Pender County.

After spending much of his career working in hectic urgent care environments, Fillmore appreciates the opportunity to slow down and really connect with patients.

“One of the joys of working here is I get to spend more time with people. It's important to me to listen to people and explain things the best way I can, he said. “And working here gives me the opportunity to do that. It's very rewarding.”

“I've had an opportunity to see people a number of times and get to know them, get to know their families, and watch their kids grow up.”

Novant Health Employer Solutions is committed to collaborating with employers to enhance the well-being of their employees. For additional information about our solutions-based service offerings and to explore how we can address unique business needs, visit https://www.novanthealth.org/services/employer-solutions/.