Hubbard Hospital's Queen Of Multitasking
Photo/Matthew L. Brown
Sharon Jones, critical care coordinator/medical-surgical coordinator, Hubbard Regional Hospital, Webster.
Ever worry that your boss or one of your coworkers is spread too thin? Her work is suffering, she seems distracted; there’s just too much on her plate.
It would be easy to assume that Sharon Jones is headed in that direction, but by all accounts, Hubbard Regional Hospital’s critical care coordinator/medical-surgical coordinator has done just the opposite. The folks who nominated her as a Health Care Hero say that without Jones’ dedication, perseverance and focus, the Webster-based hospital just might be “massively unorganized.”
Titles Upon Titles
For Jones, it’s all in a day’s work. And her work has become her life. In 2007, she was the ICU and cardiopulmonary coordinator. About a year ago, the ER coordinator left, so she took on the responsibilities of that job, too.
Not long after that, there was another vacancy: Medical-surgical coordinator. In addition to all that, Jones also oversees patient risk management and outpatient quality procedures.
Oh, and she’s also Hubbard’s clinical director of nurses. And she runs the hospital’s stroke committee. And the quality committee.
“I love multitasking,” she said.
It makes for long days and long weeks. Weeks that “are supposed to be 40 hours, but you never know.” It’s a good thing her children are grown and she lives close to the 22-bed hospital.
The hospital’s small size has something to do with the number of jobs Jones does. Hubbard may only have 22 beds, but the emergency room can see 40 people in any given 24-hour period. At any moment, it could be all hands on deck. It’s not the kind of place where staff can just punch the clock and not be expected to do a little extra, to stay a little longer.
Like many small hospitals, Hubbard is continually changing and probably sees more than its fair share of ups and downs. Late last year, Harrington Memorial Hospital in nearby Southbridge took over the day-to-day operation of Hubbard.
For Jones, the job is still the same. Help people who come to the hospital in need of care. According to Blaine Moffa, Hubbard’s public relations coordinator, Jones has greatly improved the hospital’s emergency room and has “drastically reduced” the number of patient walk-outs each day. Under Jones, the ER has become faster and more efficient and the care patients receive there has improved. And Moffa recognized that Jones’ dedication doesn’t stop at the end of a shift. “She dedicates her time on and off the clock,” Moffa said, to helping Hubbard serve its little corner of Worcester County.
“It’s a small hospital,” Jones said. “You have to jump in. When the ambulance comes in, you have to put down your supervisor hat and jump in.”
Jones also knows that getting phone calls at all hours of the night is part of the job, too. In fact, she enjoys it.
She said her former mother-in-law got her into nursing and before Hubbard, she worked at Milford Hospital. “I like the fastness of it,” she said. And she likes the fact that even though she’s a supervisor, she is still required to just be a nurse.
“It doesn’t mean I can’t get my hands dirty,” she said. “Initials after your name mean nothing as far as I’m concerned. I try my best. It’s all I can do.”
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