‘An incredible journey’: Healthcare workers reflect on decades at St. Joseph
Care for the community and a dedication to the mission of PeaceHealth have kept Terry Carter and Joni Dixon at St. Joseph Medical Center for decades.
Carter is the director of nursing at the hospital. Dixon is the director of patient safety. This June, both women are celebrating milestones: 45 years and 35 years, respectively, at St. Joseph.
After spending their lives working in the industry, the two are reflecting on the highlights of their careers and the changes they’ve seen in healthcare.
Carter first started at St. Joe’s in 1981. She started out as a staff nurse before becoming a charge nurse. She later spent 27 years as a house manager before taking the director position. She has worked across and overseen many different departments.
“I’ve had an incredible journey here at PeaceHealth. I’ve been very fortunate to have the career of a lifetime,” Carter said in an interview with The Bellingham Herald.
Dixon began her career in hospitals and medical offices in Seattle and Eugene, Oregon, before making her way to PeaceHealth in Bellingham, where she has spent the vast majority of her career.
Dixon’s background is in medical technology and laboratory science. She also held many positions at the hospital over the years before eventually finding herself in her current position.
“I care deeply about the quality of healthcare that anyone in our community receives. We are sort of the cornerstone of healthcare in the community,” Dixon told The Herald.
Facility, care improvements over the decades
Carter and Dixon have both seen a lot of changes over the years, from the size and layout of the building itself and overseeing the development of new facilities, to the transition into electronic medical records. They’ve seen the implementation of new, life-saving technologies and watched hospital stays for procedures reduce significantly as care has improved.
“I’ve gone from using glass thermometers to electric thermometers to scanning thermometers,” Carter said. “Gallbladder removal used to be seven to ten days at the hospital but can now be done as outpatient.”
Dixon said she remembers the first open-heart surgery performed at St. Joseph on July 25, 1994.
“It was quite exciting for the organization and the community to be able to offer that service,” Dixon said. “I would love for the community to realize what a gift they have in this organization.”
Overcoming challenges
Carter and Dixon were both frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. They agreed that period of time was one of the hardest of their careers. But they’ll also tell you it is a time they look back on with pride.
“The time we spent during COVID was really challenging for healthcare in general — just dealing with the uncertainty and the changes we needed to implement really rapidly during that time. The toll that it took on the frontline staff was really striking and that will live with me forever,” Dixon told The Herald.
“COVID was an incredibly creative time in healthcare. It was probably the biggest time in my career when everyone stepped up to the plate,” Carter said. “It really warms my heart that, when it comes down to it, our staff really helped our community. Even though it was a really tough time, we really tried to support each other in the best way possible.”
A guiding mission and a legacy of giving back
When asked what has kept both women at St. Joseph for so many years, Carter and Dixon pointed to the hospital’s mission: those in need of care deserve compassion, understanding and respect.
It’s a belief that was established by the hospital’s founding sisters who opened PeaceHealth in 1890, and has guided both women in their decades-long careers.
“Working with the sisters and understanding what their mission was, was really important to me,” Carter said. “The sisters really were all about the community and I got to see it firsthand, time after time.”
“It’s the stories of those strong-willed, socially-minded sisters that has really grounded me and kept me here. The values of the organization, the mission — we carry on and serve our community,” Dixon said.
As both Carter and Dixon look back on the value of their careers, they said they feel proud of the relationships they’ve built that have supported the hard work of the organization.
“What keeps me here, is the caregivers and serving our community,” Carter said.
“There are a number of individuals that work here at PeaceHealth — one individual in particular who started with me in the laboratory. She is still here 28 years later,” Dixon said. “There are several people in the organization that in one point in time either worked with me or reported to me that have gone on to grow and do other things. So I see it as a testament of how I’ve been able to coach and mentor others to find their place.”
A message to new healthcare workers and the community
With retirement rounding the corner in the coming years, Carter and Dixon have some advice for new healthcare workers and the community as a whole.
Carter’s advice for new nurses is to always strive for work-life balance. She also wants people to stay curious and engaged, and look for the little joys in life every day. Dixon said she hopes new healthcare workers can build patience, persistence, courage and relationships, because she credits those pillars with getting her to where she is today.
And for everyone else in Bellingham and Whatcom County:
“I think when you’ve lived in the community for a long time, you can take (the hospital) for granted. Oftentimes I think you hear from the squeaky wheel and the unsatisfied. Frankly, we’ve got amazing people that work throughout the organization and I would put our organization up against any hospital in the nation. We’re awesome. We’re amazing,” Dixon said.
“We should all engage in supporting our community hospital,” Carter said.
