Lakewood Health System: Building “One Lakewood” Through Recognition That Connects Caregivers

For decades, Lakewood Health System has lived by one guiding principle: “We’re family taking care of family.”

As the rural Minnesota healthcare provider expanded to five campuses and nearly 1,000 employees, leadership faced a familiar challenge: how to keep a culture of closeness alive in a growing, fast-paced system.

In 2022, Lakewood launched Bucketlist Rewards, a digital recognition platform that makes everyday gratitude visible across all teams and departments. What started as a way to simplify recognition quickly became the foundation of Lakewood’s identity, the shared thread that connects caregivers, leaders, and departments under the banner of “One Lakewood.”

Founded in the heart of central Minnesota, Lakewood Health System is an independent healthcare organization serving its community through five campuses. Its nearly 1,000 employees — from doctors and nurses to lab techs, food service teams, and administrators — share one thing in common: a deep, personal connection to their mission.

That sense of belonging is what attracted people like TJ McCall, Radiology Director, who left Kansas to join Lakewood.

A lot of organizations boast, ‘Oh, we have great culture, we have great culture,’ but we live out that culture here at Lakewood, he says. It’s something that I’ve never seen before, and that’s what’s actually driven me to relocate from Kansas to work at this organization. It’s something I haven’t found anywhere else. It is welcoming, it is warm. You are a part of something. Regardless of your role or your title, you’re all in it together.

For Lakewood, culture isn’t a poster on the wall. It’s something that shows up in how teammates support one another, how leaders listen, and how even the smallest gestures, a thank you, a smile, a word of appreciation, shape patient outcomes.

As Lakewood grew, the small, heartfelt gestures that once defined its family atmosphere began to feel confined to departments and locations. Recognition existed, but it was fragmented. Paper cards, emails, and shout-outs rarely reached the wider organization.

Before Bucketlist, you’d ask what our values were,” recalls Jenna Reycraft, Training & Development Coordinator. Some people knew them, some didn’t. Now, you have to select a value every time you post a recognition. It’s made those values real, daily, and visible.

At the same time, the healthcare industry was changing. Between pandemic pressures, staffing shortages, and rising burnout, Lakewood’s leaders saw a growing need to re-energize their teams and sustain the emotional resilience required to deliver excellent care.

Lakewood needed a system that could amplify appreciation across shifts, sites, and departments. They wanted a platform where recognition could become a visible, living part of the culture again.

In 2022, Lakewood introduced Bucketlist Rewards to digitize and democratize recognition. The platform allows anyone to celebrate anyone, anytime, connecting every act of appreciation to one of Lakewood’s five core values: Accountability, High Quality, Compassion, Innovation, and Integrity.

Every new hire is introduced to Bucketlist during onboarding. From day one, they’re empowered to give and receive recognition. Departments now use it to celebrate milestones, spontaneous wins, and small daily acts of teamwork. Leaders receive extra points to model appreciation, ensuring that recognition becomes a shared habit, not a top-down initiative.

It’s like our internal social media, says TJ McCall, Radiology Director. You scroll and see acts of teamwork and compassion that you’d never have known about otherwise.

Lakewood also linked recognition with well-being. Employees earn points for preventive health activities such as annual checkups and flu shots, reinforcing the message that caring for oneself is just as important as caring for others.

Within months, Bucketlist became part of Lakewood’s DNA. Recognition volume soared, and the feed evolved into a digital highlight reel of humanity, a daily reminder of purpose, teamwork, and shared values.

It’s a part of our DNA, says Jenna Reycraft. You can’t say recognition at Lakewood without saying Bucketlist. When people talk about it, they get the warm fuzzies because they know someone’s been recognized for doing great work.

Tangible Impact

We participate in an engagement survey every year, and I would say since we’ve implemented Bucketlist, you can look at our engagement survey, and you can see higher retention and less turnover, says Alicia Bauman.

Recognition is the driver for any future growth, says Lisa Bjerga, President & CEO. It’s a builder for our customer experience. The happier our employees are, the more valued they feel, and the more valued our patients feel. Our patients feel that in their care, when our employees truly feel recognized.

For Lakewood’s leadership, recognition isn’t just a feel-good program. It’s a strategic lever powering the organization’s expansion. As the health system opens new facilities and recruits new providers, culture has become the engine driving growth.

