Life Of A Regional Manager

     Have you ever heard of a Healthcare manager that fired a worker for having a dog under their desk? When Ms. Liguori stated this, the room went quiet, and then burst into laughter seconds later. Ms. Liguori, an Italian woman with jet black hair and very stern eyebrows, no taller than five foot three, but with her forcible manor even a grizzly bear wouldn't wrangle with her. Ms. Liguori does not let anything or anyone walk over her, and this accompanies the sweetest most affectionate person in the world. With such a soothing yet bold voice that takes over the room like a cloud would, it makes everyone around interested in what she says until it does not pertain to them. This blog profiles Ms. Liguori's life and her experiences as a regional hospital manager at St. Luke's and reveals both the challenges and rewards of her career. 

   Ms. Liguori now works at one of the top hospitals in Pennsylvania, St. Luke's. Ms. Liguori's tenure at St. Luke's, around six years, and after asking previous work experience, Ms. Liguori exclaimed that she worked for Coordinated Health for eleven years before that company ultimately going under and her having to relocate. Her job entails mainly overlooking each office that she is chosen to run, and make sure that everything from payroll to off-time and staff coverage encapsulates her list of tasks. Ms. Liguori's professional attire--her pointed toe flats, chino pants, sleek black jacket, and mink fur scarf--signals her care in appearance and her screaming self confidence. Ms. Liguori specified that she runs multiple offices in the surrounding Lehigh Valley Area, and it varies on where she goes each day depending on what her 'workload looks like' for the time being. Trusting on one of her many 'annoying employees' does not come easy, as Ms. Liguori exclaims, she may fill in their position that day, whether working the front desk or helping out a doctor in need. While her role appears structured and professional on the surface, the realities of managing people also present unpredictable and memorable challenges.

    One of the funny and shocking moments involved an unexpected discovery in the work place. 'I was walking down the hallway in my office one day when I swore I heard some kind of screech. After investigating whatever had been brought to my attention, I observed that there was a Pomeranian underneath my employees desk'. Ms. Liguori said this, and it left the room completely silent. She then went on to say how after this incident she had to report to her boss, ultimately ending up in the firing of that employee. Thinking for a couple of minutes about the question asked, she also stated a receptionist full on sleeping head down on the job, and a staff member lounged back in her comfy desk chair when a doctor needed assistance with a patient, resulting in the doctor complaining to Ms. Liguori. Ms. Liguori has remained in this role for a total of seventeen years despite all this funny business. 

    Upon walking up to one of her three office buildings, Ms. Liguori exclaimed her others were much better. The primary care office, a brick built building directly adjacent from a bank that it shares a parking lot with. When walking into the office, brown hardwood floors that looked thirty years old scattered around like ants. The scent of popsicle sticks and cotton balls engulfed the room, while meanwhile looking at maroon bench seats that have been filled with patient's various diseases and illnesses. When entering the employees only section, a whole city block long hallway directs to all types of offices, patient rooms, incubation rooms, and also a very chilly refrigerated vaccine room takes up most of the room in the office. All the patient rooms filled with blue and white adjustable tables that patients sit on, with also a connected computer prompting an ID scanner that lets doctors and other workers get into the program. After seeing all the other hospital related rooms, we then proceeded into Ms. Liguori's office, where there were immensely relaxing candles and various other homey additions making the feeling of somewhere far different than the doctors office. When walking in, a life sized anatomy skeleton greets visitors, gifted to Ms. Liguori by a doctor that she works with. So many pictures of family and friends next to her windowsill faced towards the west to get a view of the beautiful sunsets at the end of a long workday. She then went over to the corner of the room closest to the door, where she exclaimed, 'this is most important part in the entire office'. The Keurig coffee machine sitting there with boxes of Joe's blend coffee right next to it, looking held hostage from how much usage. This, the only thing that kept her through working at a hospital. 

    One other part obligating Ms. Liguori to work at hospitals, the feeling of helping others. When asked what the rewarding factor may be to help people, Ms. Liguori in a very sentimental manner, 'In healthcare people choose to go where they want to go, and if they go to my offices and are satisfied and happy, than that means I'm fulfilling my job role'. Ms. Liguori also finds it extremely rewarding to her to get patients to specific specialized spots that they need to go after entering her primary care office. Ms. Liguori likes to coordinate the patients care with the surrounding doctors and the connections created over the years. The final question asked to Ms. Liguori; how the job affected her mental health, the biggest question asked yet. She definitely took a second to gather her thoughts, after then eventually stating that it is beyond stressful and suspenseful to do what she does, since each day can be different and difficult in its own way. When asked to elaborate she exclaimed, 'Just like the plague or the outbreak of covid, anything can happen in the spur of the moment, and all hospitals are just expected to always have the solution for the public'.  After hearing this statement, it really encapsulates what all it means to be a regional manager for a major hospital like St. Luke's, and it shows how strong a person Ms. Liguori has to be doing a job like this for so long, while still chugging on like an old school coal train.