PPOA Patient Care Champions – Jessica Sutherland

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JESSICA SUTHERLAND – MEDICAL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, HURST, TX

Our employees are all patient care champions, but some go the extra mile and we want to give them the recognition they deserve. They embody the PPOA values known as S.I.T.E. – Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Empathy – which informs our service to patients and the community through high quality health care. 

Jessica Sutherland started her career making people look better, but then found her calling helping others feel better. She found the perfect fit at PPOA’s Precinct Ambulatory Surgery center in Hurst, Texas, and has never looked back.

“I love talking with people. I love the face-to-face and putting patients at ease,” she says.

According to her supervisor, Kristy Gildersleeve, Jessica Sutherland does more than that.

“She has been with PPOA since 2014 and has been my right hand. We are only as good as our parts and she makes PPOA look stellar,” says Gildersleeve.

“She knows every patient and vendor and they all love her. If you are at Precinct and have a question, doesn’t matter what it is, she knows the answer and who to put you in contact with,” Gildersleeve adds, “and Jessica does it all with the warmest most endearing smile.”

The pain management field also appeals to Jessica Sutherland because she, too, is a pain patient. A high school drill team stunt caused her to fall and hurt her back. After years of putting it off – like many pain patients, she was scared of treatment – she finally sought interventional procedures from Dr. Luis Nieves at PPOA’s Hurst clinic.

Later, she had a laminectomy decompression procedure by spine surgeon Dr. Phillip Kravetz. She is now pain free.

“I’ve been a pain patient as well, so I can relate to our patients,” she says. “When people tell me their stories, I can tell them I had the same procedure.”

An Army Brat born at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, Sutherland grew up mainly in Fort Polk, La., and the outskirts of Fort Worth, Texas. Like many young people, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do but knew she loved working with people.

Cosmetology school sounded appealing. She got her license in 2009 and worked as a stylist for a few years. Then the birth of her son, Daelan, in 2012 caused her to do some soul searching.

“I wanted something with more stability and more meaning. Good health insurance was also important to me as a mom,” she says.

The answer came from one of her clients, who was in the medical field.

“I always assumed that you were either a doctor or a nurse, and that’s all there was,” she says. “My client told me about all the many careers available. I was so happy to hear there were front desk positions I could train for. That seemed to be a perfect fit.”

Sutherland enrolled in Everest College and got her Medical Administrative Assistant diploma. She got a job at a hospital emergency room doing collections – and hated it.

“It filled me with anxiety; it was so intense,” Sutherland says. “It wasn’t for me.”

She went back into hair styling until a PPOA recruiting effort at Everest drew her back in. And she’s been the friendly face – and go-to person – at Precinct ever since.

“I am always amazed at how she can have someone on the phone, working the computer, while also checking in patients, and responding to the staff as they lay something else on her,” says Gildersleeve.

 

Sutherland is kept busy in her personal life, too. She and her fiancé, Brad, an Army veteran and construction worker, have a blended family of three sons: Grayson, 7; Daelan, who is now 6; and Braelan, 2.

“In the end I found my calling and I couldn’t be happier,” she says.

 

 

 

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PPOA Patient Care Champions – Marlene Chinchilla

MARLENE CHINCHILLA – PATIENT EXPERIENCE COORDINATOR TEAM LEAD, TAMPA

Our employees are all patient care champions, but some go the extra mile and we want to give them the recognition they deserve. They embody the PPOA values known as S.I.T.E. – Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Empathy – which informs our service to patients and the community through high quality health care. 

Marlene Chinchilla may not be the one who holds your hand at the doctor’s office; she’s the one who does it virtually, over the phone. She’s the comforting voice on the phone, the one who checks out your insurance, the one who patiently answers your questions about procedures; the one who calls every patient “honey.”

People like her, known as patient experience coordinators, are essential to a healthcare practice, and they have one of the most difficult jobs – plural.

At any given time, you will see Chinchilla working two or three phones and two computer screens, a trainee perched by her side. She juggles the calls effortlessly, pointing out what she’s doing to the newcomer. On one line is a patient who needs to reschedule a laser spine procedure; on another, someone who isn’t clear what his insurance covers; on the third is a doctor who wants to make a referral to one of PPOA’s 40-plus pain management specialists.

It’s a stressful, fastball environment that would break some people, but Chinchilla takes it all in stride. “I’m a natural multi-tasker” she says.

