“We wooed him for a couple of months before we were able to get him on board,” McVeigh said. When Cardenas was plotting his next move, he also considered a serious offer from an aerospace firm in Huntsville, Ala. McVeigh said he feels there must be an underlying mission behind any career. “It's amazing how people hit you up either on LinkedIn or whatever, trying to steal you away to work somewhere else because they get it, they want it,” he said. “But I believe in Exceptional,
the most people, regardless of if that meant on a battlefield or if it meant in Haiti, Japan or whatever installation in the U.S. or across the world.” Mission accomplished Regardless of the field, any operation is only as good as its people. Exceptional Healthcare aims to hire the best people regardless of background, but McVeigh explained there’s an advantage to hiring veterans. “What military people bring is a work ethic that, honestly, a lot of folks can't replicate,” McVeigh said. “We go until the mission’s done.” A good example was when Hamlett retired from the Army. She’d finished up her prerequisites at Mesa Community College but found
herself on the waiting list for an associate’s degree program. “It was taking too long,” Hamlett said. “So, I looked into using my GI bill to go to a private college and I ended up going to Chamberlain University in Phoenix, which has an accelerated bachelor's degree program.” That tenacity is what McVeigh likes about veterans, he said. “They don't stop,” McVeigh said. “They can look at things in a different way and can multitask. “We think in a different way to achieve an end state. We don’t stop until the mission has reached its end state.”
Exceptional Healthcare is expanding its footprint in Arizona. It opened a hospital in Yuma a few months after the Maricopa facility debuted. It will also open a hospital in Bullhead City this month and another early next year in Prescott. While Cardenas no longer needs to worry about deployment to other countries, he spends a lot of time all over Arizona doing the same work he’s always done. “It's back to doing what I've been doing my whole life, which was supporting clinical experts and clinicians of all types of positions and nurses,” he said. “My job in the Army for almost 30 years was to make sure that
the medical providers were in the right place at the right time to do the most good for and I believe in the mission and the long-term vision. As quick as I get those inquiries, I send them away and say, ‘No, I'm good. I’m where I need to stay.’” Native always has healthy options to choose. Here are just a few! Competition for veterans can be fierce. When Cardenas was hired earlier this year, there was a courtship.
Southwest Chicken Salad
Gluten Free Pizza
Chicken Apple Walnut Salad
21164 N. John Wayne Parkway, Maricopa Hours: 11am - 11pm Sunday thru Thursday; 11am – 12pm Friday-Saturday 520-568-6077 NativeGrillAndWings.com
HG 7
Health Guide 2023
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