Latest / Here to Serve - A United Regional Podcast / Beverly Ballard, Housekeeper
Transcript
- United Regional: Welcome to Here to Serve, a United Regional podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Graves. My favorite part of being the Director of Patient Experience at United Regional is the incredible people that I meet and work with on a daily basis. And I want you to meet them too. Join us to meet the people behind the badge and to highlight those who are here to serve. Well, thank you for coming, Beverly. I'm excited ⁓ to get you ⁓ in here. I've been working on you for a while. I know. Because you shot me down. the first time I asked you to come in here, but I've been working on it, and I had some other people working on you to get you in here. So I'm excited to get to talk to you today. I've got a lot of things that I'm interested in, but before I do that, I'm worried that you're gonna tell my secrets today, so let's just go ahead and have an agreement. You're not gonna tell me. I ain't gonna tell you secrets. Because Beverly figured it out here, but I've been keeping it a secret, not a reason, for a long time. ⁓ and then you figured it out, because you'll see me up on the second floor, and one of the things you always say to me is, Ryan, you need to get a job. You'll see me walking, and I'm like, Beverly, uh-uh, like, don't tell nobody, because I figured out if I carry papers in my hand, and I walk real fast, and I act busy, people are like, man, that guy's working hard, but you're like, nah, I see you, Ryan. I see you up here just walking around, acting busy. You do that with a lot of, I see you having a lot of banter with a lot of people. It seemed like you enjoy that. Yes, I enjoy it a lot. Everybody at United Regional is just like family to me. I love them all. Well, it's two-way street. Everybody says, if I, I, I'll tell you over the last few weeks, people will stop me and go, Hey, who's, who you having on the podcast soon? And yada yada. And I'll always. one of the people I knew was coming, said, I'm having Beverly on, and man, ⁓ everybody gets so excited about it. There's a lot of people that are excited to hear what you have to say today, and you are universally loved and appreciated at United Regional, I know that. And people love talking with you. And just, like you said, kind of that family vibe. So let's back up a little bit. Who are you and what do you do at United Regional? Well, I'm Beverly Ballard, I'm a housekeeper. ⁓ I've been at United Regional for 18 years, 13 years in housekeeping, five at Airmark. Okay, I didn't realize. So you did Airmark first and then housekeeping after? Okay, I didn't know that. Yeah. So about 18 total. Okay, so that would have put you starting in like 08? 08. 08, okay. I must have just, I got there in 07, so we started pretty close to the same time. I didn't realize that. You're working for your manager. is Reed, is that right? Yeah. Yeah. And I just want to say at the outset, I'm so sorry that you're having to work for Reed. know he's... ⁓ Reed and Chris, they good bosses. And my supervisor is Nicole. Okay. And so for anybody out there, I'm being really facetious right now that doesn't know Reed is my brother. And so any chance I get to throw shade at my brother, we're going to throw shade at him. But Beverly, thank you for... and and read and Chris and that whole team are incredible people. Some of my favorite people for sure. For sure. So tell me about you outside of United Region. So you're working guest services at United Regional. Error mark before that, 18 years. What about outside United Region? What do people need to know about you there? Well, I really go, I don't do too much. Just relax and go to church on Sunday when I can. ⁓ what church do you go to? Church of Living God on Gladiolus. Shout out. Shout out to Church of the Living God. Hope they all get to watch this. Yeah, you sure they all see it? Yes. Okay, awesome. Well, so you've been a churchgoer whole life. Yes. Mom and dad started you down that path. How's that impacted you in whole life, I guess, but for sure in your current role? Well, my mom, my dad passed away at an early age, then my mom passed away. in with colon cancer. And then I turned around and I got it in 20. And then I got it again in 23. So twice. Twice. Now I knew that you had been through cancer once. I did not realize it was twice. So both in 20 and in 23. Yes. My goodness. But God is good. I had faith. And my faith led me on to now. You would never know I had cancer unless I tell you. But God took me through and it was just like, how you put it, when I first went through chemo, I shed a few tears when I was in the hospital and God took them tears away from me. He said, you got to fight. So I fought it and kept fighting and then I got it again at 23. Now, let me just ask, that's gotta be just, can't, I can't, I try to put myself there, but I can't even hardly put myself in a situation to go, I've had colon cancer, I've beat it, I've been through all this pain, I'm assuming pain and suffering and worry and fear and doubt and all those sorts of things, and I come through the other side only to be told, you gotta do it again. What was that like? You know, I said, I didn't worry about it because I had God on my side. because it would interest me. Then I said, you know what, if it's my time, my time. Because my mom always told us when we were young, you never know when you're gonna leave this world and how. So I had that in my mind. And it still be in my mind. Don't get me wrong, I have aches sometimes, but I keep going. But you never know if I'm having this pain unless I'm. Unless I tell you. Yeah, no, that's I've noticed that I knew that's great point. I didn't even know you had cancer twice. I knew you'd had it once. And I think really the only reason I even knew that is just because I'm a nurse and I was I think I was passing through one day and I saw you in a bed and I said, ⁓ my goodness, there's Beverly. ⁓ And of course, we was all praying for you and worried about you and all sorts of