1. CAREER INTERVIEW Interview with Sherry Whalen By: Grace Whittle and Molly Andrews

2. 1.How long have you been working?  Sherry has been working for currently 28 years in Eastern Health. She started back in high school when she was 16 years old in sterilization and is now currently working in Orthopedic central intake at St.Clares and TJAC (total joint assessment clinic) at the Miller Center.

3. 2. What jobs have you had in the past?  She has worked in many different departments in Eastern Health over the past 28 years such as,  Sterilization (St.Clares)  Lemarchant house  X-ray (St.Clares)  Switch Board (St.Clares)  Emerge (St.Clares)  7-West (St.Clares)  Out-patients (Health Sciences)  Day Surgery (Health Sciences)  Emergency referral clerk (Health Scieneces)  Sterilization (Janeway)

4. 3.What things do you do in your job?  Currently works for 3 clinics the jobs include doing: Orthopedic Central Intake  Receive referals  Notify family doctor when referal is received, prioritized and booked  Book priority patients  Put 35-40 referals in database every day

5. Injection Clinic  Book all appointments  Notify family doctor when referal is received, prioritized and booked TJAC  Does booking  Notifies  Calls patient day before appointment to confirm it  Does charts on the day of the clinic  Enter everything in database  Order all supplies for the clinic

6. Does payroll for the following  Orthopedic Cenrtal Intake  TJAC  Bariatric Surgery Program

7. 4.What are you currently classified as in your job?  She has currently been promoted to a clerk 3 typist. Up until recently was a Clerk 2 typist.

8. 5. When can you retire? Will you retire at that time?  Can retire in 2025 (10 years)  If financially able to retire she will retire when 55 but if not will continuing working

9. 6. Do you like your job?  She likes her job very much  Likes that the main focus is patient care and working efficiantly  Has a very good manager and very friendly co-workers  Loves that she is busy all the time

10. 7. If you could do any other job what would it be? Why?  Be in a supervisor position  She will be in a supervisor position in a few years when the department expands to more surgical programs  This position has more pay and she would like to have more control of things after 28 years

11. 8. How many hours in a week are you supposed to work?  Supposed to work around 37 and a half hours a week but usually works more than that  Works from around 7-4

12. 9. Do you have health benefits at work?  Yes  Medical and Dental benefits

13. 10. What encouraged to you to enter this field?  Grew up with many family members that worked at the hospital so became interested at a young age  At the time it payed more than minimum wage so she felt that at that time it would be a good job

14. 11. Did you work during highschool?  Yes, worked in sterilization  Summers between grade 10-11 and 11-12  Beginning of working at the hospital

15. 12. Out of all the jobs you’ve had in Eastern Health what was your favourite?  Her current job is her favourite out of all of them due to her nice co-workers and just enjoys being busy but the most exciting job she had was working in emerge

16. 13. Are you required to wear a uniform?  Not for this job because she works in an office so there is no need for scrubs or anything along those lines due to not being in direct patient care  Used to wear scrubs for previous jobs that did involve direct patient care

17. 14. Since you’ve had many jobs in Eastern Health what were the locations that you’ve worked in?  St.Clares  Janeway (old janeway)  Health Sciences  Lemarchant house

18. 15.Are there any school subjects that prepared you for this type of work?  No, not really  Did a typing course during her high school years which is a requirement for her job

19. 16.Is this the job you wanted when you were younger?  No  She wanted to be either a marine biologist or a pharmasist

20. 17.Did you go to post secondary?  No only did courses such as medical terminology, typing course, sterilization course  Had lots of experience built up since she was working from the age of 16 which is what got her promoted from a clerk 2 typist to a clerk 3 typist

21. 18. Do you work alone or with others?  Half and half  Works with others half of the time and alone the other half

22. 19.Do you prefer to work alone or with others?  Enjoys the company of others but gets more work done alone due to not socializing all the time so she can focus

23. 20.Do you think you will ever leave this job?  No, finds jobs very interesting and is very happy with the job she has at the moment