Robin Menchen has always had a giver’s heart. Her long and impressive resume is a testament to how she wanted to help people, even as a little girl.
At the beginning of June, Menchen, who is president and CEO of Rotech Healthcare, was named HME Woman of the Year, an honor given by VGM Group to someone who exemplifies dedication and service in the home medical equipment and health care industry.
“It’s very humbling,” Menchen said. “I have a wonderful team who nominated me, and it’s just all very humbling.”
Menchen’s career in health care spans more than 35 years. Her accomplishments range from working as a critical care nurse for infants and adults at the University of Cincinnati to being a first lieutenant and operating room nurse for the United States Army Reserves. At Rotech, where she’s been for 31 years, she worked her way up the ladder to her current role as president and CEO.
Over the years, she made connections with home health patients and learned the importance of being able to age
at home.
“Everybody wants to be in their home,” she said. “We all want to get older in our home. It’s just a great place to be able to care for patients. … I love that we get to help patients and help
them stay in their homes. We care for hundreds of thousands of patients, and it’s very rewarding.”
Throughout her career, Menchen has learned that homecare is ideal for many reasons, including quality of life and cost for patients. Ensuring that quality of life, she said, has always been something that has resonated with her.
“There’s been many individual patient stories that I can look back on, and while I may not remember all their names, I remember their story,” Menchen said. “I had a particular heart transplant patient who was a very young man, and it was the first time I really interacted with home health care and durable medical equipment. Helping him get the equipment he needed in his home … really following him to his home and watching him grow up and get married and have a family of his own. It was one of those stories where I got to see the full cycle of health care—from critical care to intermediate care down to the rehab part of going home, then to the actual care he got at home.”
Menchen said that in her time at Rotech, she has learned the value of teamwork and a strong, family-like culture. She estimates that she spends 80% of her time making sure the work culture for her team and employees is supportive and encouraging.
“I’m really blessed to have an amazing team that is dedicated to what we do (and) our mission,” she said. “My personal family, of course, comes first, followed very closely by my work family. Having a culture that promotes treating each other like family drives results.
“We pick each other up when the going gets tough, we encourage each other to do better, we problem solve together, we celebrate our successes and milestones together,” she continued. “We are all successful together ... If the company does well, our employees do well, and part of our culture is (that) we expect everybody to do the best they can every day when they come to work. And my job is to make sure they have the resources and tools they need so they can do that.”