 

Lakewood is definitely in a growth mode right now, says Alicia Bauman, Chief Talent Officer. We’ve been adding primary care doctors, and we’re opening up our cancer center. To make that growth happen, it needs to be powered by people. That’s going to be the limiting factor when we want to grow as an organization strategically.

Bucketlist has become a cornerstone of that growth strategy, directly supporting retention, recruitment, and engagement: the three factors that determine whether Lakewood can scale without diluting the culture that defines it.

The message is clear. In an era where healthcare organizations compete fiercely for talent, investing in recognition infrastructure is the foundation that makes everything else possible.

Among the many shifts sparked by Bucketlist, none captured Lakewood’s spirit quite like the Orange Shoes.

It started as a simple wellness incentive. Employees who completed their annual preventative exams earned 1,000 Bucketlist points (about $100) to redeem for a pair of bright, Lakewood-orange On Cloud sneakers. The intention was to encourage wellness participation, but the result was something far bigger.

When the first pairs arrived, hallways filled with laughter and color. Orange sneakers peeked out from under scrubs and business slacks, sparking spontaneous conversations. Soon, the shoes became an unofficial uniform of pride, unity, and self-care.

What began as a health incentive evolved into a cultural movement. Employees posted photos of their new shoes to the Bucketlist feed. Teams took group shots in their matching pairs. Soon, the sight of those orange sneakers became synonymous with wellness, positivity, and belonging.

They’re more than sneakers, adds Alicia Bauman, Chief Talent Officer. They remind people to take care of themselves, and that Lakewood takes care of them, too.

Today, those shoes are everywhere, from hospital corridors to community events. Each pair represents more than a reward; it’s a reminder of how recognition and wellbeing intertwine. It’s proof that when people feel valued, they invest that same care back into their work, their teams, and themselves.

Beyond the tangible symbols like the Orange Shoes, one of Bucketlist’s most powerful impacts at Lakewood is less visible, but deeply felt: the Gratitude Feed.

Originally just a feature within the platform, the feed has grown into the emotional heartbeat of the organization. Between patient rounds or during a quiet break, staff scroll through recognitions from across the system, stories of compassion, teamwork, and quiet heroism that might otherwise go unseen.

It infuses those moments that feel a little tough in healthcare, says Alicia Bauman. The best antidote is to jump on Bucketlist and start scrolling. You can’t ever leave that platform feeling worse.

In an industry known for long hours and emotional exhaustion, the Gratitude Feed has become a daily act of renewal. It reminds caregivers that their work matters, and that they’re part of a larger story of compassion and excellence.

Recognition has become more than a morale booster. It is a lifeline and a way to reconnect with purpose, even on the hardest days.

Nowhere is the power of recognition more evident than in one of Lakewood’s most emotionally demanding departments. In labor and delivery, where moments of joy and moments of crisis can unfold within the same shift, peer recognition has become a critical tool for sustaining morale and cohesion.

A lot of times when we think about labor and delivery, we think about all the wonderful times and experiences that we have with these families, which is 100% a great part of our jobs,  says Nan Hanson, OB Manager. But there are shifts that are very stressful and can be very long and taxing on our staff. Working as a family, as a team, and pulling together on those hard emotional shifts and recognizing the staff members who come in on their days off to work those long shifts is so important to keeping that morale up.

This is recognition at its most essential, not as a perk or a program, but as a lifeline for teams navigating the emotional weight of frontline healthcare.

Recognition has bridged the gaps between departments, shifts, and job levels, strengthening relationships and trust across the system.

Bucketlist makes people notice how people show up more, says Alicia Bauman. Our team members are far more aware of what other team members are doing to show up for their teams, show up for our patients, show up for our residents. We integrate our values, we integrate rewards that our team members care about. It feels local, it feels personal, that’s the difference.

When you recognize someone, you get to know them more personally, says Shaylyn Lange, Radiology Tech. Now, when I walk the halls, I know names, faces, and stories. It truly feels like family.

It’s made Lakewood a great place to work, adds Jenna Reycraft. People enjoy coming in, showing up, and giving more because they feel seen and appreciated.

For leaders, the ROI extends beyond metrics.

We value our employee experience greatly here at Lakewood, says Alicia Bauman. 

Recognition isn’t just a program at Lakewood; it connects every employee to the mission of care.

Recognition isn’t just a program at Lakewood; it connects every employee to the mission of care.

Today, “One Lakewood” is more than a slogan. It’s a living reality. Recognition is no longer an afterthought; it’s the heartbeat of the organization and the bridge that connects people to purpose.