things. But. Wasn't much longer. I saw you back at work. Yeah. And, know, being a nurse. I could tell that you had been sick just by looking at you. said, hey, this lady's been through it. I knew you had had cancer. I didn't know any details, but I could tell you'd been sick. ⁓ I could even see a couple of times when I saw you, thought, I could tell that lady's tired. But when I said, hey Beverly, you turned around like nothing was going on and started ⁓ teasing and laughing and cutting up and saying you were blessed and all those sorts of things as you were working, doing your job. And I remember the first time I had that encounter with you after I knew you had been very ill. And I could see the fatigue on you a little bit. And for your attitude to still be, you know, I'm here, I'm working. mean, hey, man, people call in for headaches, you know? And here you are, chemo, radiation, just working and not just working, but working with a positive mindset. That touched me deeply. convicted me a little bit to be honest, you know, and I said, man, that's a lady with some grit right there. So I'm curious, where do you, you clearly said, I attribute this to my faith, but else can you tell me about that mindset and that grit to come through that and then just get back to it? Well, it's a lot to deal with really, but I have faith and then plus ⁓ have United Regional were right there with me. If I need to go anywhere, want to take me to chemo, want to take me to radiation, I had people right behind me. Right there, United Region, they still with me right today. Bella, you okay? Yeah, I'm fine. You know, they always say, you need anything, let us know. So United Region, like I said, just like my family. Yeah. What was it like getting care at a place that you work at? Was it awkward? Like, oh, I know these people? Or what was that like? I mean, everybody was just like family, so I couldn't say, everything was good. Everything was good, I can't complain. Then like I said, I had to go to Dallas. I had my surgery in Dallas. How many surgeries did have? You had surgery both times? had my surgery in Dallas, and I had... Kevin Pillow, he took me down there for... Did he? I see, Kevin's a good man. Yeah, for to take, to meet my doctor, meet and my doctor. Did he go to church with you? No. No, okay. And then, Juana Colors, she took me down there on Wednesday. She stayed with me until after my surgery. She come back. to check on me that Saturday. She went back, then she come back that Sunday to pick me up and bring me home. Wow. And she's not related to you? No. Not by blood? No, but seem like God brought in my life where I was going around with my trash can, the bell if you need anything, just tell me. I'll take you whatever, and she did. What a... ⁓ What areas, what all areas do you cover right now at the hospital? I mean, I always see you on the second floor. I do second floor dialysis and lab. And lab, okay. So what are all your job responsibilities look like on a daily basis? Are you cleaning, emptying trashes? Yeah, I trash in bathroom. Bathroom, okay, yeah. So I see you, I'm on the first floor, but I travel back and forth quite a bit on the second floor. That's usually where I'll run into you from time to time. get to meet all kinds, second floor is full of people. You do everything on the second floor? Yes, mostly. Okay. Well, I don't do pastry rooms anymore because of my condition. Right, right. Yeah. That's why you're on that. That makes sense. That makes sense. So two bouts with this, the first one was in 20, is that right? Yes. And then the second one was in 23. Yeah. When you were first told... that you had colon cancer. Where was your mind at? What were the things you had to go through there? I figure I had colon cancer when my mom was sick. And when my mom was sick with the colon cancer, she had stage four. And I knew I was losing weight, so I looked it up. And that's how I knew. Because later on, I was trying to wait to take care of my mom. and everything, I waited until she passed before I took care of myself. So when I did go to the emergency room, I know I had a knot. And that's how I knew I cancer. Wow. Well, one of the areas that modern medicine has come so far with is cancer, and in particular, stomach cancers and colon cancers. Man, we've come so far with the ability to cut those things out, treat them, and then still live a long life, you know? Yeah. many years ago that was a death sentence and it's just not anymore. Dr. Pravidian Reddy, he's my doctor. He'd been right there with me. Yeah. And he always had a smile on his face. It'll be all right, Beverly. It'll be all right. I see it will. It will. Yeah, had a shameless plug here, but we had him on the podcast a few, I don't know, seven or eight episodes ago. And what a kind-hearted, genuinely yeah, he's very kind. Yeah. I'm really thankful he's with us at United Regional now. So he fits right in as part of United Regional Crew. Absolutely. Well, I'll tell you, Beverly, you have been an absolute inspiration to me ⁓ and many others I know. It's always a bright spot in people's day when you come through. You always have a ⁓ kind word or teasing. I'm a, you know, my family and ⁓ almost sometimes to a... to a fault, we show love to each other by teasing. Now I have to work on my kids with that sometimes because that's how me and my kids show love to each other is we're kind of teasing, trash talking and that kind of stuff. But then if they go do it with another kid that doesn't know that that's how they're trying to show love, I have to explain to them like you can only do that with people that are close to you and that understand, other people not so much. And so you've got that rapport with people all over the organization that... you tease and kind of have the banner back and forth and like, you get a job, you're doing no work today, those kinds of things. I love that. I just love it. Cause to me that that's family, right? That's how me and my family are. And that's all love and appreciation. So that's, that's cool. I imagine you've gotten to