Director of the sanatorium “Versm sans” – about 135 cancellations per week: “Strange, because it really is safer with us than going to the store” | 15MAX

When visiting the office of a company or institution, the energetic eyes of R. Noreikienė, 61, are directed first to the furniture and other interior details arranged in them. The “Versmė” sanatorium in Birštonas has been going through a phase of change for several years: not only the exterior but also the interior of the Soviet-era buildings is being renovated, so if you look everywhere you can see ideas that could passed on to the builders.

The interlocutor does not hide, he lives in the mood of endless repairs. It seems that a pandemic and a decrease in the flow of customers scared of COVID-19 should open the investment tap, but the director of Versmė believes otherwise: the maximum renewal process must be maintained.

“After all, the pandemic has come and will pass, and then Lithuanians and foreigners who have loved Lithuania will need health and recreation programs more than ever. I think people will flow to Birštonas, so we have to be prepared for that. “, – the decision not to reduce investments was explained by the fifth director of” Versmė “R.Noreikienė, in an open interview 15 minutes revealing what it means to run a sanatorium during this pandemic and what more difficult obstacles it has to overcome than the virus itself.

– Rasa, in January it will be two years since he directed the Versmė sanatorium in Birštonas. Do you already feel that your feet are warming up properly? Is the executive chair comfortable?

– Surprises are not lacking yet. It happens that what the staff takes and surprises. When? I will be unpopular by rejecting the universally accepted dogma that those who work in the public sector, a kind of “bad boy” who only sucks the blood and money of all of us, are dependent. Certainly not all public officials are bad. Sense of duty, punctuality, the pursuit of a target, not a loose cannon, which is not always the case in the private sector.

In fact, I went back to the first job of my life. I returned to Versme more than 30 years later. I came back to make a difference. I am appointed to lead for five years. I think introducing a limited number of terms for managers is a great solution. Two terms, really optimal. Let’s be scary, but okay: a limit comes, when the routine is established, connections are made, then everything has to change, a new look and attitude is needed. I gave myself in Versme for five years, I feel that I give him a lot of health. I didn’t think it would take that long to give up.

Someday I will write a book about the people I have worked with in life. I was born under a happy star. I will always remember how an Algirdas Brazauskas, being the Prime Minister, gave me, the then Government representative in Kaunas County, a very important lesson for the manager: how important it is to pay attention to a person, regardless of their position , to have an honest interest in it. Wherever you are, you must maintain humanity. The employee will always evaluate this guide and follow it. He asked me, ready to change jobs, on that little screw system, how much I was doing, how my daughter was doing. What is missing in Lithuania is an evaluation of someone else’s work.

I think people will flow into Birstonas, so we have to be prepared for that.

– I admit, I already had a question about who could attract a former Lithuanian Deputy Minister of Economy, a government representative in Kaunas county, a specialist who worked in the municipalities of Birštonas and Kaunas, to a city as small as Birštonas. Here’s the answer: You want to get back to where your career started.

– While still studying at Kaunas Jonas Jablonskis school, I met my future husband, got married and immediately leaked from the school bank to Birštonas, where he was working at the time. Everyone thought I was going to study English and I fell in love with a wedding (I laughed). I didn’t go to the second exam, I didn’t start studying, I got married, so I had to start working. This is how the “Versmė” sanatorium appeared: there I got a job as a secretary. While working, I graduated from law and began managing the sanitarium staff. At that time, around 1985, I remember, we were building the great Versmė building A, which now, after coming back so many years later, I started renovating (smiled). As I understand it, at that time we were the most beautiful and modern sanatorium in Lithuania.

– Then he worked at Versme for 13 years – he moved to work in the municipality of Birštonas, held the position of secretary of the board, equivalent to the current director of administration. Can you reveal which sanitarium you found when you returned? What has changed?

– The changes are enormous, the senses are twofold. It is understandable that the new has gotten old over the years. When I returned, I discovered colleagues who were still in the same positions, whom I hired as a “personalist” then 30 years ago.