While her skills may come naturally, they were honed in a radically different first career. A native of Miami, Chinchilla earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in social work at Miami Gardens’s St. Thomas University and pursued a career in social services.

She worked at the Florida Department of Children and Families in various positions: case manager for drug-dependent clients, hospice services, and therapist for some of the state’s most troubled youth at G4S in Avon Park.

“Working in social services made me realize how precious life is. These kids – things happened to them that were not their fault, usually involving a parent’s drug use,” she says. “Sadly, many of these kids would do something to wind up back in jail as soon as they got out.”

After being attacked in a riot she hit the reset button in her life and made the career switch into medicine. “I was a single mom of two kids,” she says. Chinchilla became a receptionist at a medical group in Sebring, Fla., working her way up to insurance verification and records management.

She and her two children have always been extremely close; so when her son Nicholas Gillespie got into the National Aviation Academy in Tampa, she didn’t hesitate to look for work nearby.

Chinchilla started at PPOA’s Tampa headquarters in 2015. Her daughter, Yessenia Sanchez, also works as a PPOA patient care coordinator, while Nicholas works for Boeing in aircraft maintenance in Jacksonville, Fla.

With her children settled, Marlene Chinchilla can devote more time with her work family. As team lead, she keeps track of her fellow representatives’ patient interactions: the team of 12 to 15 handles up to 1,500 calls a day.

Chinchilla always tries to foster a cohesive, affirmative spirit. “I try to be positive and make sure we work together as a team,” she says. “And I always try to thank everyone at the end of the workday.”

The toughness and empathy she developed as a social worker helps her deal not only with her coworkers in a stressful environment, but with the unique needs of chronic pain patients.

“I just go with the flow,” she says. “At the end of the day, it’s all about the patients. I try to make them feel better.”

 

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Patient Care Champions – Gary Lindsey, APRN-C, DC

GARY LINDSEY, NURSE PRACTITIONER, RICHARDSON

Our employees are all patient care champions, but some go the extra mile and we want to give them the recognition they deserve. They embody the PPOA values known as S.I.T.E. – Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Empathy – which informs our service to patients and the community through high quality health care. 

Gary Lindsey, APRN-C, DC, has done many things with his life – sales, financial services, and chiropractor – but the theme that ties it altogether is caring for others. The nurse practitioner at the Physician Partners of America – Richardson, Texas, clinic is popular with patients for his knowledge and compassion.

“If you want to label my career, it’s service to others in any shape, form, or title,” he says. He comes into the clinic most days at 7 a.m. It’s a day filled with new patient visits, follow-up appointments, in-office procedures, referrals, documentations – and the dozens of other tasks to help chronic pain patients find relief. He works with pain management specialist Christopher Creighton, M.D.,

The best part of the job? Reaching people through their pain.

“It’s about giving people hope. I believe a great deal of the negative behaviors we see in people are just a reaction to fear,” he says. “It takes on many different presentations but it boils down to the same basic emotion.  If I can get past that and open their hearts and minds, then some real healing can take place.”

Lindsey learned about the value of compassionate healthcare early in life. A native of Jacksonville, North Carolina, he spent part of his childhood in Okinawa (he is of Okinawan descent). He remembers a particular physician who helped his father, a decorated war veteran of Korea and Vietnam, find relief.

“My dad had life-long debilitating back pain that would bring him to his knees. I remember vividly helping him off his knees so he could stand, get dressed and go to work,” Lindsey recalls. “It was a local doctor, Dr. John Dudley, who kept my father working for another 18 years past his 21 years of active duty military service.

Lindsey says Dr. Dudley inspired him to pursue a similar career path.

“My father retired with over 10,000 hours of sick leave and he never called in sick.  Dr. Dudley did this for many people in my hometown and made an indelible impact on me.  If I can do the same for others then my life is well lived.”

After working at a variety of jobs from service manager at a bicycle shop to top-rated sales rep for wireless phone companies and a financial services advisor, he returned to his first calling, healthcare.

Gary Lindsey earned his Doctor of Chiropractic from Parker University in 2002.  He ran a busy practice in Arlington, Texas, but saw its limitations. “I knew I wanted to know more about the entire continuum of care for the type of patients I treat, from conservative care to surgery to chronic management.  I looked at other various professions but knew that if I wanted to genuinely care for people nursing is about as close as you come,” he says. “So I started from scratch in my spare time, went back to school from an Associate’s through to a Master’s degree all over again.

