Ensights Magazine

faces of the Ensworth parent association

Faces of the Ensworth Parent Association

Editorial Staff
The Parent Association profiles three Ensworth parents: Dr. Christopher Rehm, Dr. Kiabe Allen, and Dr. Stacey Vallejo.

Dr. Christopher Rehm

Spouse: Dr. Kris Rehm
Children: Jackson & Lucas (’23),
Grant & Logan (’25)

In addition to your PA involvement, you served on the Parent Committee for the Southern Association of Independent Schools Accreditation Survey during the 2019-2020 school year. One of the four major areas of the self-study focused on embracing diversity and supporting identity and inclusion. Where do you feel the PA has a role in helping to continue to make progress in this area across our community?
The Parent Association, in collaboration with the school, can and should continue to push us all to learn, reflect, and grow. This is a unique time in the history of the United States. Educational institutions have the opportunity to take the lead in educating, informing, and creating forums for honest and open dialogue to provide the environment for each and every one of us as parents, educators, and students to move forward in a direction that is not the same as the past, but better than the past. The Parent Association and school can capitalize on the momentum. Things like recommended reading lists, book clubs, monthly speakers, and implicit bias education are just a few examples of ways the PA and the school can ensure that the Ensworth Community enters the summer of 2021 better members of the larger American Society. This will position parents, educators, and our children to be active participants and lead the change that is needed.
 
Congratulations on your recent promotion to Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer with Lifepoint Health! Could you share a little bit about the dyad leadership model you all have implemented as an institution, and how it’s perhaps shaped your perspective on teamwork/collaboration? How can we apply its lessons to our community of parents, students, and educators?
Being in a Dyad Partnership at work is the epitome of recognizing that everything we do in life is a team sport. No single individual knows everything or can do everything by himself or herself. Michelle Watson is my Dyad partner at LifePoint Health. She is the Chief Nursing Officer while I am the Chief Medical Officer. LifePoint made the commitment at the senior leadership level to create the dyad model to highlight the importance of teamwork in delivering the highest quality care that every patient deserves. Education is very similar in my mind. The school administration team has spent years learning about education theory and further developing that knowledge. Teachers dedicated their careers to be the best educators possible. In addition, many of our administrators and teachers are also parents which brings additional perspective, knowledge, and insights to the table. Lastly, the community of parents at Ensworth is an incredibly talented group of parents. We bring a wealth of collective experience on parenting and children. In addition, we have experts among us from a diverse training and career perspective to assist and lend insight into any domain we could think of relevant to Ensworth’s near term to long term strategic planning. Bringing all of these groups together to work in partnership focused on what’s best for the students makes for a powerful formula to drive improvements moving forward.
 
Tell us about your family. Having two sets of twin boys must make for an interesting dynamic!
I guess you could say our family started with funny coincidences that were in pairs and continued with that theme through today! Starting with the obvious. Kris and Christopher Rehm. Kris, my wife, was born on April 4th (4/4) and I was born on November 11th (11/11).  We both finished residency with plans to practice and potentially do something within healthcare beyond bedside care. We find ourselves about twenty years after finishing residency with careers in healthcare that look very similar to our dreams with emphasis on systems of care, operations, and doing what we can to put the front line caregivers in the best position to deliver high quality care to every patient they see. We are blessed with two sets of fraternal twin boys just under three years apart. Luckily, we had just a few short months of four kids in diapers! Having two sets of twins has shaped who we are as a family. Every decision is in the context of that decision’s impact on someone else. No one in our family really gets their way, we try to negotiate an agreeable middle ground. In trying times like we are living through now, we appreciate how our twins are best friends. It is never 100% all roses, but the built-in buddy has far outweighed the built-in nemesis!

Dr. Kiabe Allen

Spouse: Dr. Brandon Allen
Children: Myles (’29); Amare,
Grade 8 at Martin Luther King Magnet
 
You were one of five At-Large Representatives on the 2019-2020 Parent Association Board. At-Large board members represent our parent body “at large” and offer their perspectives and voices as part of the PA leadership. Did you enjoy this role? Tell us about your experience.
I have always had an interest in becoming more involved with the Parent Association but never felt that I could commit the time needed to be an engaged participant. Being an At-Large Board member allowed me to learn more about the Parent Association’s role in the Ensworth community, the inner workings of Ensworth, and the principles that guide the decision making at Ensworth—without a huge time commitment. Meeting parents from a variety of backgrounds was a wonderful experience; it was great to see that the Board continues to pursue a greater representation of the diversity Ensworth has embraced at large. I enjoyed hearing the opinions of this group and getting to know many of them as individuals in and outside of meetings.
 
From Tornados, to COVID-19, to police brutality and the increasing momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement, this has been a monumental year to date. How is your family doing, how supported by the Ensworth community do you and your family feel, and what role would you like to see the PA play in efforts to increase diversity, equity and inclusion moving forward?
The world has certainly changed in ways that none of us could have imagined just a few months ago. A week before the pandemic took hold in Nashville, we were terrified by the tornadoes. All was well in our household, so we focused on donating both resources and time to help relieve the plight of those who weren’t as fortunate as we were. Our boys were happy to participate as they regularly engage in serving others at Ensworth. One short week later, the COVID-19 pandemic came to the forefront, and things drastically changed for all of us. As health care professionals, Brandon and I both have had to adjust to many changes in delivering patient care along with helping our children navigate remote learning. Thanks to their efforts, and those of their teachers, our boys were able to finish the school year strong.
 
The recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have sparked anger, fear and optimism in our household. Brandon and I have always had concerns about our boys as they develop into young, intelligent Black men; the challenges ahead of them appear long and daunting.  They both feel supported in their current school environments, but are not ignorant to the issues race and ethnicity bring with them. We remain hopeful about the future for them and countless others because of the support for equal opportunity, justice, and protection of Black lives many CEOs, people of prominence, and leaders all over the world have recently shared. The Black Lives Matter Movement was started many years ago as a peaceful effort to educate others about the issues of social injustice and inequality in the Black community. The worldwide momentum it has recently gained may be the spark needed to promote real change in local, national and global communities. We can only hope.
 
Amare and Myles have always felt included and respected at Ensworth. We have been fortunate to connect with other families that have treated our children as their own; nothing feels better than knowing our children are in good hands. I appreciate the efforts Ensworth has taken to diversify the student body so that anyone would feel comfortable going to school here. I do think that we have more work to do and believe one of the most successful ways to diversify a school is to diversify the staff. More recruitment of teachers and students of color is paramount to promoting diversity. The world is changing, and our children need to interact with other children and adults from different backgrounds. This type of exposure will help us all to not only become tolerant of our differences, but to develop a deeper understanding of these differences so we can view life from more than one perspective.
 
As a psychiatrist, tell us what’s emerging in the realm of mental health and wellness in response to these tumultuous times?
Since I moved to Nashville, I have worked for Centerstone, a community mental health organization that works largely with underserved populations. Under normal circumstances, I spend a great deal of time with children and their families, but since COVID-19 hit, I have missed seeing my patients and their families face-to-face. I am grateful that technology has allowed us to engage each other through Telehealth visits. Mental health services in general have become more challenging as we try to address the increase in demand as people have become more isolated, depressed and fearful about the future. Yet, access to care has also been greater as people can have appointments in their own living rooms; some of these individuals couldn’t make it to the clinic consistently due to lack of transportation, financial problems or difficulty getting time off from work. As a community mental health organization, we also serve as a bridge to food and other services our patients might need during this time. We encourage self-care and inquire about the well-being of all family members in the home; when necessary, we make appropriate referrals for them as well. So while I am sometimes frustrated with spending more time at home when I would love to be sitting on the beach somewhere, I am always grateful and humbled by the resilience that my patients have. In spite of what they are facing right now, they continue to push through, and they inspire me to keep on pushing through too.

Dr. Stacey Vallejo

Spouse: Dr. Victor Vallejo,
Children: Brayden (’26), Cooper (’28),
Delaney (’30)

Tell us a little bit about your job as a pulmonologist/intensivist and what it has been like working on the front lines during a global pandemic?
I work at St. Thomas West as a pulmonologist/intensivist and have worked there for over 10 years. I see patients in my clinic to assist with the treatment of COPD or asthma, evaluate shortness of breath, and diagnose lung cancer. I also see patients in the hospital who are admitted for various lung issues. The most intense part of my job occurs when I am working twelve-hour shifts in the Medical Intensive Care Unit where critically ill patients are on ventilators and medications to help their blood pressure. I have always found this part of my work to be the most challenging but also the most rewarding. The coronavirus pandemic has taken this aspect of my work to the next level. COVID 19 patients become critically ill very quickly and in a way that we as medical professionals have not seen before. My partners and I are learning daily and doing our best to care for these patients with supportive equipment and available treatments. And of course, an added stress is the chance to become infected yourself. I have been fortunate to have enough Personal Protective Equipment at all times and amazing staff working with me. I have truly been inspired by everyone around me.
 
How do you balance your job with your volunteer efforts at school and why do you think it’s important to be involved at your kids’ school?
Since I started my job 10 years ago, I have made many changes to my schedule to accommodate my role as a mom. At the beginning of each year, I go through the calendar to make sure I can participate in some of my kids’ activities. I enjoy being involved with my kids’ school because I love meeting their classmates, the teachers and other parents. I also feel that my involvement allows me to be closer to my kids by seeing their experiences at school.
 
How are you and your family handling the coronavirus pandemic? What role do you think the PA could serve in supporting families during these times?
I will certainly admit that the coronavirus pandemic and all of its effects—a busy MICU, distance learning, staying at home, wearing masks and social distancing—has been a challenge for us. I usually tell people we are just taking it “one day at a time.” I appreciate everything the PA does for me as a parent throughout the year. The PA could support families during this unusual time through texts, cards or emails; communication that I have received throughout this time has meant so much to me.
Back

Share This Article

List of 4 news stories.

Red Gables Campus (K–8)

Nashville, TN 37205
(615) 383-0661

Frist Campus (9–12)

Nashville, TN 37221
(615) 301-5400
Ensworth is a coeducational, kindergarten through twelfth grade, independent day school.