Jody Dundas retires after 46 years at Okanogan Douglas Hosptial

Jody Dundas had a lot of fans at Okanogan Douglas Hospital, including her bosses. "I'd hire 100 like her any day," said former administrator Howard Gamble. But Jody always did her job quietly, and she kind of wanted to go out quietly when she decided to retire.

But that's easier said than done for Jody Dundas-after all, she's worked at the hospital for 46 years.

Actually "46 years and three months," Jody said; she was hired in December 1962. Her friends at the hospital weren't going to let somebody who'd been at the hospital for nearly half a century go quietly. They sprang a surprise party on Jody Monday, Feb. 16.

Her friends filled the dining room with balloons; the cooks provided a baked potato dinner. Her friends brought tons of cards and bought a huge cake. (Jody said the cat had slipped out of the bag earlier in the week and she knew there was going to be a party, but she didn't know what day. So she was surprised.)

Jody has worked for many years as a ward clerk; it was her job to answer the phone at the nurse's station, direct visitors to patient rooms, transfer orders from doctors, just generally keep things humming at the nurse's station. She also worked in surgery for many years, and she started out, all the way back in 1962, as an aide.

What is now the west wing was pretty much the whole hospital in 1962. There was an extended care facility on the ground floor and most of the patient care was upstairs, Jody remembered. Harold Stout, Harold Lamberton and Fred Schnibbe were practicing medicine in the Quad City area "and Dr. Henry came down from Twisp," Jody said. The doctors were general practitioners, with the emphasis on general; they were the obstetricians, the surgeons, the pediatricians, and pretty much everything else.

There was always a lot going on around the hospital. "We were busy-did lots of surgeries," Jody remembered. Harold Lamberton handled the orthopedics cases. Jody liked working with them; they were "great," she said.

The nurses were generalists too-they did whatever needed to be done, wherever they were needed, whether it was obstetrics or surgery or among the general patient population. "The nurses just did everything," Jody remembered, and that was true of the whole staff. People did pretty much any job that needed to be done.

"Howard was administrator when I was hired," Jody said. "Wonderful to work for." Over time the hospital expanded; the existing east wing was built and the patient care rooms were moved there. An intensive care unit was added. Over time, of course, the hospital has changed-it's "totally different" now, she said. There are more patients. There are more departments, more employees in all those departments and a lot more rules and regulations. Technology has had a huge impact on medicine; procedures that weren't even possible in 1962 are commonplace now, even in small rural hospitals like Okanogan Douglas Hospital.

Jody was a great employee, Gamble said, working her way from the aide position to the surgery and on to ward clerk duties, always dedicated to her job and always taking good care of patients. (There was that one time she got mad at Dr.-well, that was a while ago.) Dedication is what he will remember about her, said current administrator Dale Polla; she was dedicated to the hospital and to patient care for more than 45 years. "We certainly appreciate all she's done for this facility," Polla said.

"One of the best employees ever," Howard said.

Jody said she didn't really have a plan when she started working at Okanogan Douglas Hospital, but she didn't necessarily think she'd be there 45-plus years later. "It doesn't seem that long at all," she said. It was just the job for her. "It worked out perfect me." But she can draw her Social Security now, and-well, it's just time to retire, she said.

It's been a great place to work, she said. "I've enjoyed working with everybody," she said; most people have "been great to work with."

Just because she's retiring doesn't mean she won't be busy. "I've got lot of things to do," she said. There's stuff to do around the house, "catch up on things I didn't get done," maybe some trips on the schedule down the road.

But she will miss the hospital, she said. "Every day. Especially the people I work with."