Ancil Lea

Ancil Lea has been at the intersection of healthcare and software technology since the late 1980s — from the earliest medical billing and scheduling systems to today’s patient engagement via smart phones, wearables, websites, connectivity, etc. Over the years, he’s worked with more than 2,000 hospitals, medical clinics, and outpatient surgery centers to help them make the best decisions regarding medical software and technology solutions.

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On the topic of health, one of my heroes, Zig Ziglar once said, “You don’t pay the price for good health. You pay the price of poor health. You enjoy the benefits of good health.”

I’ve spent the bulk of my 27-year career in the healthcare industry (hard to believe), and today it’s an industry caught up in overwhelming change. The technology solutions and services my company offers are all great, but sometimes we miss what healthcare really is — “care for health” — until we’re the ones seeking care.

This is the time of year for high school football playoff games. The air is crisp, and it’s perfect jacket weather, sometimes a coat, even here in the south. Good times! Three years ago, almost to the day, I traveled to Hot Springs to watch my son, the running back for our high school football team, play in one of these cherished games.

As I was helping get the run-through tunnel ready on the sidelines, I realized I was “in trouble” and going to pass out. I headed to the bleachers and called for my wife before collapsing, barely holding on to consciousness. Our team trainer and others rushed over to help treat me and told me to “hang on.”

It happened that an ambulance had just pulled up, and before I knew it, they were loading me up for transport. I laid in the back of the ambulance as they took me, the team physician (who happened to be a cardiologist from our town), the paramedics, and my wife to National Park Medical Center in Hot Springs. I realized things were out of my control and I would not get to see my son play in his special playoff game.

When I arrived at the hospital, they immediately did a heart cath because they thought I was having a heart attack. I was clear, but they didn’t know what was going on until the next morning when I was diagnosed with severe pancreatitis, which my doctor thought might be fatal. I spent the next two weeks in the hospital and the next couple of years going through multiple surgeries to try to return to health. It has been a journey of recovery.

Experiencing our healthcare system firsthand gave me a HUGE appreciation for nurses, physicians, support staff, and technology. As I work with these guys now, I see things differently, and if I didn’t before, I appreciate what great care is available to us. It goes without saying that I’ve also learned to take better care of myself by exercising, watching my diet, and reducing stress as much as possible.

It is fitting this Thanksgiving that I give thanks for many things, including my life, health, family, and dear friends. And I’m especially thankful for our wonderful healthcare providers and the sweet people who treated and loved me and brought me back to health. I am, and we are, so blessed.

Ancil Lea

Ancil Lea has been at the intersection of healthcare and software technology since the late 1980s — from the earliest medical billing and scheduling systems to today’s patient engagement via smart phones, wearables, websites, connectivity, etc. Over the years, he’s worked with more than 2,000 hospitals, medical clinics, and outpatient surgery centers to help them make the best decisions regarding medical software and technology solutions.

ancillea.com

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Earlier in the spring, I was asked to speak at a healthcare technology leadership conference. I ended my talk to this meeting with this quote: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

It’s from the Beatles song “The End.” I sang the first part of it, and nobody ran out the door. The point I was trying to make was that serving and caring for others will mean the most to you in having a very rich, full life. Now and in the end.

Since college, I’ve been involved in and serving on boards and working with nonprofit organizations that care for children who have been abused or neglected, through no fault of their own. Within the past several months, we’ve become a foster home for a little girl we got to know though one of these organizations. Quite a big deal for my family.

We got to know our little girl three years ago while I was serving on the board at Soaring Wings Ranch, and then as “extended family” for her. We had really done this so that my kids could see and love on this person. In this narcissistic world of technology and social media, I wanted them and us as a family to be a part of loving on and caring for her. And for them to know there was, and is, a world outside their own that they needed to understand, to be aware of and care about and for as they grow.

It really has had an impact on all of us to love someone who, at times, can’t love us back and lives with a broken life. Oh yeah, and we have a house full of dogs that she loves and love her, too.

Also, I’ve attended way too many funerals as of late of people of varying ages. Seems like the ones who have the most attendance (if you gauge impact on attendance) have been people who were coaches, mentors, teachers, public servants and others who touched so many lives, and invested themselves in the development of others.

Former Arkansas State Senator Stanley Russ comes to mind, and his love and support of me personally from the time I was in high school until his passing. What an impact he had on my life and so many others’. He will always be with me. There’s not a coffee shop I don’t go into and turn around to look for him with his newspaper, crossword puzzles and his words: “Sit down pal and let’s visit.”

As you rush around to hit deadlines, work on your 401(k), wrestle with technology and innovation and further your career, I would challenge you to stop and help those around you. Spend a little time. Maybe take someone to coffee. It would give blessing and fullness to your life, as well as have an impact on the “least of these.”

“And in the end” you will have blessings to look back on and carry with you.

Ancil Lea

Ancil Lea has been at the intersection of healthcare and software technology since the late 1980s — from the earliest medical billing and scheduling systems to today’s patient engagement via smart phones, wearables, websites, connectivity, etc. Over the years, he’s worked with more than 2,000 hospitals, medical clinics, and outpatient surgery centers to help them make the best decisions regarding medical software and technology solutions.

ancillea.com

The post A rich life … it’s not what you think appeared first on Ancil Lea Consulting - Accelerating Your HealthTech Business.