The last of a few hundred Community Medical Centers’ corporate employees, after over a year, made their transition to their newly renovated office space on Shaw Avenue stretching from blocks 1510 to 1550.

“The Community Plaza office houses about 400 Community Medical Centers’ employees ranging from finance, communications, foundation, population health, information technology, home health, human resources, decision support, and education,” said Wanda Holderman, chief clinical integration officer. “It’s a great ‘campus’ feel and allows employees to easily interface on a regular basis.”

The office complex, valued over $10 million, was donated to Community Medical by local real estate developers, Richard and Mimi Gunner and George Andros.

“[Gunner and Andros], who donated these offices, understand the gift of healthcare,” said Sandra Hermans, organizational development consultant.

According to Hermans, many corporate Community Medical employees spent a lot of time traveling to and from meetings with other corporate employees and departments that they work closely with. One of the benefits of having all departments located on a single campus would be cutting out the travel time.

“It saves time, but it also builds relationships. It’s easier to build relationships when you’re walking past people on a campus than it is when you only meet with people periodically.” 

“[The donation] solved a big puzzle for us,” said John Zelezny, senior vice president of corporate communications. “We’re talking about a few hundred employees who now are consolidated into one place and can operate better as one team. Teamwork is a tough thing to beat.”

Zelezny said the location is very central and accessible. His vision of it is that the corporate departments will have people working face-to-face and generating ideas better, not just between offices, but across boundary lines.

“Over time, it will prove that it was a highly impactful gift for Community Medical,” said Zelezny.

With all corporate departments settling into the nearly 175,000 square feet office space, a few amenities are still being added including a food kiosk and restroom renovations.

Community Medical originally received the $10 million gift in February 2015, which is one of the largest philanthropic gifts in Community Medical Centers’ history.  

Lindsay Haworth reported this story. You can reach her at CMCnews@CommunityMedical.org