I want to let you know about a Methodist employee who went above and beyond. Too often, it's easy to complain about poor service, but when something extraordinary happens, we often forget to spread the word. So here is one example of a Methodist employee who did what she didn't have to do, with a friendly voice and the goal of solving a problem that wasn't hers to solve.
The employee is Dee Dee Leinen of the pulmonary rehabilitation unit. And, to make this even better, my issue did not involve the pulmonary rehab unit ....it was an issue with Heart Consultants near Westroads Mall. To be honest, I don't even know the location of DeeDee's work; I do know that she answered the phone when it rang and rather than saying, "That's not my problem," she set about to solve my late-in-the-day issue.
My husband was scheduled for a stress test (the kind with dye, if that helps) on Friday morning. We had not had a call from Heart Consultants with reminders of what to do or what not to do until I got home at about 3:30 on Thursday afternoon (July 16). In the phone message (hard to understand), an employee left a message that included the statement that my husband should not take a certain medication for 48 hours before the stress test. Well, hmmm, that was problematic as it was already well under 24 hours before the test. So, I tried to call Heart Consultants and could only reach the voice mail line for their nurses' station. I left two messages and in over an hour received no call back. Getting nervous, as it was approaching 5 p.m., I began to search online for the direct line to Heart Consultants (I could not remember that exact name at the time, so I searched for cardiology at Methodist). The only number that seemed even close to what I was looking for turned out to be the one that DeeDee Leinen answered.
As I stated, rather than saying, "not my problem," Dee Dee gave me the line to Heart Consultants ....but when I called, the phones had switched to the answering service; 5 p.m. on the nose! (grrrrr). So I called Dee Dee back, apologized for bothering her ....butshe had said, "Call me back if you don't get through." Amazing!! She stuck with me until she personally reached a nurse practitioner she knew from Heart Consultants.
Dee Dee called me back to let me know she had reached someone and that the nurse practitioner would call me back soon. Again ...Amazing!
The nurse practitioner did call us around 5:30 and let us know that it was still ok to come for the stress test even though my husband had taken his meds on Thursday morning. A relief.
While my husband underwent his stress test, I talked with the "campus manager" about what happened and she apologized and was sympathetic. I also told her that it took an employee from a totally different department to solve our dilemma ...and that it would have been nice to get a return call from the two messages I left on the Heart Consultants voice mail line. She understood our frustration.
So that's my story. You have a gem of an employee in Dee Dee Leinen. At the end of her work day on July 16, she took it upon herself to solve a problem that she had not created that had nothing to do with her department or position. And she did it with a smile (I could hear her smile through the phone).