Saturday, February 12, 2022
I first met Monica in August of 1980 when I was considering moving to Olympia from Seattle and wanted to see if St. Peter Hosp was looking for Operating Room nurses. I was 28 years old and working at Group Health Central O.R. in Seattle. Prior to that I'd worked at various hospitals in Kansas City, Missouri, and University of Missouri and my hometown of Leavenworth Kansas.
As I arrived at St. Peter Hospital I was impressed by its modern look and, especially, what struck me as the most beautiful parking lot I'd ever seen attached to a hospital. I walked in off the street and found the human resources office and within 20 minutes I was sitting in a meeting with the Director of Nursing and Monica Howell.
They hired me on the spot and after shaking hands, Monica took me on a tour of the OR suite. As we walked thru the double doors into the 5 room OR, my spirits dropped and I was flooded with remorse because while the other parts of the hospital were bright and modern, the OR was poorly lit and cluttered. The hallways were lined with equipment and gurneys. It reminded me of the small, ancient ORs I'd seen in the midwest. In addition to that, as the only hospital and, therefore, Operating Room in Olympia, this OR was extremely busy, which means it was running rooms nearly 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. It was also understaffed which explained my lightning fast hiring process. Call shifts were long and frequent.
However part of the brief interview process was the assurance that plans for remodel and update of the OR were in place and on schedule. Over the next few years, Monica, along with Dr. Tom Fell, administrator Dave Bjornson and a few others, worked hard to transform the OR into a spacious, state-of-the-art facility. During the entire time that Monica was in charge of the OR, she kept pushing for changes that would modernize and help the OR provide the best care for the patients while improving support for the staff.
I stayed in the St Peter OR for the remainder of my working life and feel lucky that Monica was already there, working hard, when I pulled into that beautiful parking lot 42 years ago.
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