ELIZABETHTOWN - Jennifer Coble was born in at the same hospital in Elizabethtown that was to be the place of her destiny as a main cog at Cape Fear Valley Bladen Hospital.
“I started working at the hospital in 1987, and I know I’m dating myself,” Coble said. “My dad actually came to visit me one day at the hospital and at that time I was the business office manager. He came in and he laughed and I asked him what was so funny. He said, ‘This is the room you were born in.’”
Quite a confirmation is embedded in that story.
“I grew up in Bladen County and I grew up in health care,” she said. “I love the different stages I have worked in and I love to work with people.”
Being in northern Bladen County, she actually went cross-county to Garland High School where she graduated. After high school she had no clue that health care was going to be her career endeavor.
“I was actually leaning toward teaching,” she said. “I had a lady in my church who was the head of radiology at that time. Every opportunity she had, she kept plugging me in that direction. So, I eventually moved in that direction.”
Coble is one of those powerful women who came out of the ‘70s and without a degree she changed her little corner of the world and continues to change things around her to this day for the better. Not only was she able to work in many areas of health care, but left footprints that others who follow have a hard time filling.
“I have raised three children, the oldest of which is an attorney in Charlotte,” she said. “My middle son is in Wilmington and does pharmaceutical research and my youngest is in Leland and works at Novant (Novant Health). As for after high school, I got married to my childhood sweetheart and unfortunately, he passed away in 2008. I have learned to be independent and now I just do what I like to do. My daughter and I just did a trip to Nashville for her birthday last October.”
Although Coble has gone through some adversity, it has only served to strengthen her and her passion.
“Health care has been a passion for me,” she said. “I’ve been a part of it all through its evolution which started for me in 1987 and seeing the hospital grow. And I’ve grown along with it. Over the years, the biggest change I’ve seen is technology and how it’s impacting the day-to-day operations.”
She said that the hard part was the struggle in growing with the new technology.
“I use it as an opportunity for us to teach every day,” Coble said. “You never know what you may deal with. You come in the door with a desire to help people and I see this as something I was meant to do. My grandmother instilled in me several years ago, and I remember it as if it were yesterday. She said that if you did not give 110% in the things you did, you stole from the person you were working for that day. So, when I cross over that threshold coming in and when I leave here going home, I ask myself if I did everything I could have done for people I’ve dealt with on that day.”
She said that she assesses herself, makes changes if need be and when she comes back the next day, she is grateful for that next opportunity. She is constantly striving to get a little bit better every day – and if the world wasn’t evolving as it is, she could perhaps rest on her laurels, but then again… maybe not.
“I have been in this a long time and I see when people come in,” she said. “And you can read their faces and see if there’s a level of pain or if there is something there that just isn’t where it needs to be. It almost compels me on some days to walk outside and have a conversation with them.”
She talked about things like referrals to other physicians and how that has become a whole team effort.
“Right now, I am the practice manager for Bladen Medical Associates,” she said. “I am responsible for this office in Elizabethtown, the Dublin office, the one at White Lake and then we have kids care and women’s and surgical. Every day, we make sure that the work with the clinical side is seamless.”
She said that they make sure that they have “bodies in the seats” to service the public. That servicing sometimes entails beginning the organization long before the sun comes up. If someone is called out, they have to make sure that everyone is where they are supposed to be. She is also responsible for the day-to-day operations including making sure that patients are on the books, reminding them of their appointments and that includes a policy that says, “if you don’t come to an appointment within 15 minutes, we are calling asking if they knew that they had missed their appointment. And if you don’t answer the phone, then we are going to send you a letter. It’s all about patient priorities. I feel as if we need to put a red carpet at the front door for those who need us.”
Just over a month ago, the health care facility has instituted “Patients Plus Us” initiative, she mentioned.
“We actually had a staff meeting May 7 and provided lunch and talked about patient care and the team initiative. “T” standing for teamwork, “e” for empathy, “a” for accountability and “m” for messaging. It’s a full circle registration. These are our neighbors and our families that we sometimes treat here. We just have to do what we can do to help… because we want to continue to see them around town and at the grocery store. And we want to see them with a smile on their face.”
Coble would be a gem in any profession. But especially in the health care field where the fears can be bigger than life itself – she has a sage to her that lets you know that whatever happens, it’s going to be all right and that you will not walk through it alone.
She is not a health care worker that works for a paycheck, but for the people who need help. She does not consider her position a job, but calls it a passion. She knows in her heart that it’s not a short-term gig, but a lifelong calling. It’s similar in many such health care workers at Cape Fear Valley Bladen Hospital. It’s true what they say. Gentle hands, warming smiles and caring hearts. A genuine recipe for health care in this country.
The genuine? Angels among us.
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