He earned his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Nursing from Samford University and became a board-certified orthopedic nurse. He working at several healthcare companies and hospitals before coming to PPOA.

“I started in August 2016 and my second day on the job, our founder, Dr. Gari, handed me a laptop and said, ‘Go see patients; you know what to do,’ and I have not stopped since,” Lindsey recalls.

Gary Lindsey and his wife Tresia, recently celebrated their 26th anniversary. They are parents to Jacob, who is a 2016 United States Naval Academy graduate and naval aviator.  Gary Lindsey enjoys competitive cycling, the outdoors, and has driven high performance sports cars in Europe.

He has kept all his licenses active and continues his education current for both nursing and chiropractic.

“I am not done learning, growing, or advancing in my current field so my journey is to still keep putting tools in my toolbox,” he says. “My dream is to keep working, not retiring, and be able to confidently help others regardless of problems they bring me.  Also,” he adds with a smile, “because I have no idea how to play golf.”

 

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PPOA Laser Spine Institute Career Fair a Success

Over 180 Attend PPOA Laser Spine Institute Career Fair

They lined up an hour early, armed with resumes. They hugged colleagues. That was the scene on March 6 as nearly 200 displaced LSI employees attended a career fair at Physician Partners of America (PPOA).

Ten workers were offered jobs on the spot, with many follow-up interviews scheduled.

Tampa-based Laser Spine Institute abruptly closed its doors March 1, leaving about 600 local workers without a job. PPOA, which is growing rapidly and has been advertising 70 open positions, made an appeal through the media on Saturday. It urged both LSI workers and stranded chronic back pain patients to reach out.

The executive team met and quickly arranged the PPOA Laser Spine Institute Career Fair.

“We are so gratified to have the opportunity to help the community, this talented workforce, and Laser Spine Institute patients,” said Josh Helms, COO of Physician Partners of America. “We’re glad we could respond quickly to this sad turn of events.”

Physician Partners of America performs the same minimally invasive, laser-assisted procedures as Laser Spine Institute.

In addition, PPOA’s pain specialists are now performing laser procedures on facet arthritis patients. The company’s long-established pain management division also performs neuromodulation, intrathecal pain pumps and other non-opioid treatments for chronic pain.

Physician Partners of America has been responding to dozens of calls, emails and social media inquiries from former Laser Spine Institute patients, and scheduling them for consultations.

“We’re more than ready to help these displaced patients,” said Helms. “Even patients who are from out of state an find help with us. We’ve got the space, the technology and the expertise.”

For Laser Spine Institute career help, email hrdept@physicianpartnersoa.com or click here.

Displaced patients can call 855-25-LASER (855-255-2737) or visit the PPOA website.

 

 

 

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Laser Spine Institute Closing

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Physician Partners of America Offers Solutions to Displaced Laser Spine Institute Patients and Workers

Physician Partners of America (PPOA) will open its doors to hundreds of chronic pain patients left in the lurch after Laser Spine Institute shut down operations suddenly on Friday, March 1. Some of those patients had traveled to LSI’s flagship clinic in Tampa from other states. It is also helping displaced employees, who were blindsided by the closure, to find work at PPOA, beginning with a job fair on March 6.

“We are pleased to offer to perform minimally invasive laser spine procedures on patients who were scheduled for those procedures at Laser Spine Institute in Tampa,” said Josh Helms, PPOA Chief Operating Officer. “We welcome these patients and can put them on our schedule immediately.” PPOA accepts Medicare and most insurances for minimally invasive and laser spine procedures. The cost to patients is typically much lower than Laser Spine Institute.

TO SCHEDULE with Dr. St Louis please call: 1-855-25-LASER

Physician Partners of America, headquartered a few miles from LSI in Tampa, will also see LSI patients for consultations.

 

Laser Spine Institute Closing
Dr. James St. Louis, chief of PPOA’s Minimally Invasive Spine Division since January 2018

 

 

PPOA leadership expressed extreme sadness to hear that Laser Spine Institute shut down operations citing insurmountable financial difficulties. It had closed three surgical centers as a cost-cutting measure in recent years at the same time PPOA entered a period of dramatic expansion.

PPOA operates more than 30 pain management clinics, two laser spine operations, and six outpatient surgery centers in Florida and Texas.

“Laser Spine Institute has brought name recognition to the community in Tampa and other cities and it’s an unfortunate situation,” said Helms. “At Physician Partners of America, we take comfort in hiring many of the displaced LSI workers and our ability to care for those patients in need.”

