When I look back on 2021, it’s the little things that strike me as most meaningful.
All around us, huge, momentous things are happening. We’re still managing through the biggest public health crisis of our lifetimes, and long-held tenets of the healthcare industry are shifting under our feet. Our professional and personal lives are upended by social and global upheaval. The unsettledness has sustained.
And yet, in those times of very real change, and very real turmoil, I find myself comforted by our work, in our work, alongside our Purple teammates and partners across the world.
That work is not easy, but it’s necessary, and it matters. And in 2021, we’ve been better for it.
This was the year that we — as a company and an industry — started to get our sea legs back after the chaos of 2020. With tentative, safety-minded steps back into the world, we learned to adjust to the new normal, pausing reflectively to take stock of what and who we had lost. And, what and who we wanted to be.
We started seeing our colleagues and clients again, in both personal and professional settings, and those relationships are richer for the time spent away.
We examined our long-held beliefs and values, and found them stronger for it.
We confirmed what was important to us — as a company, as employees, as human beings.
With the launch of our new vision and new name, Get Well, we renewed our commitment to personalized care for all. We reaffirmed our promise to bring together disparate touchpoints, work within communities of care, and enable clinicians to rely on technology for support. In doing so, we help people take an active role in their healthcare.
We also embraced the commitment to make equitable, individualized care happen. From new employees to new partnerships, 2021 was a time of inclusion and a time of transition. As we take time to celebrate this exciting new chapter for Get Well, I want to acknowledge that 2021 has been hard for many of us, including our clinical colleagues and friends. We continue our work both in gratitude and in respect of the immeasurable sacrifices healthcare teams are making across the country every day.
At Get Well, the societal instability brought on by COVID-19 has pointed us, more than ever, toward our true north. The need for truly personalized care, for patients to be able to take a more active role in their care, and for a lighter, more efficient lift for providers and staff has illuminated our way forward. And I’m happy to say that this was a path we had already well trodden.
Fred Rogers famously said, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
While so much of what happens next for healthcare remains uncertain, we’re proud here at Get Well to be a partner to so many — helping healthcare organizations deliver consistently high-quality care to all patients. It is an honor to be helping and to do so in concert with some of the best and brightest organizations in the world.
I rise every day, energized to tackle some of the most difficult challenges in healthcare, from patient agency to health disparities to staffing shortages. And I — and our entire Get Well family — do so gladly, because we are in great company among friends and partners.
Let’s hit the ground running in 2022 with a goal, with a plan, with success already in mind.
And above all else, let’s show people — all people — that they matter and that their care is important. It’s important to us, and always will be.
In gratitude,
Michael O’Neil
Founder + CEO
