Abby Fox (Intro): Welcome to the Still Caring Podcast, presented by Stillwater Medical.

Joe Akin (Intro): Here, community is at the heart of healthcare.

Katon Lunsford (Intro): Through honest conversations and shared experiences

Abby Fox (Intro): we explore what it means to care for our health—

Joe Akin (Intro): and each other.

Katon Lunsford (Intro): Because better health takes a village and you're part of ours.

Katon Lunsford (Host 1): Hi, and welcome. My name is Katon Lunsford. And I'm the PR communications specialist here at Stillwater Medical. Today, we're joined by Lee Bird, a patient advocate volunteer in the ER here at SMC. Lee has been volunteering with SMC since 2019, but she brings with her a very extensive background in hospital volunteering and knowledge of how to start.

A volunteer program in the er. So we're very thankful to have Lee in our ER and here in-person on this podcast. So before we jump into everything, Lee, would you like to tell us a little bit more about yourself and just your background and your connection to Stillwater Medical in the er?

Lee Bird: Sure. came here 2000. I accepted the job as VP for Student Affairs at Oklahoma State. absolutely loved it. Some people think that I got out just before COVID and I had a. Psychic warning. I did not, in fact, I was working at the hospital during COVID. But, when I decided to retire in I just thought this was a great place to retire.

And, I wasn't sure that I was going to work at the hospital. I had a little bit different plan for volunteering after I retired and after the homecoming tragedy, I decided I want to go back to work in a hospital. So that's how I ended up there.

Host 1: so take us through, you know, for people who don't know, which includes me, what does it look like to be an ER volunteer? What is that role looking like day to day?

Lee Bird: Well, every day is different, and I like that because day in my role as VP for student Affairs was terribly different. there are volunteers that work at the front desk that help with getting people in the hospital into the emergency room. And then we have, a much smaller group of volunteers that work in the back of the er.

they can do both. They're trained to do both. But in the back of the er it's really about, patient-centered focus and, they get great care, but you know, it can be a couple of minutes. So if they want a blanket or a family member has a question or they don't know where the restroom is, whatever it might be, we can help bridge that gap.

And, I think it's honestly very comforting to have people around. and if, they need something or if we can help in some way, we do. So number of injuries, accidents, illness. it's a wide variety of things we see in the er pretty exciting sometimes.

Host 1: so you had mentioned earlier that you had not thought about going back into volunteering with a hospital. What was your first experience volunteering at a hospital like?

Lee Bird: Oh. I actually started at volunteering at the hospital when I was vice president and AVP and vp. For student affairs in St. Cloud, Minnesota. And, I started a program there that had volunteers in the back of the er they had had that before. So I started that program and it worked beautifully.

And they actually institutionalized the position after I left. So they, actually hired somebody to be a patient advocate in the er.

Host 1: And then, correct me if I'm wrong, but you brought that same program over here to Stillwater Medical?

Lee Bird: Yes. And they did have volunteers helping at the front desk, but not in the back of the house. So that's what I asked them to start. Yeah. Denise I took her out to, lunch and told her about the program and told her I'd like to do it and. thought it was a pretty good idea, but I even volunteered to go get my EMT license again, to make her feel a little bit more comforted that could be around it without any problems.

So that worked out well?

Host 1: That's awesome. So you're EMT certified and you're also a patient advocate volunteer.

Lee Bird: Yes.

Host 1: You're a woman of many hats, Lee.

Lee Bird: Oh yeah. Yeah.

Host 1: So where does this heart for service come from? You have a long history of volunteering and you're obviously very, about it. Where does this all start?

Lee Bird: I think it started with my parents. always active volunteers in their community. I grew up in Phoenix and they taught first aid, for Boy Scouts, girl Scouts. the church, anybody that would listen. So they were some of the first, red Cross First Aid instructors in Maricopa County.

And so I kind of came by it naturally. We did volunteer work with our church. We did volunteer work other places, And it was expected and, I'm glad that I had both of them as a role model.

Host 1: So This is a difficult role sometimes. It can't all be all sunshine and rainbows. The ER is very fast paced as we know. what keeps you coming back on the hard days when it's just a tough, difficult day?

Lee Bird: Well there can be hard days in every profession we do. I mean, there are, I feel, for the nurses And for the docs, we do have patients that pass away in the er. of people that are elderly and, succumb to their illnesses. I mean, there's, heart attacks, there's a variety of things, but, is going to be a new day, the next day when you walk in and some of the days are harder than others but you just get through it. I, try not to take it home. leave it at the hospital and, that seems to work well.

Host 1: kind of going off of that, of you talking about how you leave it at home. What maybe else have you learned from volunteering in the er?

Lee Bird: learn something every day. I'll be honest. I learn something every day. and I've learned a lot about emergency medicine being an observer, not a practitioner. you learn about people. I think you learn about your own personal strengths or weaknesses.

learn about how to communicate with people that are under enormous amounts of stress there's lots of lessons Learned every day.

Host 1: And working with people, a position that it's primarily patient focused. How has this shaped or maybe changed the way that you interact with people outside of the hospital?

Lee Bird: don't think it, really has changed how I, operate either inside the hospital or out, but it is kind of. Funny that you know, I'll see somebody in Walmart if it's somebody I know from the university, they'll say, oh, hi Dr. Byrd, blah, blah, blah. If it's somebody from the hospital, they say, did you see how well that healed up?

Got the stitches out last Friday. So that's how I kind of know where I know them. But, I don't think it's changed how I communicate.

Host 1: I would say that both of your professions that you've done throughout your life are very people-focused did you like go into wanting to, work at the university primarily to get to work with students and people? Or did you kind of just happen upon this?