Help for displaced Laser Spine Institute Employees

Helms added that given PPOA’s expansion and commitment to the Tampa Bay community, it is in a good position to hire some of the 500 employees who lost their jobs at LSI.

“We have many open positions for the type of experienced healthcare workers that contributed so much to the culture at LSI,” Helms said. “We can offer them a new home in a strong and stable company.”

Displaced Laser Spine Institute employees are invited to a career fair at Physician Partners Institute from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Wednesday, March 6 in its headquarters building, 550 N. Reo St. Tampa 33609. PPOA is hiring for 70-plus open positions, mainly in revenue cycle, collections, coding and clinical operations.

For information, they may contact hrdept@physicianpartnersoa.com.

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PPOA Patient Care Champions – Jennifer Vivar

JENNIFER VIVAR – LEAD MEDICAL ASSISTANT, MCKINNEY, TEXAS

Our employees are all patient care champions, but some go the extra mile and we want to give them the recognition they deserve. They embody the PPOA values known as S.I.T.E. – Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Empathy – which informs our service to patients and the community through high quality health care. 

Sometimes people find the medical profession by chance; others just seem born to do it. Jennifer Vivar, lead medical assistant based in the PPOA McKinney, Texas, clinic, falls into that category.

“I love helping people. It’s a gift I have. I put others before myself,” she says. “I’m very, very kindhearted.”

You’d be hard-pressed to find a single person who would disagree with her self-assessment.

“She’s very engaged in providing exceptional patient experiences for the patients in McKinney,” says her regional supervisor, Rhonda Boysen.

Born in Dallas and raised in the small town of Little Elm, Texas, Vivar was the first among her siblings to graduate from high school. She immediately enrolled in PCI Health Training Center and earned her Certified Medical Assistant certificate in 2015. She did her externship at PPOA in its now-defunct Prosper office and was hired full-time.

After working at a few PPOA clinics she came to McKinney in 2016.  Recently promoted to lead medical assistant, she now trains new hires for the role, but the McKinney clinic is her home base.

“Jennifer is always a team player and has a strong desire to grow her career path,” says her supervisor, Rhonda Boysen. “She has the respect of her teammates and they have wonderful collaboration amongst their team.”

“The clinic is our secondary home – actually more like our primary home because we spend more time here than anywhere else,” Jennifer Vivar laughs. “We get along so well. Patients see that and it makes them more comfortable.”

The patients – she always comes back to the patients.

“As a medical assistant you really do bond with patients,” she says. “They become like family because you see them every month and they tell you about their lives. Most important, you want them to be comfortable.”

 

 

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PPOA Patient Care Champions – Khiva Rogers

KHIVA ROGERS – PRACTICE MANAGER, DESOTO, TEXAS

Our employees are all patient care champions, but some go the extra mile and we want to give them the recognition they deserve. They embody the PPOA values known as S.I.T.E. – Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Empathy – which informs our service to patients and the community through high quality health care. 

If there is one thing Khiva Rogers has learned at the PPOA Desoto, Texas clinic she manages it’s that patients deserve compassion and respect – no matter how challenging they might be. And it’s something she instills in her staff.

“People in pain are not their normal selves. They’re hurting,” she says. “I treat them like I’d want my grandparents to be treated.”

That attitude comes easily to this mother of three grown sons and grandmother of four.

“My mother was a private duty nurse. She helped her patients and her patients fell in love with her,” Rogers recalls. “She always did above what was expected. I followed her into medicine and I try to follow her example every day.”

Rogers is known to keep a bucket of frozen water bottles outside the entrance for patients to sip on during scorching Texas summers. Her regional manager, Terica Cox, recalls one incident that typifies Rogers’s heart for patient care.

“One time there was a patient who was not acting normal; he was disoriented,” Cox recalls. “We checked on him. Khiva sat with him and took him into a room. She asked him, ‘Have you eaten today?’ ‘No.’ ‘Are you diabetic?’ ‘Yes.’ She went to the kitchen and gave this man her lunch. That’s outstanding.”

A native of Dallas, Rogers joined the U.S. Army after high school, which took her around the world. Her job: mortuary assistant in South Korea. It was her duty to identify the remains of fallen soldiers – a task both grisly and honorable. Still, the universe kept coaxing her into her mother’s footsteps.

