My dad actually was diagnosed with cancer very young. When he was getting treatment, the people that cared for him were just—they were light. It inspired me to want to do that in some manner. I wanted to help patients. I wanted to help families. I went into pharmacy and started as a technician, and here I am, 30 years later.

Having a purpose to take care of others, I think that’s what drives me every day. I am a pharmacy compliance analyst. My job is to support those who are directly caring for our patients. I work for Allina Health Pharmacies. I base out of Mercy Hospital Unity Campus, but I also visit all 15 of our retail pharmacies. Allina does a great job at putting people where they shine. You work so closely with everyone together on a team. There’s a lot of roles that you can play, and you make a difference in patients’ lives and help them heal. If I can do it as an analyst, anyone can do that.

We’re there to help the people who have the most need. I have two roles at Allina. I am the manager for mission at Saint Francis Regional Medical Center that’s in Shakopee, and then I’m also the South Metro Community benefit and engagement lead. And there was a lot of overlap there with employee volunteerism and community health improvement and actual community benefit. So we really do that work. And it is a calling more than it was ever work or employment.

It was all about having purpose and having passion for what you do every day. Really, it is about honoring the inherent dignity of every human. I love that Allina especially is using the word “belonging,” right? And I love that we have defined for ourselves what diversity, equity, and inclusion mean for us. I try to do within my work for Allina is just that sense of letting people know that you care. I really am lucky I have a really, really great job.

This work is for other people. This work is for our community, for our patients, for our employees. I’m an environmental services manager at Allina Health at Saint Francis Regional Medical Center located in Shakopee, Minnesota. What drew me to a job in health care, I was back in college. I applied for a job in dietary. It was an opportunity for me to serve the community.

Purpose is passion to me, the passion of what you’re good at, providing whole person care, not only to the patients that come through the Allina doors, but to the staff throughout the Allina Health facility. I’m able to support and enhance patients’ and employees’ lives. I’m able to show that through the work I do at Allina Health, and I’m proud to be a part of that.

I’ve been with Allina 25 years. My role at Allina is radiology systems administrator, and that means that I support the PAC system, the electronic medical records for the radiology department, and everything in between. I really enjoy it because it’s constantly ever changing. I like the patient care part of it and also having to improvise and use my brain.

So I’m always curious about things that I don’t understand or know. I’d like to learn as much as I can about all situations. I’d like to make a difference, even if it’s small, if it’s just one person. There’s so many people who do such great things every day. There’s a lot of people that do a lot of great things within Allina.