[0:00 - 0:11]
Kimberly: Hello everyone. I am fortunate enough to have Jennifer Cord who is the Chief Nursing Officer for Providence Mission Hospital. Welcome Jennifer.

[0:11 - 0:12]
Jennifer: Thank you, Kimberly.

[0:13 - 0:30]
Kimberly: I am so glad that you decided to take some time and share some of your experiences and expertise with us. And I just wanted to start out by asking you a little bit about your career trajectory. And the other part of the question is where you are now. Is it aligned with where you thought you would be?

[0:30 - 1:07]
Jennifer: Well, thank you, Kimberly. Yes, where I am today is where I wanted to be in my career when I started my career. So it's really taking care of patients and making a difference for communities. I started out my career knowing at the age of four that I wanted to be a nurse. And so watching my mother care passionately for my grandmother, it really helped me see the difference that I wanted to make in a career in the future. So having that knowledge at the age of four and getting my first nursing kit to care for patients, I knew that I wanted to become a nurse.

[1:07 - 1:18]
And my current role is to be the Chief Nursing Officer of over 1,100 nurses here at Mission Hospital. And to make a difference for the patients in the communities in supporting the nurses.

[1:19 - 1:36]
Kimberly: Oh, that's wonderful. You're aware that the name of this podcast is Pulse Check. And so my question is, has there ever been a time in your career where you had to pause and do a pulse check? And if so, what happened and what was the outcome of that?

[1:36 - 2:08]
Jennifer: Well, in my career, there's been a few times that I've needed to do a pulse check. But one of the ones that comes to mind that was the most significant was during the pandemic. So during the pandemic, as we know, the supply of human resources and supplies was very scarce. And having worked 30 plus years in my nursing career, had never seen something so significant that impacted patient care. So professionally, we were weathering and persevering, being alongside our care teams.

[2:08 - 2:43]
But meeting the flexibility and the prioritization of patient care and of life care with such supply shortages was definitely a time for a pulse check within my community. And at the same time, working alongside the nurses and supporting them, supporting our providers and supporting our community. My daughter, so on a personal level, my daughter graduated nursing school. And so she had just accepted her first position when the pandemic was escalating. So personally and professionally, it was very much a pulse check time in my career of concern.

[2:43 - 2:55]
But to weather the storm together and to face the unknown with flexibility, perseverance and really the mission and vision and values that align with my career.

[2:55 - 3:18]
Kimberly: Oh, what an experience that must have been. That's wonderful. Now, I also want to ask you about purpose. How do you find purpose in what you're doing? You touched on it a little bit, but sometimes when things are really looking a little bit gloomy, how do you reattach to the purpose that you have in being a health care leader?

[3:18 - 3:53]
Jennifer: Well, being a health care leader really does align with my passion and purpose. You really do have to have a purpose. And it's really a tagline that I've used throughout my life, which was actually also given to me from my grandmother that was very pivotal in my professional life as well, was the purpose of life is life with purpose. And making sure that the purpose of what you do in your career and personally and professionally really makes a difference. And so having that passion and purpose, being alongside the care teams, being out,

[3:53 - 4:17]
being present with them, hearing their voice, being their voice, being their advocate. And not just for the local teams, but for the community and for nursing in general, because definitely the profession of nursing continues to evolve. And we really do need that passion and purpose to make a difference and to be an advocate for nursing, to be an amazing profession for those joining in years to come.

[4:18 - 4:28]
Kimberly: Absolutely. Now, the last question I'll ask you is if you had an opportunity to give key advice to your younger self, what would you tell you?

[4:28 - 5:01]
Jennifer: Well, definitely my younger self thought that, you know, you could finish nursing school and school might be done. Well, what I would say is to my younger self and my current self, be humble, learn every day and be a lifelong learner. You really can continue to learn and gain additional education. Education doesn't have to be a formal degree. It can continue to be certifications, really grow in your career. And there really is limitless within the profession of nursing what you can do with being a nurse.

[5:01 - 5:27]
Having evolved in my career over the years of being in the role of a chief operating officer, a chief nursing officer, starting out as a certified nursing assistant, you know, at the young age of 16, you can do any role within nursing and make a difference. But never stop learning. Make sure that you compassionately and passionately persevere to gain more knowledge every day to make a difference.

[5:27 - 5:35]
Kimberly: That is absolutely wonderful. And I want to thank you for taking the time out to share your experience and expertise with us.