How September 11 prepared this entrepreneur for the COVID-19 crisis
Mary Anne Carignan was traumatized by the September 11 attacks. Now a business leader, she made sure her team could continue to support the healthcare system, even in the worst of times. Without knowing that these worst moments would take on the appearance of a global pandemic. The story of a perfectly timed event.
In 2007, Mary Anne joined Purkinje, a company offering IT solutions to the healthcare sector. She was hired to turn around the company’s ailing finances. A year later, not only did she rise to the challenge, but she also decided to buy out the Montreal branch and became CEO.
Purkinje’s mission is to advance healthcare services through IT solutions. They work with healthcare professionals to develop billing software and contribute to the development of electronic medical records. The company works with 600 clinics and 5 hospitals in Quebec, and is used by 20,000 professionals across the country. Purkinje has over 150 employees, and if there’s one thing the entrepreneur knows, it’s that they have to be taken care of. If her employees suffer, so do the healthcare staff and eventually Quebec patients. Mary Anne has always been the kind of manager to remind her employees not to work too hard and to take care of their mental health. Sometimes she even urges people to go home or tells them to take a vacation.
On September 11, 2001, Mary Anne Carignan was on vacation in Corsica. It’s late afternoon and she’s just returned from the beach. She hears the news on the radio. The attacks have just taken place. The young woman is of American origin and grew up in New York. She knows the World Trade Center very well; she worked on the 78th floor of the North Tower in the 80s. “It was such a sturdy building! We never imagined it could be reduced to dust,” she recounts in impeccable French. Of course, September 11th is a shocking day for the whole world, but for the young woman, whose family and friends all live in New York, it’s downright traumatic.
In 2018, looking back on the September 11 disaster, Mary Anne Carignan says to herself that whatever happens, Purkinje employees must be able to continue doing their job: “We are an essential service. We must continue to support the healthcare system”. So she embarked on the titanic project of converting the company’s 150 employees to telecommuting. Hardware and software had to be purchased and new processes put in place. Then comes the testing period. Each employee is asked to work two days a week from home. The aim is to check that all tools are accessible and that communication is optimal. The timing couldn’t have been better. The final tests are successfully completed… in January 2020. Two months before the pandemic is declared! Today, the company is doing well, employees are able to work optimally and Purkinje has even hired three new people! It’s often said that timing is everything in entrepreneurship, and this phrase takes on its full meaning…