know a lot of people over the years. ⁓ yes. I don't know everybody by name, but I know about it face. Yeah. Do you have the problem where when you're out of you know, in Walmart or wherever you see people and you're like, man, I know, I know, I know that person. Well, you know, really they sponsor me. Yeah. Yeah, they sponsor me first. Yeah. I know, I know, I know that person. They say hi and like, and I know I know your face because 20 years at United Regional, you met a lot of a lot of people and then church, you know, that's my problem too. It's half the time I'm like, I don't know if I met this person through church. I don't know if I met him through work. But I know I know them, I know their face. yeah, I always feel bad too if I can't recall the name. It's just too many people. Just too many people. Well, Beverly, what would you say to the people out there that are going through a hard time right now? If they're in the middle, you've been through some very difficult things. And it's always, to me, it's easy on the other side of it, looking back going, hey, you can do this. But when you're in the middle of it, Like what would you tell somebody? How'd you get through this? Just have faith and believe you can do it. Anybody can do it. Just really. It's how I did it. don't know how other people's, but like I said, I just have faith. That's all. Faith in God. And just work and enjoy life. I like that. Work and enjoy. Just believe, work, and enjoy life. Well, that's good. That's good. My experience, limited as it is at this point in life, is that the whole battle, all of it, is... It's a mind down. It's in my head. You know, it's all in my head. And don't get me wrong, sometimes I'm thinking, hey, I'm gonna, you know, die tomorrow, you know, anything. I think about that sometimes. Don't get me wrong. But then I say, ooh, that's the devil. Let me get that out of my head. Yeah. You know, I just... Yeah. Because we get to control where we put our thoughts at, right? Yeah. Yeah. And those... And that really is, from everything I can see... that I've experienced both myself and others is, ⁓ you know, whatever I'm thinking about. I had an experience recently where I had ⁓ a really hard task in front of me, nothing like cancer. ⁓ But it was an endurance event where me and a friend of mine were going to have to cover a lot, a lot of distance over a couple of days. And we were physically already exhausted. And ⁓ we were both kind of questioning, are we going to be able to do this? ⁓ When we got started, said, hey, listen, let's both make an agreement right now. Our bodies can do this. It's our minds that will tell us that we can. And the whole time we were out there, we started getting tired. I say, listen, our bodies can do it. It's the mind that says I can't. And you just keep going and keep going and keep going. And you get it done. But that mind is always telling you, you're not going to make it. It's too hard. This hurts too much. And like all those. All those thoughts try to come in. Yeah, but you can do it. Anybody can do it. Just have faith in God. He'll lead you the way the whole time. Give you the strength. Yes. I'm a big believer in that. as much, I very much have a belief in faith in God and believe that, you know, he'll see me through. And it's really interesting being a nurse. ⁓ and in the science world for many years. It's been interesting for me to see the crossover between faith and science. And more and more in the science literature, ⁓ we are starting to see that what people believe about their sickness, what they believe about their ⁓ disease, and what they believe about their care team has a massive impact. Sometimes just as much impact as whatever medicines we give them. is what they believe in their mind. If they say, I'm gonna make it through this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna beat this, ⁓ that gives them their ultimate chance ⁓ of making it through is when they really believe it. When they really believe it and say, my body can do this, I just can't let my mind break down. That's powerful. I I watched you do that. I watched your body be physically weak, but your mind. as you're pushing that cart down the hallway. I was watching you power through, now I never stopped and even talked about this with you, but I watched it. ⁓ And you power through with your mind. That said, I've got faith, I can do this, I'm tired, I'm sick. ⁓ But I'm still gonna, you said earlier, have faith, ⁓ work hard, and enjoy life. Was that the three things you said? Yeah, trust in God. Trust in God. Have faith. Have faith. and enjoy. Enjoy life. I might get that on a t-shirt or something. That's gonna be the quote that's gonna come out of this. know, have faith in God, work hard, and enjoy your life. I think that's about as good of wisdom as you can get right there. Right. I think you're not just saying that, I think you're living it. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. What are you excited about these days? And you got anything, any big plans coming up, anything you're excited about? No. Just enjoy life. Just enjoy life. Hey, you're doing it. You told me you're you're ⁓ are you working a little less hours these days? No, not they're giving you to any days off. Yeah, I work, you know, but you know, I have my normal day at all. Okay, so they are you do get days off. Yeah, I'm glad Reed. Thank you for giving Beverly a day off here and there. I thought you just worked every day. I didn't know. No, everybody see me every day. You'll be all I said, yeah, but everybody sees me. Awesome. Well, Before we wrap up today, is there anything that I haven't asked you about that you wanted to talk about or any good stories to share with me today? No, I love United Regional. Well, hey, I'll tell you, the people love you. They love you back very much. right. Well, nobody you want to make fun of before we go today? No. All right. We'll do it after the camera's off. We'll tell you. No. I appreciate you Beverly. Thank you so much for coming on and visiting with us. You're welcome.