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People smoked in hospitals, men were not allowed in hospital delivery rooms, paper record keeping shifted to computers, digital thermometers became a standard instead of glass, and the number of women entering medical professions was on the rise. This included one nurse, Joan Campbell, RN, who has witnessed each of these changes during her career of 30 years at Cass Regional Medical Center.

After completing school at Research Hospital School of Nursing (presently known as Research School of Nursing), and becoming the director of nursing for a nursing home at age 21, Campbell became Cass Regional’s evening supervisor in the former Labor and Delivery Unit in 1976.

“If we didn’t have many deliveries that day, we would work in the Medical/Surgical Unit or the Emergency Department. It was a different setup in those days,” Campbell said.

In 1981, she became office manager for former Cass Regional doctor and current Air Force Surgeon General Dr. Mark A. Ediger and then for former Cass Regional surgeon, Dr. Lee Ludwig. Since 1986, Campbell has managed offices and clinics for various surgeons and family practice physicians. She is concluding her career on April 28 as manager of Peculiar Medical Clinic, Drexel Medical Clinic, Archie Medical Clinic and Garden City Medical Clinic.

“I’ve gained a lot of knowledge from the surgeons and physicians I’ve worked for. Dr. Marvin Cohen really taught me a lot about patient care, integrity, compassion and medicine. He always did the right thing and that has stuck with me. He always said, ‘just do the right thing,’” Campbell said. “I like the challenge of managing, keeping everything going, being able to manage people, treating them fairly, and trying to instill that into the employees, too. I do my best to do the right thing, knowing that everything else will fall into place.”

Campbell has witnessed numerous changes over the years, from remodeling projects to moving from the old hospital into the current facility. Her career in the ever-changing health care industry has faced large shifts in order to keep up with process improvements and increased security, too.

“Things are more compartmentalized. I used to be in charge of payroll, purchasing, billing, insurance, the whole gamut, and now we have the Business Office and specific people who do coding and so on. That’s been a huge transition,” Campbell said. “And HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] is huge now. In earlier years, we never heard of HIPAA. All of our charts were out in the open, the hospital printed out a sheet of names of patients in the hospital that was handed out daily. So, that is completely different. We would conserve the paper and cut those lists up to use as our notepads the next day.”

While reflecting on her career, Campbell explained her appreciation for the “family” Cass Regional has provided her over the years and that she’s appreciated the benefits provided to employees. She feels she has been treated well in her career, as she will miss her work family most.

“I will miss all of my coworkers, the people I’ve learned to know over the years and the interactions with everybody,” Campbell said.

Campbell also recalled a special, humorous memory during her earliest years at Cass Regional while working in obstetrics.

“Dr. Kirsch was the doctor, a family practice doctor, a country doctor who people paid with food, or one time a pair of shoes. He came to deliver a baby late at night, and he delivered so many babies, because if they couldn’t pay, that was okay with him. He sat between the woman’s legs waiting for the baby to come and he fell asleep,” Campbell explained. “About that time, she pushed hard, and of course I was standing beside him to assist, and the baby popped out and I caught it. That was pretty funny.”

After 45 years of working, Campbell said retirement feels good; like a breath of fresh air.

“It came so fast,” Campbell said. “I don’t know where the time went.”

Campbell is looking forward to the future and how she will spend her free time. Along with caring for her 98-year-old mother, she hopes to visit elderly members of her church, offer to babysit for young mothers, rehab a newly purchased rental property, cook more and start volunteering. She is also compiling a travel list consisting of tropical locations, an Alaskan cruise and road trips through the states.

Following 30 years of experience at Cass Regional, Campbell’s number one message to her Cass Regional family is to ‘do the right thing.’

“Always be honest and fair, treat people individually. People say, ‘treat people how you want to be treated,’ but that’s not really right because everyone is different and they don’t want to be treated the same way. Try to respect people’s differences,” Campbell said. “And think before you talk, I’ve learned that one especially in management. But also in your work, try to have some fun. Don’t be so serious. You are here forever—eight, nine or 10 hours a day. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Lastly, when you work for an organization, promote that organization in a good light.”