Our People - SSM Health Care
Our People - SSM Health Care Our People - SSM Health Care
The Nice Guy It started with cows. At age 12, Carl Dodd began spending his summers living and working on farms near his hometown of Monticello, Wis. The cash he and his two brothers earned on the farms paid for their clothes and school supplies and provided spending money for the year. So Carl rose at 5 a.m. daily, milked the cows, baled hay, drove a combine through the oat fields, planted, performed other chores and finished about 7 p.m. by milking the cows again. His education continued behind a bar. Dodd’s parents owned a bar and restaurant in Carl Dodd Monticello (population 800) but with eight bars in the community, competition was fierce and money scarce. “The hours were 8 a.m. until midnight, seven days a week,” he said. “In the 20 years my parents owned it, they must have aged 60 years. We were dirt poor.” At 16, he began cooking and tending bar in his parents’ business, listening to the triumphs and troubles of friends and neighbors sitting on the barstools. “You knew everybody and you heard everything about them,” Dodd said. By age 19, Dodd was in Viet Nam (1970-71) patrolling the Mekong Delta in a boat. Slowly motoring at night through canals that were barely 20 feet wide and thickly lined with vegetation, he came under fire 47 times during his tour of duty. He said, with a hint of humor, “Hopefully, it made me a better person.” After returning from Viet Nam, he moved to Madison, worked three years as a private detective, and then became a bill collector. The Giver “Never lose a chance to say a kind word.” One doesn’t have to spend much time with Amy Merten to realize that this phrase inscribed on her office wall is more than a decoration. It is clear that, for the cardiology supervisor at the Centralia, Ill., campus of St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Inc., kindness is a way of life. Merten’s Amy Merten colleagues know her as a happy, easy presence – quick to give a smile or lend a hand. When she walks through the halls of her department or the hospital, she cheerfully greets everyone she meets and shares laughs and hugs with patients who are regular visitors to cardiac rehabilitation. “I didn’t look forward to my day,” Dodd said. “We tried to collect money from people and, if we couldn’t do that, we sued them.” Dodd then joined St. Mary’s as a patient account collector, with the word “collector” later changed to “advisor” because there was a marked difference between the way St. Mary’s handled billing and the way Dodd’s previous agency did. “We spend more time providing financial assistance to patients than we do collecting,” he said. Dodd listens to patients and determines their financial status. Many of the patients are embarrassed, angry, and frightened, holding a medical bill they cannot pay with the added strain of their own ailment or the illness of a loved one. They are a short step away from losing everything and bracing for more threats, when they hear Dodd say “let’s see what we can work out.” In most cases, the bill is written off when Dodd discovers their income level is too low. St. Mary’s wrote off $14 million in bills in 2009 and set up payment plans for other patients. Relief often dissolves into tears. “Financial assistance is the best part of my job,” Dodd said. “We’re doing people a service, and we have so many ways to help them. I look forward to coming to work.” Dodd has found himself in a job, where his experiences with poverty, hard work, listening to people, understanding fear, and what it’s like to have few options, have come together in the most important word he associates with his job: “compassion.” “You have to put yourself in the shoes of other people who are doing the best they can,” he said. What’s her secret “I enjoy what I do,” Merten says. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a nurse. I’ve always known that I want to help people. There’s not a day that I get up in the morning that I don’t want to come to work.” For 24 years she’s felt this way. Merten began her career at St. Mary’s Good Samaritan in 1986 on the surgical unit. She quickly moved to the intensive care unit where she worked for 12 years. The last dozen years have been dedicated to cardiology. In each of her roles at St. Mary’s Good Samaritan, Merten has been defined by her desire to help others, both her patients and her coworkers. She considers her six years of service on the hospital’s mission team to be some of her most rewarding work, especially her membership on the subcommittee for the Spirit Fund. This fund distributes thousands of employee-contributed dollars each year to colleagues who are facing personal crises. “I was brought up in a very loving, Christian home. I was taught to treat people as I want to be treated,” Merten said. “I’ve been blessed in many ways in my life and I try to extend the same grace and blessings to others.” 6
The Young Leader Maurine Free is her own toughest critic. Since last May, she’s been the team leader for the emergency department at the new SSM St. Clare Health Center in Fenton, Mo., where she supervises more than 50 people. Managing is a new challenge for the 31-year-old nurse. Free didn’t expect to become a nurse at all, let alone manage an ED. In school, she found math and science hard and figured a nursing career was out of the question. But people encouraged her to be a nurse; they saw something in her. And now she realizes: “There’s so much more to being a nurse than science.” Like compassion. Like service. First she worked at a children’s residence and later at a nursing home, both of which she loved, but she needed something more. So she moved to the ED in a large trauma center and found her niche. “The ED changes all the time,” she said. “Every day is different.” She