Transcription:
The Outer Banks Hospital Celebrating 20 Years of Growth and Innovation with Shelli Gates

Denise Schnabel (Host): Hey, everyone. Welcome to Outer Banks Health, the official podcast series of the Outer Banks Hospital and Medical Group. This month marks 20 years since the hospital opened. We will be celebrating with weekly episodes that feature guests who will speak about life before TOBH as well as its early years. We are your hosts, Denise Schnabel.

Wendy Kelly (Host): And I'm Wendy Kelly. This week's featured guest has over three decades of experience in the field of respiratory therapy and is a 20-year veteran of The Outer Banks Hospital team. She's a certified asthma educator and is extremely active in the local music scene. She's one of our patient-facing superheroes. She's Shelly Gates.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Shelly Gates!. Hi, Shelley!

Shelly Gates: Hey, y'all.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Thanks for joining us today.

Shelly Gates: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Absolutely. So Shelly, you are one of our 20-year team members. That is so amazing that you've been with the hospital so long. Tell us where you grew up and how you made it to the Outer Banks.

Shelly Gates: I grew up in Northern Virginia, Vienna, Virginia. Came down here the first time when I was 14 years old. There was not a lot here, which was the beauty of it and just really fell in love with it and continued to come back and swore one day that I would live here. Got my registry in respiratory therapy and worked at lots of big hospitals, got great experience and then ran away and moved to the beach.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Before the hospital was open?

Shelly Gates: Before the hospital was open.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Wow!

Shelly Gates: When I first moved down, I started at a company called Tarheel Home Health, doing home health, and then worked at Albemarle Hospital for about a year and a half before the hospital opened.

Denise Schnabel (Host): That's fabulous.

Wendy Kelly (Host): What was it like here without the hospital when you moved down?

Shelly Gates: I mean, it was a pretty amazing place, but it was difficult if you had chronic diseases or an acute injury, acute illness, accident. It was tough. I will say that folks at -- I guess it was Outer Banks Medical Center was what it was called at the time -- were really amazing. They dealt with a lot of really critical stuff in a small little spot that they were at and got people out of here. So it was a little tough.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Yeah. So you found out that they were building a hospital, right?

Shelly Gates: I did.

Denise Schnabel (Host): How was that? Tell us about that.

Shelly Gates: So I was determined to move here. And then I heard news in the world that maybe it was going to happen. And I moved down and got very involved in the process. There were lots of community meetings. There were two different proposals from different organizations and spoke at some of the meetings and the community did a vote and brought in the Vidant-Chesapeake partnership that we have today. I was really determined I was going to be a part of this facility and I was actually looking for a home in the Kitty Hawk area, because that's where they were going to build the hospital. And I was like, "Well, I found this house in Nags Head. Oh, well." And then, they moved and I'm literally five minutes away from work.

Denise Schnabel (Host): That's awesome.

Shelly Gates: Yeah. It was really exciting.

Denise Schnabel (Host): So were you here day one? You said maybe a month before.

Shelly Gates: I started on February 8th, which was a little more than a month before. I was the first one hired into the respiratory therapy department and my coworkers and I, Margaret Dixon and Anita Howard, we pretty much created everything in that department from scratch. You don't get the opportunity very often to open a brand new hospital. It just doesn't happen.

Wendy Kelly (Host): What was it like those first days? Do you have everything that you needed where you...

Shelly Gates: No. It was exciting. I think the really fun part of it was that we all worked together as a team. There was such strong teamwork and such commitment to making sure that this hospital is going to be successful for this community, because it was so needed here, but we didn't have everything that we needed from the beginning. I mean, it's such a massive undertaking that we were very skilled at figuring it out on the fly. So that the first day that we opened at, I think it was three in the morning or four in the morning, it was definitely like a rush of excitement and also, "Oh, no!" But it was a really great experience. You don't get that opportunity very often.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Did you know Anita and Margaret when you started? Or you met them here?

Shelly Gates: We all actually worked at Albemarle together.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Oh, you did?

Shelly Gates: Yeah. So we all worked together.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Right.

Wendy Kelly (Host): And they're still here. You all worked together.

Denise Schnabel (Host): They're still here. All of y'all are all still here.

Shelly Gates: We're all still here.

Denise Schnabel (Host): That's amazing.

Wendy Kelly (Host): That's a testament to your team work.

Shelly Gates: Yeah. Anita started two weeks after I did and Margaret started two weeks after she did and they just can't get rid of us.

Denise Schnabel (Host): That's amazing.

Wendy Kelly (Host): So since that time, what do you think are some of the biggest innovations that you've seen with the hospital and the community?

Shelly Gates: Well, I mean, there's been huge innovations. I mean, we've brought in MRI and we've brought in a whole cardiology group and there's a big outreach area doing lots of good things in the community. I have to even just think like, "Wow." The different specialized services that we've brought in. Just for me as a respiratory therapist, we have lots of equipment that you don't normally see in a regional hospital because we're very far away, so we have a lot of critical care equipment to help stabilize our patients. And if folks get stuck here with storms, we have the ability to care for them until we can get them out. So we do a little bit more interesting stuff than most regional hospitals do.

Denise Schnabel (Host): So when patients needed like an MRI and we didn't have that, would they have to go to Elizabeth city or the medical center, they didn't do those either?

Shelly Gates: Nope. Nobody had an MRI. We opened with a CAT scan, but we didn't have PET scans. We didn't have any of the cancer -- you know, they weren't able to give drugs cause you have to have like a special pharmacy set up and training for the chemotherapy. So all those poor folks had to travel.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Did we have a pharmacy?