Lee Bird: kind of happened upon it. I got my master's degree in counseling And the job that I found was at a college, and as soon as I got on the college campus, I knew that that was going to be. my life And I, stayed in higher ed for 42 years. Many different, universities, different types, public, private, large, smaller.

but I knew that's where I was supposed to be and I, loved every minute of it. Well, almost every minute of it. There's been

moments.

Host 1: Most of the minutes.

Lee Bird: Most of the minutes. I love that. so I just was going to ask you, I know probably a lot of people don't know this, you have spent so much time caring for those in the er, we all know that, but you also have experienced it in a personal way. And so I don't know if you'd be open to sharing a little bit of your story, of your time in the er.

Well, am passionate about Stillwater Medical and part of that passion comes from them saving my life three times. the first one was kind of stupid and, funny. Now I can say it was kind of funny. It wasn't funny in the moment. was over at a friend's house and I choked on a grape and it went down and I couldn't, breathe through my nose, but you have to remind yourself.

You can breathe through your nose and, Was just choking on it. I couldn't get it watered down. I couldn't get anything down. I couldn't get anything up. And I went to the I looked online first, like everybody should to see if there was a cure for this. None of them worked. And after about an hour, I went into the ER and they did a little bit of surgery the next morning to remove it.

so that was number one. Number two, Was that I was diagnosed with cancer by a, physician at, Stillwater Medical, Dr. Ford, and he made a referral to the Stevenson Clinic, Oklahoma City, surgery And for the follow-up care. And that was great. And then I had a heart attack, which I didn't expect.

Funny part of that was a bird got into my house the night before and I was trying to get that bird out of my house for two and a half hours. So I thought the pain that I had in my shoulder from swinging a fishing, kinds of equipment, trying to get that bird out, and it took two and a half hours to get the bird out.

When I went to bed, I was sore and kind of, more on my back, but I had an answer for it. So I knew it wasn't anything, it was just because I was trying to chase the bird out And the next day I went to a board meeting at the hospital and somebody said, you don't, look as chipper as normal.

And I said, well, you know, I'm kind of feeling this. I Told them about the bird left. That meeting went over to see a nurse friend who was just there by chance, and she said, you know, you might be having a heart attack. I said, no, that's, crazy. I was just chasing a bird trying to get it out, and I was convinced it wasn't that.

she was not working as a nurse that day. And she said, are you stupid? And, should have just stayed there and been seen. But of course, I drove home, waited about 20 minutes, thought about what Misty had said, and decided I better get my, carcass back over to the er. I did. They checked me in and about 30 to 45 minutes later I was having surgery.

And they did a great job. I am very loyal to SMC because they have saved my life three times and I appreciate that.

Host 1: so? You've worked a lot or you volunteered a lot, you know, on the other side of it. So what's it like being on the other side of care and how does that impact you?

Lee Bird: you know, it can be a little bit lonely in a room. I had friends that, came by and, Checked on me and hung out for a while, but it gets kind of lonely in the room. You get bored with tv. I don't watch, you know, it, just is a little bit boring. So I recognize that, that, part of my job is to go into the room, check and see how people are doing and give them some human contact until the nurse is able to come back in or the doc is able to come in.

that was important to me and I, think it's important to the patients that I serve.

Host 1: I think you've kind of hit a little bit of my next question, which was going to be why are volunteers so important to a hospital?

Lee Bird: bridge the gap in a number of ways. There are so many cool things that our hospital, that, volunteers can do. they can work in the gift shop, they can help deliver flowers, they can help people navigate the halls. There's just so. Many things that they can do, ER is just one of them.

And, it saves a lot of money. Jeff Corbett the volunteer coordinator for the hospital, works with the foundation, and he, said that there were, I wrote it down. He said there were, last year, 18,337 hours were performed by volunteers in the hospital, which equates to over $561,000.

That's a big saving for the hospital to have bodies there that are trained to do what they need to do. But that's a huge savings. think people get something out of it by volunteering, and I think the patients in the hospital benefit as well. But

that's pretty cool. That is really cool. I did not know that. So that's an awesome thing to know. It's equally beneficial to both, parties,

Host 1: so I think that's important to

remember. Okay, so we've kind of reached the end of our conversation And we like to end each podcast episode with a challenge to care.

And so what would be your challenge to care for an individual or just for the community as a whole?

Lee Bird: I think This is an amazing community. I was attracted to Oklahoma, after the Oklahoma City, bombing And the Oklahoma standard. And I have found that to be true. You know, at the university we had the plane crashes, we've had other crises. I, do think that exceptional care and kindness is something that we can all benefit from.

And whether it is, turn off social media, get away from the tv, start talking human-to-human conversations again. There are so many agencies in this town that benefit from volunteers that you're interested in, almost anything, you can find a volunteer part for that. Habitat for Humanity, elite Repeat, Karman Corner, wings of Hope.

There is something for almost anybody in our community, and I think when you're thinking about other people, you don't spend as much time thinking about yourself or what's going weird or wrong. If you're focused on others I think you can live healthier than thinking about whatever's bothering you.

So I think that's good, I think it does serve the community. And even if you don't want to get involved in something, I mean, I serve a lot of hours at the hospital, but even if you don't want to do that, there are things that people can do. Drive somebody to the, doctor's appointment, mow somebody's lawn, go help them with grocery shopping.

There are. Thousands and thousands of needs out there. And again, when we quit focusing about just us and, what we're doing and seeing, I think we can have an impact on the larger community. it makes us better, and I think it makes our community stronger.

Host 1: I agree, Lee, thank you for sharing that, and thank you for taking time to come on here and share your story. We're very thankful for today and all. the days that you serve for us because you're just invaluable to SMC. so that's all that we've got and we're really thankful for you guys tuning in to listen and watch.

So thank you.

Lee Bird: Thanks everybody. Bye-bye.