Inside CHIME: CHIME at 25 – Building Relationships

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Weinstock 70x70 6.23.16 by Matthew Weinstock
Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME

For founding board member Larry Grandia, CHIME’s greatest strengths are in the members and the bonds that they forge with one another.

A lifelong CHIME member, Larry Grandia has formed unbreakable bonds with many of his CIO colleagues. Perhaps most unique is the relationship he’s built with three other CIOs over the course of two decades.

For 20-plus years, Grandia and his three cohorts held annual retreats. The location would rotate between their respective home organizations and the visiting CIOs would serve as guest lectures to the host organization’s board, medical staff or other departments.

“Then we would spend two days together and talk intensely about what was happening in healthcare, in our organizations and in our lives,” Grandia says. “We never missed a meeting and even though we are all retired, we still get together today. The four of us helped each other through work problems, health problems, family problems. I consider them brothers. That’s what is at the heart of CHIME.”

Grandia’s passion for CHIME, its mission and its members is infectious. A member of the founding board of trustees in 1992, Grandia beams when describing CHIME’s growth over the years and its rise to prominence on the national stage, but the sense of pride really comes through when he talks about CHIME on a more personal level.

“What I take the greatest pride in — and I hope members continue to take pride in — are the relationships that CHIME allows you to develop. You can create some very intimate relationships with people you trust and with whom you can connect during stressful times,” he says. “I knew there were CHIME members I could call during low points in my professional life who would support me and help breathe air back into my balloon when I needed it. And there were people who knew that they could count on me. CHIME is safe place. It offers an opportunity to build relationships with people you admire and trust; people who have walked down the same path.”

More Inside CHIME Volume 1, No. 20: