Paula Baker has an impressive resume.  She’s an award winner who’s been on task forces and sits on boards.  But the thing she feels best about in her career?  The Bill and Virginia Leffen Center for Autism, a unique institution she was instrumental in bringing to life.

Skills as a Leader

Baker lists five leadership skills she used in the process of creating the Autism Center:

• • vision
    “I needed to see what’s possible before it existed. I needed to visualize what could be in Joplin,” said Baker.

• • determination
    “I knew there was no funding, but I also knew we needed to put feet to the vision,” Baker explained. “This required strategic thinking, because I knew what we wanted to do would be expensive.”  Baker contacted a local senator for assistance who put her in touch with an area commissioner that eventually wrote the center into their budget.

• • persuasiveness
    “I had to defend my vision,” says Baker, who did so in front of the legislature, competing among very worthy causes for very limited funds.

• • collaboration
    “I worked with citizens, I worked with the legislature, I worked with schools, I worked with churches,” Baker explains. “You always get a lot further when collaborating than trying to do it on your own.”

• • passion
    “You have to have a passion for the program (you’re creating) and the families you’ll serve.”

Skills for Encountering Obstacles

For Baker, facing obstacles requires hard work and flexibility.  On May 22, 2011, the deadliest tornado in recorded U.S. history hit Joplin.  The leased facility that housed the Autism Center at that time was demolished by the storm, and Baker knew the children at the center could not go for long without the services they provided.

“We hit the ground,” explains Baker, “making calls and making it work.”  They eventually secured an intermediate facility where they stayed until the center’s current home was completed.  This effort allowed families to experience minimal disruption in care, something Baker was determined to maintain despite the destruction surrounding their town and community.

Role of CMN Dollars

Baker is clear about her gratitude for Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) dollars.

“We’d have kids on a waiting list without CMN’s funding,” she states.

What started as a preschool program for children with Autism is now twelve years old and serves children and adults on the spectrum with diagnostic support, a secondary classroom, even in-home treatment.

“CMN provides regular scholarships for between 2-3 children at the Autism Center and have opened that door for those families that would have remained closed otherwise.”

Fundraising Considerations

“If a need comes to your attention, and you see it’s a need, then it’s your responsibility to take care of it,” Baker explains.

She believes that considering unmet needs is the most important thing fundraisers can do, and she emphasizes keeping a focus on the community and inadequate paths inside it.

She cites the Autism Center as an example of this community focus and calling it a “blessing to the community and a personal blessing to me.”

Blake Bard, Chief Development Officer at Freeman Health Systems says of Paula and the autism center that “our commitment to deliver the very best care and the most resources for our community is reflected through Paula’s leadership. Her vision of the autism center and her dedication to children’s mental and physical care is inspiring.” Bard continues, “Paula is a true champion for philanthropy and she supports the mission of CMN Hospitals in making a profound difference in our ability to serve children in our community.”

This post is part of CMN Hospitals Hospital Relations team’s Conversations for Development Leaders series identifying practices of thought leaders throughout the network.  It features stories, projects, and successes to educate and motivate hospital stakeholders.

About the author:  Amanda Olson is a freelance writer based in Salt Lake City where she currently works as a reporter for the Deseret News.  She was previously an adjunct faculty member of the professional writing programs at Northeastern University, Brigham Young University, and the University of Maryland at College Park.

Tags:

• Bill and Virginia Leffen Center for Autism
• Conversations for Development Leaders
• Freeman Health System
• Joplin
• MO
• Paula Paker