“Where will I be in six months?” A friend’s question alone sparked Bailey Shaffer’s idea. As the COVID pandemic progressed, she knew it was time for a change.

“I worked in healthcare for many years when COVID hit and changed everything. “I have moved,” she said.

Bailey attended the Fall 2021 Onsite Career Fair at LMH Health and interviewed the hospital’s Director of Nursing. She was hired on the spot and joined the emergency department in December for a full-time day shift position. It didn’t take long for Bailey to realize that her LMH Health was a special place to work and she shared it with everyone she knew.

family affair

Gilda Singleton has many years of medical practice in a variety of professional and personal capacities. She worked in home health care, insurance, a dental office, and was married to a firefighter. When she was in the care of her parents whose health was declining, her father urged Gilda to move over her.

“He told me I was going to take care of people,” she shared. It was the most difficult and challenging thing I have ever done.”

That experience led Gilda into a career in healthcare, starting with phlebotomy and eventually moving to treating heart patients. She knew she was right for the job, but had the added perk of working on the same floor of the same hospital as her daughter, Bailey.

When Bailey fell in love with LMH Health’s emergency department, its culture and its colleagues, it was only natural that she shared it with Gilda. She applied for the emergency department position in her February 2022 and was accepted. She works as a part-time technician, assisting nurses, transporting patients, cleaning rooms, and assisting in all manner, shape, and form.

“Bailey told me how happy I am to work at LMH and how ready I am for change. was,” she said. “I feel like I’m accomplishing something, so I want to be part of the team and provide excellent care, so I’m giving more and more.”

What about LMH?

Bailey and Gilda say that while healthcare faces many challenges today, the teamwork and camaraderie they experienced at LMH Health is amazing.

“We were very short staffed one weekend. Jan Wiebe – ED Director – came in on his day off and was sitting with a patient in need of care.

Gilda enthusiastically agreed.

“All of our management team, including Jen Remus, our nursing manager, are doing it. The dynamics here are just amazing,” she said. “It’s not your job, it’s not my job. It’s our job. Even if you don’t have time to enter the room, the team is always there to help. This makes a huge difference in patient care.”

Bailey and Gilda continue to share their experiences in recruiting others to LMH Health. One of Bailey’s erstwhile colleagues makes the jump, and Gilda keeps urging her contacts to do the same.

“I’ve hired one, and we’re talking about another one coming here. I met you,” said Gilda.

Also, working for LMH Health gives you one more bonus. Gilda is working with Bailey again.

“We work so well together because we can anticipate what each other is going to do,” she said. “I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”