CAREER INTERVIEW

Interview with Sherry Whalen

By: Grace Whittle and Molly Andrews

1. How long have you been working?

Sherry has been working for currently 28 years in

Eastern Health. She started back in high school

when she was 16 years old in sterilization and is

now currently working in Orthopedic central

intake at St.Clares and TJAC (total joint

assessment clinic) at the Miller Center.

2. What jobs have you had in the past?

She has worked in many different departments in Eastern Health

over the past 28 years such as,

Sterilization (St.Clares)

Lemarchant house

X-ray (St.Clares)

Switch Board (St.Clares)

Emerge (St.Clares)

7-West (St.Clares)

Out-patients (Health Sciences)

Day Surgery (Health Sciences)

Emergency referral clerk (Health Scieneces)

Sterilization (Janeway)

3.What things do you do in your job?

Currently works for 3 clinics the jobs include

doing:

Orthopedic Central Intake

Receive referals

Notify family doctor when referal is received,

prioritized and booked

Book priority patients

Put 35-40 referals in database every day

Injection Clinic

Book all appointments

Notify family doctor when referal is received, prioritized

and booked

TJAC

Does booking

Notifies

Calls patient day before appointment to confirm it

Does charts on the day of the clinic

Enter everything in database

Order all supplies for the clinic

Does payroll for the following

Orthopedic Cenrtal Intake

TJAC

Bariatric Surgery Program

4.What are you currently classified as in your job?

She has currently been promoted to a clerk 3

typist. Up until recently was a Clerk 2 typist.

5. When can you retire? Will you retire at that time?

Can retire in 2025 (10 years)

If financially able to retire she will retire when 55

but if not will continuing working

6. Do you like your job?

She likes her job very much

Likes that the main focus is patient care and

working efficiantly

Has a very good manager and very friendly co-

workers

Loves that she is busy all the time

7. If you could do any other job what would it be?

Why?

Be in a supervisor position

She will be in a supervisor position in a few years

when the department expands to more surgical

programs

This position has more pay and she would like to

have more control of things after 28 years

8. How many hours in a week are you supposed to

work?

Supposed to work around 37 and a half hours a

week but usually works more than that

Works from around 7-4

9. Do you have health benefits at work?

Yes

Medical and Dental benefits

10. What encouraged to you to enter this field?

Grew up with many family members that worked

at the hospital so became interested at a young

age

At the time it payed more than minimum wage so

she felt that at that time it would be a good job

11. Did you work during highschool?

Yes, worked in sterilization

Summers between grade 10-11 and 11-12

Beginning of working at the hospital

12. Out of all the jobs you’ve had in Eastern Health

what was your favourite?

Her current job is her favourite out of all of them

due to her nice co-workers and just enjoys being

busy but the most exciting job she had was

working in emerge

13. Are you required to wear a uniform?

Not for this job because she works in an office so

there is no need for scrubs or anything along

those lines due to not being in direct patient care

Used to wear scrubs for previous jobs that did

involve direct patient care

14. Since you’ve had many jobs in Eastern Health

what were the locations that you’ve worked in?

St.Clares

Janeway (old janeway)

Health Sciences

Lemarchant house

15.Are there any school subjects that prepared you

for this type of work?

No, not really

Did a typing course during her high school years

which is a requirement for her job

16.Is this the job you wanted when you were

younger?

No

She wanted to be either a marine biologist or a

pharmasist

17.Did you go to post secondary?

No only did courses such as medical terminology,

typing course, sterilization course

Had lots of experience built up since she was

working from the age of 16 which is what got her

promoted from a clerk 2 typist to a clerk 3 typist

18. Do you work alone or with others?

Half and half

Works with others half of the time and alone the

other half

19.Do you prefer to work alone or with others?

Enjoys the company of others but gets more work

done alone due to not socializing all the time so

she can focus

20.Do you think you will ever leave this job?

No, finds jobs very interesting and is very happy

with the job she has at the moment