Being stationed separately from her husband, Randall, a fellow soldier, was also difficult, especially as their family grew. They returned to the States, and Khiva Rogers enrolled in Lakeland Medical Academy (now Herzing University) in Minneapolis, Minn. She earned her medical assistant certificate and worked at the University of Minnesota’s hospital neurology department.

After five years, the family moved back to Dallas, where Rogers earned an A.S. in Science at Richland College and went to work as the office manager at the Ashland Ambulatory Surgery Center at the University of Texas.

She came to PPOA in 2016, first in the North Dallas clinic, moving into her current role in 2018. In addition to providing compassionate care, Rogers also believes in educating patients.

“I try to inform them at all levels; not only about their condition but about navigating paperwork,” she says. “What a deductible is, what a prior authorization is. It’s not easy for someone in the profession to understand it, so how can we expect patients to get it? I will pull them to the side and explain it. I’ll even write it down if they need it.”

Her willingness to go the extra mile ever day in her job makes Khiva Rogers a PPOA Patient Care Champion.

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PPOA Patient Care Champions – Noemy Salinas

PATIENT CARE CHAMPIONS – NOEMY SALINAS, TEXAS

Our employees are all patient care champions, but some go the extra mile and we want to give them the recognition they deserve. They embody the PPOA values known as S.I.T.E. – Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Empathy – which informs our service to patients and the community through high quality health care. 

Noemy Salinas is the practice manager of the PPOA Hurst, Texas location. With about 80 patients walking through its doors every day, it is the busiest pain clinic in the company’s Dallas-Fort Worth service area; but she handles it with grace and compassion and gratitude.

“I love being able to help. Talking to patients – some of them have no family and no one to talk to,” she says. “They catch me up on what they’ve been up to. So it becomes kind of like a friendship.”

Born in South Carolina and raised in Fort Worth, Salinas earned her Certified Medical Assistant certificate from Everest College. Very recently, she wrapped up eight years in the U.S. Army Reserves.

She was among the first wave of PPOA hires, in March 2014, starting as a medical assistant, then promoted to clinical coordinator – the precursor of today’s practice manager position.

“Noemy is very engaged in supporting her providers and support team,” says her regional supervisor, Rhonda Boysen. “Her team leads in many of PPOA’s initiatives in Texas. She has the respect of her teammates and they have wonderful collaboration amongst the group.”

One reason for that closeness is that several of her co-workers have been at Hurst since the beginning.

“We’re like a family,” says Salinas. “A family that has grown.”

As for her own family, she and her husband, Ryan, have two daughters: Genesis, 6, and Sophia, 4. Family is paramount in her life, and she sees her role as a fulfillment of her parents’ dreams.

“My parents are from Mexico and didn’t have the resources to pursue studies. My mom really wanted to be a nurse. She’d talk about it with great excitement – how cool it would be. She was so excited about it that it got me excited about it,” Salinas says.

While the pace can be hectic, Noemy Salinas never forgets why she is there. “Seeing the transformation of patients is amazing. Some people come to us and can barely walk. Over time, you see them come in and they can stand up straight and walk,” she says. “Seeing that gives you a purpose.”

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PPOA Patient Care Champions – Eric Shelton

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ERIC SHELTON – PHYSICIAN’S ASSISTANT, TAMPA

Our employees are all patient care champions, but some go the extra mile and we want to give them the recognition they deserve. They embody the PPOA values known as S.I.T.E. – Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Empathy – which informs our service to patients and the community through high quality health care. 

As a physician’s assistant in PPOA’s busiest Florida pain clinic  – Habana Avenue-Tampa – Eric Shelton, PA-C is known for his medical acumen and kindness to patients. Both are qualities he honed at a young age. He was only two when he was diagnosed with type I diabetes – and spent a lot of time in doctors’ offices.

“As I got older, I was able to recognize what a pleasant office visit was versus being passed through like a number,” he says. “Having such an experience helped me to see healthcare from a patient’s point of view. I developed the desire to help others within the healthcare field.”

A native of Johnson City, Tenn., he and his family moved to Lakeland, Fla. when Shelton was seven. After graduating from George Jenkins High School and Polk State College, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science from the University of South Florida in Tampa.

After working as a biomedical engineering tech for a medical device company, he realized his calling was patient care – the type he had received. But he faced an obstacle getting into PA school:

“The requirements were very stringent. They wanted 1,000 to 2,000 hours of direct patient care just to apply. My wife, Beatriz, picked up a second job so I could work as a medical assistant for free,” he recalls. “I worked 10-hour days nonstop, weekends included, with no pay. My wife picked up that full responsibility, which was very challenging.”

