Earlier this year, we asked staff members to tell us why they were proud to be part of CoxHealth and the response was overwhelming. We’re featuring a few of the best stories in CoxHealth Connection and here on the blog.
Jeanna Barker, Oxford HealthCare
When Jeanna Barker was 17, her father was killed by a drunk driver. At the time, she was ready to begin business college to become an accountant. Then, she met the crew of EMS professionals who worked the scene of her dad’s accident. She initially went to thank them, but they became fast friends.
“I was in awe of everything they go through,” she says. “I wanted to be able to help people. Putting on that uniform and going out to do the best you can for the person you’re picking up – that means something.”
She decided to become an EMT and by the time she was 22 in the early 1990s, she took a position working on the mobile neo-natal intensive care unit, known as the Baby Buggy. She spent the next eight years dividing her time between the Baby Buggy and other Pre-Hospital roles.
“It was amazing – you saw people save 1.5-pound babies that seemed like they weren’t going to make it,” she says. “We were doing everything we could for someone who couldn’t tell us what was wrong or help themselves in any way. That’s rewarding.”
After spending years in the field in Pre-Hospital, she took on a new challenge in clerical support with Oxford’s in-home services. For the last 16 years, she’s been using the business skills she began honing as a teenager to support Oxford’s clients.
“My dad knew what he was talking about when he sent me to business school, he just didn’t realize he needed to send me for health care as well,” she says with a laugh.
Now, her role encompasses the best of both worlds and she takes pride in being part of Oxford’s commitment to serving its clients.
“We work as a team to make sure everyone is taken care of and that’s what I really like about this job.”
This year, she’s celebrating 24 years with CoxHealth and she says there’s no place she’d rather be.
“I hope to retire here – I’ve been here more than half my life and this is home. This is where I’ve made it my business to be successful and I want the business to succeed as well,” she says.
“CoxHealth is a very people-friendly atmosphere and we’re a very people-invested company – in both our patients and our employees. It’s been a blessing to work for CoxHealth and I have been blessed to work with some of the most wonderful people. I don’t think you could work for a better company.”
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