What is your job title/your role at Scottish Rite for Children?
I am our preoperative care coordinator, which means my role involves coordinating a full day of preoperative assessments for our patients the day before they have a major surgery. I also coordinate consults for all nonsurgical admissions, such as for intensive therapy, rheumatology, sleep studies, etc., that need to see various ancillary departments on the clinic level before they go up to the Inpatient Unit.

What do you do on a daily basis or what sort of duties do you have at work? 
I work closely with our nurse coordinators, surgeons, APPs and ancillary departments to coordinate preoperative care for patients being admitted to the hospital for a major surgery — usually spines, hips, limb lengthening and amputations. Patients and their families are with me for an average of three to five hours the day before their surgery, so it’s a big day!

We spend most of our time together in the Wild West Clinic, which is a space devoted to preoperative care, and it is where I coordinate for all of our providers to come to the patient to perform their preoperative assessments.

On pre-op day, our patients usually meet with their surgeon plus an average of 10 to 15 of the following ancillary departments: Radiology, Lab, Communications, Family Services, Pharmacy, perioperative nurse, anesthesiologist, child life specialist, inpatient nurse, respiratory therapist, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, dietitian, psychologist, Neurology, PDD/DBP, hospitalist, Orthotics and Prosthetics, Research and our dental team. This means that I get to work with a lot of the clinical team on a daily basis!

I usually have three to five preoperative admissions per day, and I also schedule admissions for all of our surgeries, so I stay busy!

What was your first job? What path did you take to get here or what led you to Scottish Rite? How long have you worked here?
When I was 16, I worked as a server at a local restaurant in my hometown of New Braunfels, Texas. After graduating high school, I went to Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. I graduated from Rhodes in 2009 without a clear path of what I wanted to do, so I went into sales and marketing and quickly found out that field was not the best fit for me! I transitioned into teaching high school chemistry, where I learned that I LOVE working with kids, but I still felt like something was missing. I then took a huge leap of faith and decided to go back to school. Throughout the past several years, I’ve taken all of the prerequisites to become a physician assistant and found my way to Scottish Rite for Children, seeking clinical and health care experience hours. As soon as I started working here, I knew that I had finally found my groove, and health care is where I am meant to be. I have worked at Scottish Rite for more than two years, and I love my role in helping patients and their families prepare for surgery. I cannot wait to see what the future holds.

What do you enjoy most about Scottish Rite?
I really enjoy the culture, my coworkers and our patients the most. Everyone is like family at Scottish Rite. We truly “give children back their childhood,” and I feel honored to be a part of that.

What energizes you outside of work?
I love my dog, Bubba. He’s a 13-year-old rescue cocker spaniel with a sweet personality and a little sass, just like his momma! I also enjoy cooking and experimenting with new recipes, as I’ve recently transitioned to a plant-based/vegetarian diet. Lastly, I have a mild obsession with spin/cycling classes. I’ve taken nearly 800 spin classes in the past four years!

What’s your favorite memory?
The day I rescued my dog, Bubba. I know that it is cheesy, but we rescued each other, and he has totally changed my life for the better.

What three words would your friends use to describe you?
Passionate, funny, caring

What kind of music do you like? What’s the best concert you’ve been to?
I usually listen to whatever pop music is topping the charts, but I also enjoy a variety of other genres, so a little bit of everything. I’m not a huge fan of concerts, but I do love small-venue live music.

What’s the top destination on your must-visit list?
Reykjavik, Iceland – to see the Northern Lights.