was a per diem nurse at St. Clare when Martha Rahm, ED director, approached her about becoming manager. Free was hesitant at first. But she went through the requisite interviews and got the job. Rahm described what she wanted: “Your job,” she told Free, “is to take care of the people who take care of the people.” Free was up for it. She started as manager in May 2009. The first six months were really hard. Not only was St. Clare a brand new hospital, 50 new employees had been hired in the ED since March 31. People didn’t know one another or where to find things. Processes were new. It was up to Free to make the department gel; she found she couldn’t do it overnight. James Reedy, a friend and director of nursing, Neurosciences Institute at St. Clare, put things into perspective. “You used to be an expert,” he told Free. ”You were the best bedside nurse. This is something new, and you expected to be great at it right away. Give yourself some time!” She took his advice, along with that of Rahm, who said running a department is “like figure skating. It looks easy, but it’s not.” In early 2010, the department began to gel. Free spends a lot of time walking around, rounding on patients and her staff, and, when things get busy, stepping in to support the bedside nurses. She would never ask anyone to do something she wouldn’t do herself. One big focus for Free is raising staff awareness that they are constantly onstage. “Patients listen to everything that’s going on,” she said. “They’re watching us, and they’re listening to what we say. The only time we’re offstage is in the break room.” She demands of herself that she give 100 percent — 100 percent of the time. “I went into nursing to make a difference,” said Free, who works hard to meet the needs of her staff. “I’m an optimist,” she said. “People who enjoy their work take better care of patients.” Maurine Free Go to www.ssmpeople.com to watch Our People. 7
- Page 1 and 2: A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION BY SSM HEAL
- Page 3 and 4: OptimiSSM A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION B
- Page 5: The Twins Even before birth, the Lo
- Page 9 and 10: The Fixers Throughout SSM Health Ca
- Page 11 and 12: The Safety Champion Growing up, Deb
- Page 13 and 14: Record Is Better for… Nurses Mary
- Page 15 and 16: Green Roofs St. Mary’s Hospital i
- Page 17 and 18: Other Green Efforts Reported Around
- Page 19 and 20: Heart Failure Scores for 2009 All S
- Page 21 and 22: SSM-WIDE SSM Comes to the Aid of Ha
- Page 23 and 24: THE S.P.A.T.U.L.A. MEETS NEVER LIFT
The Young Leader<br />
Maurine Free is her own toughest critic. Since last May, she’s<br />
been the team leader for the emergency department at the new<br />
<strong>SSM</strong> St. Clare <strong>Health</strong> Center in Fenton, Mo., where she supervises<br />
more than 50 people. Managing is a new challenge for the<br />
31-year-old nurse.<br />
Free didn’t expect to become a nurse at all, let alone manage<br />
an ED. In school, she found math and science hard and figured a<br />
nursing career was out of the question. But people encouraged<br />
her to be a nurse; they saw something in her. And now she realizes:<br />
“There’s so much more to being a nurse than science.” Like compassion.<br />
Like service.<br />
First she worked at a children’s residence and later at a nursing<br />
home, both of which she loved, but she needed something more. So<br />
she moved to the ED in a large trauma center and found her niche.<br />
“The ED changes all the time,” she said. “Every day is different.”<br />
She was a per diem nurse at St. Clare when Martha Rahm,<br />
ED director, approached her about becoming manager.<br />
Free was hesitant at first. But she went through the requisite<br />
interviews and got the job. Rahm described what she wanted: “Your<br />
job,” she told Free, “is to take care of the people who take care of<br />
the people.” Free was up for it. She started as manager in May 2009.<br />
The first six months were really hard. Not only was St. Clare<br />
a brand new hospital, 50 new employees had been hired in the<br />
ED since March 31. <strong>People</strong> didn’t know one another or where to<br />
find things. Processes were new. It was up to Free to make the department<br />
gel; she found she couldn’t do it overnight.<br />
James Reedy, a friend and director of nursing, Neurosciences<br />
Institute at St. Clare, put things into perspective. “You used to be<br />
an expert,” he told Free. ”You were the best bedside nurse. This<br />
is something new, and you expected to be great at it right away.<br />
Give yourself some time!”<br />
She took his advice, along with that of Rahm, who said running<br />
a department is “like figure skating. It looks easy, but it’s not.”<br />
In early 2010, the department began to gel. Free spends a lot<br />
of time walking around, rounding on patients and her staff, and,<br />
when things get busy, stepping in to support the bedside nurses. She<br />
would never ask anyone to do something she wouldn’t do herself.<br />
One big focus for Free is raising staff awareness that they are<br />
constantly onstage. “Patients listen to everything that’s going on,”<br />
she said. “They’re watching us, and they’re listening to what we<br />
say. The only time we’re offstage is in the break room.”<br />
She demands of herself that she give 100 percent — 100 percent<br />
of the time. “I went into nursing to make a difference,” said Free,<br />
who works hard to meet the needs of her staff.<br />
“I’m an optimist,” she said. “<strong>People</strong> who enjoy their work take<br />
better care of patients.”<br />
Maurine Free<br />
Go to www.ssmpeople.com to watch <strong>Our</strong> <strong>People</strong>.<br />
7
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