Eventually, Eric Shelton earned a Masters in Physician’s Assistant Studies at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. He came to PPOA in April 2017 after working in orthopedics and neurosurgery. “I was taught to do several procedures that we do here and got to do them myself, so I have knowledge of what the process is before and after and what the expectations are,” he says.

“He has really taken his time to learn the company and to share his wealth of knowledge with other staff members, including myself, in order to make PPOA-Habana a ‘Clinic of Excellence,'” says regional supervisor Mary McKay.

If his experience as a patient and on-the-job training formed the foundation of his care philosophy, his education gave it focus.

“My medical training in PA school was Jesuit. They taught us to treat patients with a holistic approach. So you take all things into consideration,” he says. “You don’t go in closed-minded. You listen, you pay attention and you begin to put a treatment plan together.”

That dedication to patient care shines through, with patients giving him high marks on reputation and social media sites.

“I have personally seen the patients come to check out all smiles and raving about his bedside manner, how he always listens to their concerns and how they really feel cared for after a visit with him,” says McKay.

“Sometimes the longest part of the visit is just sitting and listening and hearing someone,” says Shelton. “But you gain so much information from just being attentive. The treatment plan just becomes more simplified. You give them time and attention, which sometimes they have not been able to receive. The heavier demands in the medical field continue to reduce the amount of time that providers have with their patients but it’s one of the key components that allow you to have a well-developed, well thought-out treatment plan.”

Beatriz Shelton is now completing her last semester in nursing school, and their son, Elijah, is about to turn three. With his career in interventional pain management in full swing, Eric Shelton plans to continue helping patients lead a pain-free life.

“I never want to stop learning,” he says. “The more I can learn, the better a provider I become.”

 

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PPOA Patient Care Champions – Terica Cox

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TERICA COX – REGIONAL MANAGER, TEXAS

Our employees are all patient care champions, but some go the extra mile and we want to give them the recognition they deserve. They embody the PPOA values known as S.I.T.E. – Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Empathy – which informs our service to patients and the community through high quality health care. 

Terica Cox manages her Texas clinical teams on one key principle: “I tell them that we are all one fall away from being a patient ourselves and we should treat patients the way we would want to be treated,” she says.

It comes in part from personal experience. A lifelong Dallas resident, Cox says her mother suffered a bout of sickness and had to have several emergency surgeries. “Healthcare intrigued me. I wanted to learn more about it and how I could help my mom in her time of need,” she says.

That led her to study at PCI Health Training Center in Dallas and become a certified medical assistant (CMA). She worked in a variety of specialties including occupational medicine, cardiology, labor and delivery, and internal medicine, before finding pain management.

“I love patient care. I love specialty, so anything that’s a specialty allows me to learn new things. I like to learn new things all the time,” she says.

She joined PPOA in November 2014, in a position that was then known as a clinical coordinator, in the Grapevine location, now closed. She was later promoted to practice manager of the North Dallas clinic, and assumed her regional manager position in 2016.

She now oversees practice managers in Carrollton, Desoto, Frisco, McKinney and Richardson, plus two Capstone Pain and Spine partner clinics.

 

“I love the relationships you build with patients because these are the people you see every month,” she says. “Knowing we’re making a difference, seeing patients relieved of some of their pain, is rewarding to me.”

For Terica Cox, that means not only making sure patients receive excellent health care, but also asking them about their day, or a recent vacation, or their children. She embodies the patient-focused concept of AIDET and instills it in the people she supervises.

She is also known for both leadership and interpersonal skills. “I want to be the kind of manager that people feel they can come to and talk about anything,” she says. “I try to make it personable and be approachable.”

She has been known to invite team members for holiday dinners, check on those who are sick, or just call and say hello to someone she hasn’t heard from in a while.

“Terica Cox is very passionate about every patient having a great experience,” says Rhonda Boysen, Cox’s supervisor. “I’ve also found her to be engaged and resourceful to providers and support staff in her clinics.”

As you might imagine, family is everything to Cox. She and her husband have two daughters: Nature, who turns 24 this year, and Breyanna, 11.

Nature is following in her mother’s footsteps, taking classes toward her nursing degree. Mother and daughter are study partners, too: Cox is now working on her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at West Coast University in Dallas.

“I look forward to continuing to learn and grow,” she says.

 

 

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