Adrienne Oden

Text version of Adrienne Oden's keynote remarks

Hello, my name is Adrienne Oden.  I am from Saint Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City.  My job title is “Director of Patient Care for Perioperative Services”.  It sounds very official but most people don’t really know what it means.  The people I work with just think of me as the “head of surgery”.  And I am the “head” of surgery.  I’m also the feet of surgery.  And the hands….and most importantly the heart of surgery.
What I mean is that every day, I come to Saint Anthony hospital and my head makes decisions.  I think of ideas to improve patient care.  I’m always thinking of some new way to either spend or save money.  I think up new things for my staff to do and I also think of ways to reduce the amount of call my employees have to take.  I am the “head” of surgery.

My feet come to work every day too.  It’s my feet that run down the hall when someone says “get the crash cart.”  And my feet take me, sometimes reluctantly, into the operating room where a surgeon is speaking very loudly and saying something like “get me whoever is in charge of this place”.  My feet carry me into budget meetings, verification meetings, nursing meetings, Operations meetings.  Usually late but they get me there.  And it’s my feet that walk out of the hospital as I leave at night with a family member who has anxiously waited for their loved one to get through surgery that day.

My hands are the hands of the surgery department too.  They are there writing a report, or starting an IV or pulling supplies for a surgical case.  And my hands are there to hold the hand of a frightened patient as they drift off to sleep before their procedure.

I am the head, the feet and the hands of the surgery department, but my most important job is to be the heart.  Our mission statement says “Through our exceptional healthcare services we reveal the healing presence of God.”  And it is because God is in my heart that my head and my hands and feet and my back and my legs and my spleen are able to do the work they do.  Every day I am thankful my job makes a difference in someone else’s life.  What a wonderful way to live - to be the head and feet and hands and heart of God for my patients.  Thank you.