Shelly Gates: We had a pharmacy.

Denise Schnabel (Host): We did. That's good.

Shelly Gates: Yeah. But the chemo pharmacy has to have like a hood and they have to have special training and all that.

Wendy Kelly (Host): It really is amazing that the majority -- obviously, it's the leadership and our partners, but the team work that's here and is needed to develop new services just make it work.

Shelly Gates: Yeah. I mean, I don't know that people realize, you know, it's difficult to get specialists in a small area like this, because there's not a lot of like backup resources for them like you have in big centers. So the fact that we do have cardiology specialists and we do have a pediatric hospitalist, that's kind of a big deal for a hospital our size.

Wendy Kelly (Host): It really is critical access. So just kind of moving into modern day, as the respiratory therapist here, we have to bring it up, I have to bring it up, what's life been like? And what do you think we would have done without the hospital had the pandemic hit?

Shelly Gates: I just hate to even consider what it would have been like without the hospital here. It's been very difficult. All the patient-facing people, including the providers, nurses, therapists, you know, CNAs, everyone involved, it's been very stressful. It's been a very stressful time on top of the fact that we have this new virus that we're all trying to navigate from the beginning, and it's highly infectious. There through the surges have been a large increase in patients where we are not staffed for those numbers. You know, we can't get the patients out because all the regional hospitals are having the same issues. They don't have any beds. So the staff has stepped up to care for our patients, even though we have this huge surge of patients, you know, more than we normally take care of. Everybody has pulled together and really made a difference in the community and for these patients. It's really been amazing.

I won't lie. We're all exhausted. We're all pretty burnt out. But it's really been amazing to see the teamwork that's happened. I cannot imagine what it would have been like for our community if there wasn't a hospital here, because as folks know if they've had COVID, a lot of times you're fine until you're not. And when that happens, it's quick. So to be able to come to the emergency room and get that care quickly has been godsend really instead of having to travel, you know, a distance away to get care.

Wendy Kelly (Host): Are you caring for yourself through this? I often think about respiratory therapists throughout the world, because you are the real frontline of this pandemic.

Shelly Gates: I think we're all doing the best we can. I work really hard on self-care. I definitely try to make sure I get enough sleep, that I've been eating right. You know, I have a dog, Piper, so she gets me out of the house and makes me go for a walk on those days I'm tired. But I think everybody's trying really hard. I think, you know, sometimes life gets in the way and it's hard to do all the things that you need to do. I will say that our -- Well, she manages our department, but she's actually VP Marcia Bryant, she really talks to us a lot about doing self-care, that we really need to do that.

Wendy Kelly (Host): That's really important when it comes from the top.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Absolutely.

Shelly Gates: Yeah, absolutely.

Denise Schnabel (Host): All right. So any favorite memories over the last 20 years have you had here at the Outer Banks that you can share with us?

Shelly Gates: Well, I think honestly it's interesting, you know, after being here 20 years and being a therapist for 37, I'm obviously at the end of my career. And so when I think about leaving respiratory therapy, I know that the biggest thing I'll miss, and it was so strong, especially when we opened, was that camaraderie and the sense of teamwork, where everyone was there for each other. You know, you left knowing that all your team members and you put everything you could. And probably that'll be the toughest thing about leaving the profession. And in the beginning, we were just, like I said before, so invested in making this a good hospital and the right place for our community.

There's lots of funny stories. I mean, they're funny to me and I have probably a warped sense of humor being a clinician, but we've seen crazy stuff like a gentleman who was pretending to kiss a fish and he kind of inhaled it, he dropped it. Like crazy stuff you would never think of. I've had lots of really cool opportunities. I got to fly with the Coast Guard and I have flown with Dare EMS, which is always stressful with a sick patient, but coming back, you know, seeing like the sunrise over the ocean, those things are things I'll definitely never forget.

Wendy Kelly (Host): That's a beautiful, unique part of living here. And I know you surf too, right?

Shelly Gates: Well, yes. I'm no great shakes, but yes, I surf. I love the water and I love the weather. Anybody who knows me knows I'm a total weather nerd. I took a Harvard online course about weather during this pandemic.

Wendy Kelly (Host): That's cool.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Nice. Yeah.

Shelly Gates: I know, I'm such a weather nerd. But I love science. So here is a great place to be a weather nerd because, you know, the weather changes all the time and it's always very interesting. So I like watching the water. I like being on the water.

Wendy Kelly (Host): Well, you're in the right place and thank you for helping to start this hospital. It was that teamwork that built the foundation for where we are today. And teamwork's a really big part of our culture here at the Outer Banks Hospital and Medical Groups. So thank you for building that and thank you for still being here and joining us on this podcast.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Look at our hospital. Look what you've done. Like you're part of that shaping the mold. That's amazing, Shelly.

Shelly Gates: Well, thanks, y'all.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Yeah.

Wendy Kelly (Host): And I hope you can join us on the parade float we're building for the 20-year folks. We're making special little silver seats for you guys.

Shelly Gates: Silver seats?

Wendy Kelly (Host): Little silver seats.

Shelly Gates: Well, I'm going to try. I'm flying back in from Mexico. I'm going on a surf trip the 19th. So if I'm still like upright, I will definitely be there.

Wendy Kelly (Host): Good. Thanks, Shelly.

Denise Schnabel (Host): Well, thank you so much for coming. We appreciate it.

Shelly Gates: Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Denise Schnabel (Host): If you've enjoy this episode, share it on your social channels. To hear more Outer Banks Health history, check out the podcast library at theobh.com/podcast. This is your host, Denise Schnabel. Stay safe.