Catherine Mack has been Hospice Administration Support for the Visiting Nurse Association of Greater St. Louis (VNA) since August of 2020, and in this short time, she has already established herself as a hard worker willing to step up wherever possible.
“I really think that any company needs a good administrative assistant to assist with all the aspects of the office,” says Catherine. “They need somebody who’s just willing to go at it and run with it, no matter what the task. That’s what I’ve been doing all my years of working; what needs to get done gets done. It’s not beneath me.”
Born in Gillespie, IL, Catherine has lived in St. Louis almost her entire life. She has a long history of working as a secretary and administrative assistant at places such as St. Louis University, the Junior College District and Mercy Hospital.
Catherine was let go from Mercy due to COVID-related layoffs, but that didn’t discourage her from looking for a new opportunity to serve others with her administrative skills. She found out about the open position at VNA online and was immediately struck by how kind and welcoming staff members were to her. The positive atmosphere delighted her considering daily work situations are often life-or-death. “It just amazes me that people can get along so well,” says Catherine.
Catherine’s general responsibilities include anything she can do to help things run as smoothly as possible, including preparing plans of care, doing paperwork and running COVID tests to the lab. As a newer employee, she’s still easing into her full responsibilities, and she’s excited for the ways her role will grow moving forward. “At first I just helped with simple things, and even that can be daunting when you’re first starting out,” says Catherine. “But I’m looking forward to a little more work now that I have the basics down. I’m ready to move on to other things.”
One of the aspects of her role at VNA that excites her most is how committed the staff is to the mission of the organization. “I just think everyone works for the betterment of the patients,” says Catherine. “They promote the patients wherever they’re at, not pushing them into a nursing home when they’d rather be at home. And that’s part of the mission: being there for the patients and their needs when and where they need it.”
“Everyone at VNA, not just the nurses and doctors, works for the good of the patients. That’s what my goal is, and that’s what everyone’s goal is.”
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