VA works hard to boost our retention, finding new and innovative ways to keep valuable employees on our team. One more recent initiative, but one gaining momentum, is the Stay in VA program.
Stay in VA is a practice aimed at promoting a trusting environment for employees to express their ideas and experiences to leadership. Likewise, supervisors and managers can learn more about employees and how to better engage their skills or talents.
Working to promote Stay in VA, Edmund R. “Bobby” Patterson, an employee experience officer in the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, shared his own story about taking advantage of opportunities within VA and how the choice to stay in VA himself has led to extraordinary experiences.
From setback to serving Veterans
After serving as a combat medic for almost a decade, Patterson initially intended to become a physician assistant, with an eye toward specializing in psychology or psychiatry. That interest was originally fostered during his years in service, watching his fellow service members struggle with the stress of combat deployments.
Unfortunately, his own difficulties with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) made medical school an unlikely path forward. With the support of his own counselor, Patterson looked for a way to pivot.
“How do I make something out of this?” he asked himself, and found work as a certified nursing assistant with VA in 2014. In Ann Arbor, he worked with Veterans like himself in the acute inpatient mental health treatment facility.
Despite the positive work he was able to do assisting Veterans, Patterson admitted that the combination of the work and his PTSD led to him seek reassignment to a position as a medical support assistant (MSA).
New opportunities and mentorship
The new role saw Patterson handling numerous administrative tasks. While it was a challenge, it also led him to other opportunities, including the chance to work as secretary to Jeff Franklin, a member of management in the facility who ultimately became Patterson’s mentor.
Patterson credits Franklin for offering the guidance, structure, and resources he needed to develop his professional acumen and build his skillset by tackling new challenges.
“If it wasn’t for Jeff, I still would have been sitting and spinning my wheels,” Patterson shared. “Because of him, I learned how to enact positive change, how to stoke my own fires, and how to push forward.”
Working with Franklin offered access to training and work experience in project management, contract management, and more. It also provided Patterson with incredibly useful advice.
“Jeff told me to always say ‘yes’ when a new opportunity comes along,” said Patterson, “because you never know what it will offer or who you’ll meet.”
Onward and upward
Following Franklin’s advice, when a job opened up with the Veterans Transportation Service, Patterson went after it, using the experience he’d learned from his previous position and applying it to larger contracts and initiatives.
“I kept pushing myself, asking myself how I can grow it, make it better, for the Veterans we serve,” he said. “Because that became my personal motto, my driving force: I didn’t ever want to let anyone fall through the cracks.”
When his successes led to an opportunity to serve as an executive assistant for local VA leadership, he stepped into more of a leadership role himself.
“It definitely took me out of my wheelhouse,” he explained, “but it also changed my perspective on a lot of things that I had seen at VA.”
Furthering that additional perspective were a pair of stretch assignments supporting VA leadership efforts on a national level.
In 2022, he worked with the Institute for Learning, Education and Development (ILEAD) to develop the Senior Executive Service Pathway to Excellence Guidebook. The document, developed in partnership with over two dozen SES members from all disciplines and program offices all across VA, is used to orient all new VHA senior executive service members, including medical center directors, network directors, and National Program Office directors, and shape the national leadership philosophy.
A second stretch assignment with ILEAD in 2023, this time in concert with the Central Strategy Office, saw Patterson participate in the planning, development, implementation, and management of the 2023 Senior Leader Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. The event hosted over 300 of VHA’s top leaders, including the Secretary of the VA, Undersecretary of Health, Undersecretary of Benefits, Undersecretary of Memorial Affairs, and more.
All these experiences continued to lead to valuable opportunities. When local leadership directed the development of an employee experience officer, not only did Patterson help management design the position, but he also applied for (and won) the role.
A position to enact change
“Now, my job is to keep the pulse of the employees, to monitor things and see where we can improve,” Patterson said. “I get to be the intermediary between staff and management. In this role, I’m charged to reshape the culture and climate here, so again, no one can fall through the cracks.”
Patterson admitted that he never imagined he’d be comfortable in a role like this, but he’s engaging with fellow employees in new and unexpected ways and working as an advocate for their concerns. He also added that he’s particularly proud to have accomplished all this both as a Veteran and without a formal degree.
“There really is no other employer like VA,” he said. “All you have to do is spend the time and hone your craft and skills, and you can continue to move up, and up, and up.”
Now, his position and the opportunity to serve as a mentor to others within VA—just as he had been supported by his own mentor—“fills my cup,” he said.
“It’s the best feeling in the world.”
However, he also continues to look for new ways to support leadership and further his own perspective. In 2024, he supported the contract officer representative (COR) on the Michigan Market Strategic Summit, a role he held himself in 2022 and 2023. These events have allowed the Michigan market to capitalize on collaboration and break down barriers to care.
“The Michigan Market has found countless ways to streamline care between sites to support Veterans and their needs in a better, more efficient, higher quality, and cost-saving way,” he added.
Of the experiences, Patterson shared that working with these teams has allowed him greater insight into VA’s bigger picture, but also put him in a place to connect with executives and explore opportunities that support not only his own career, but his dedication to serving Veterans.
Work at VA
“I’m the epitome of Stay in VA,” Patterson said. “This is about taking the time, being a servant leader, about being people-focused and people-centric. That’s what VA has to offer.”
- LEARN more about Stay at VA.
- READ about VA’s efforts to increase employee satisfaction.
- EXPLORE the benefits of working at VA.
- FIND a job that’s right for you.
