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More than 140 years of experience is housed in one Sanford Luverne office separated by two office dividers in the patient appointment center.
LPN Cheryl Groen started Aug. 18, 1980, and has been with Sanford Luverne 40 years.
MA Vicki Nelson started Sept. 16, 1976, and has been with Sanford Luverne 44 years.
LPN Carol Wieneke started Nov. 23, 1963, and has been with Sanford Luverne 57 years.
The three of them work in the Sanford Luverne Clinic scheduling office, sometimes working together on cases, but always striving to help patients have the best outcomes.
Cheryl Groen, the junior staffer, started as a nurse in Luverne Community Hospital and held various office jobs.
After an accident compromised her health, she became a nurse scheduler, utilizing her nursing background to place orders for physicians.
“I get a little variety every day. I don’t talk to the same people every day — except for the people I work with,” Groen said. “Carol and I communicate really well over the wall. We work together all the time. …We transfer calls to each other.”
Groen said she gets the satisfaction of patient contact that she enjoys as a nurse while scheduling orders like ultrasounds, mammograms, CT scans and surgeries.
“There are some people I work with quite a bit — the ones with recurring orders, such as lab work,” she said. “So I get to know them.”
Every test and every procedure needs an order, and it all comes through Groen’s desk.
Part of the work involves “investigative work.” For example, if a CT scan is ordered for a patient with a pacemaker, Groen calls it to the doctor’s attention.
She said improved technology has helped improve patient care, with doctors being able to access vital information more readily.
“It really makes you feel good when everything runs smoothly,” Groen said. “Communication is the most important part of this job. … with the doctors and with the patients. … and I enjoy helping people come to an answer to their health problems.”
Groen said she enjoys working as a team with Wieneke and Nelson.
“Vicki gets them lined up, and we schedule them. “So it’s really a three-person effort.
Vicki Nelson works in “Care Coordination” to make sure patients get in for follow-up appointments and keep up with health maintenance such as a colonoscopy and staying current with their medicine.
While her heart will always be “on the floor” where she worked for 39 years, she said care coordination offers her the rewards of helping patients nonetheless.
“Some of them answer the phone and recognize my voice,” Nelson said. “They say, ‘Vicki, is that you?’”
Also rewarding, she said, is being able to assure patients they’re getting the best care at Sanford Luverne.
“How lucky Luverne is to have the doctors we have here,” Nelson said. “We have doctors that since I started passed down the tradition of really giving good care and taking care of their patients.”
Nelson retired on Feb. 10, just after being interviewed for this story.
She fought back tears after being asked what she’ll miss about her 44 years at Sanford Luverne.
“I’m going to miss … my co-workers and the doctors and our patients,” Nelson said. “I love our patients. This has been my second home for 44 years.”
She worked full time for most of her career, which started at 19 years old.
As hard as it is to leave, Nelson said retirement has a better offer in the near term.
“I’m retiring so my new baby grandson doesn’t have to go to a big day care right away,” she said.
Carol Wieneke, with her 57-year career, is legendary in the Sanford Health System and Good Samaritan as the longest-running employee on record.
Still, she has no intention of retiring soon.
Wieneke is known for her able hands and gentle demeanor, and her work as an LPN has been celebrated at milestone parties marking 40 years, 50 years and even 55.
“I am very thankful for my family’s support throughout all of the 57 years. My husband and children always knew about my dedication,” she said. “There were times when I came home late and they were still patiently waiting with supper for me.”
Wieneke lost her husband in September and said she’s getting through the tough time with support of her colleagues.
She said the Sanford family is her family, and her accolades are her co-workers’ accolades.
“I didn’t do this by myself,” she said at her 50th anniversary party in 2013. “I’ve worked with wonderful co-workers and physicians through the years.”
She said the reason she’s been a nurse for so long is that she finds her work helping patients rewarding.
“I’ve always enjoyed coming to work. I’ve never had a day when I didn’t want to come to work,” Wieneke said. “And my patients have always come first.”