Lissa's health journey inspires her to help members feel seen, heard and supported

For Lissa, putting families first is more than a personal philosophy. It’s something she practices every day—at home and in her work at UnitedHealthcare.

Caring for others came naturally to Lissa. She grew up in a service-oriented family that volunteered together, and as a teenager, she worked in a homeless shelter. Her career has since taken her from an inpatient psychiatric hospital to foster care, private adoption, then care coordination at UnitedHealthcare. Today she manages a team of care coordinators at UnitedHealthcare, which supports Medicaid members with physical or developmental disabilities. Her team goes into members’ homes to find ways to help them stay safe, independent and living in their communities.

“I think I came to this work because I’ve always been a helper, and at some point, I’ve needed help,” she says. “Now, being in a position to give others the kind of help my family and I once needed feels like coming full circle.”

At home, Lissa and her partner, Jake, have five children, ages 6 to 15. They’re an active family, whether playing games, going to concerts, camping, hiking, fishing or bird watching—something Lissa and Jake began doing together that soon became a family activity.

While Lissa was well experienced in being a support system for others, she discovered what it was like to need one when she got sick during her first week on the job at UnitedHealthcare. When her doctor told her to drop everything and go to the emergency room, Lissa’s new manager immediately said, “Family first. Go now. Go take care of yourself.”

The diagnosis was stage 3A colon cancer. Lissa was 39, active and healthy, with no family history of the disease.

For much of her first year at UnitedHealthcare, she underwent cancer treatment while her new colleagues rallied around her. “I was a stranger to them, and yet they went to extraordinary lengths to help me,” Lissa says. “I don’t think I would have been able to continue to work without them.”

The experience deepened Lissa’s commitment to caring for others in the same way. Today, that includes supporting her own team—helping them bring that same feeling of care to members.

Many of the people Lissa’s team serves are navigating both disability and limited resources. Sometimes a member needs medical equipment or help accessing services. Other times, the greatest need isn’t immediately apparent. “We might walk into a member’s home thinking we’re there because they need help setting up their cancer treatment,” Lissa says. “But when we get there, we learn they’re isolated; they’re lonely.” That’s why listening is central to the team’s work. “We want them to know, ‘I see you. You’re not a client, you’re not a member, you’re not an insurance number. You’re a person, and we’re here to help you just like we would our own family.’”

Perhaps fittingly, Lissa sees a connection between that work and one of the pastimes she shares with her own family. “One of the reasons I love bird watching is that it’s a quiet practice, and one of patience, listening and observing,” she says. “That’s exactly what we do when we go into our members’ homes.”

For Lissa, families come in different forms—the one at home, the colleagues who became family when she needed them most, and the members whose lives she and her team are privileged to be a part of. “Little did I know when I came to UnitedHealthcare that I’d have an opportunity to really change people’s lives,” she says. “But I do, and so I think I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”