CHI Saint Joseph Blog

Kathleen Martin, MD, strives to provide a culture of quality care.

Dr. Martin remembers nuns at her Catholic school taking her under their wings after her father died. They would often tell her, “you should be a doctor when you grow up.”

“Becoming a doctor was ingrained in me when I was a little girl,” said Dr. Martin, now a gastroenterologist with CHI Saint Joseph Medical Group.

While she considered engineering, her love for biology pulled her into medicine.

When Saint Joseph East was looking for a gastroenterologist several years ago, Dr. Martin contacted Laurie Haas, MD, about opening a practice. They approached the administration with the idea and eventually opened a practice on that campus.

While medicine is a serious business, Dr. Martin believes it is important to lighten situations. In addition to asking about medical problems, she said it is vital to open with an icebreaker question to calm people down when they are getting a procedure done.

“It’s so affirming to find that, just by listening to people and trying to understand what their challenges are, I can really make a difference in their lives,” she said.

That attitude extends to other team members, and Dr. Martin credits a range of colleagues at Saint Joseph Eat — surgeons, nurses and radiologists, to name a few — as key to the ministry of care she strives to provide.

“It’s a culture of, if somebody is sick, we’re going to take care of them,” she said. “We’re going to do it efficiently, skillfully and with a pleasant attitude. It really makes my job rewarding when I have good people I can depend on to help treat patients well.”

While Dr. Martin says being a physician means she’s almost always on call, if she weren’t, “I wouldn’t get the satisfaction of knowing I’m taking good care of people.”

This article was originally published in the Winter 2019 edition of Spirit of Health magazine. Subscribe to Spirit of Health magazine to read more stories like this one.

Lisa Smith, RN, was working with patients as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) at the hospital in Corbin when it hit her: “I thought right then and there, ‘this is what I should be doing.'”

Lincoln Memorial University began offering a CNA to RN program at the hospital, so Smith followed her heart down the path leading her to nursing. She moved to Lexington soon after finishing nursing school, but something felt off.

“I was a little bit disheartened when I came out of nursing school,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if it was me or the environment, but something wasn’t right.”

That changed the minute she came into Saint Joseph Hospital, she said. “It was a different world – the warmth, the compassion – everybody made me feel like I was already a part of it. That was a totally different feeling from what I had in my previous position.”

That was 24 years ago. Smith has worked on the floors, with cardiology patients and in the emergency room at Saint Joseph Hospital. Today, she is a medical/surgical float nurse, which gives her the opportunity to work in many different areas of the hospital and learn more about nursing care.

“I never thought that after 24 years in nursing I’d be able to continue to learn, but there is still so much to learn out there,” Smith said.

And Saint Joseph Hospital is where she wants to do just that. She has many friends who are part of the nursing team and have also been there a long time.

“Walking the halls, people know your name, you know their names,” she said. “The atmosphere is totally different than any other hospital. And it’s not a small hospital; we’re pretty big. To be able to have that still is pretty amazing.”

This article was originally published in the Winter 2019 edition of Spirit of Health magazine. Subscribe to Spirit of Health magazine to read more stories like this one.

The first time Cindi Gardner walked into the Rosie Ring, she felt comfortable.

“We share. People listen. We get understanding without those sad looks we get from people who haven’t experienced cancer. I don’t feel the stigma of cancer – we all have it or are recovering from it,” she said in a recent testimonial. “It isn’t the dirty word or the elephant in the room no one wants to acknowledge. I don’t have to reveal that I have cancer – that’s why I’m there!”

About Rosie Ring

Rosie Ring is a networking and support group for women facing breast cancer offered through CHI Saint Joseph Health – Cancer Care Center at Saint Joseph East. Since 2013, women in the group have been gathering to discuss everything from the side effects of medicine to coping strategies to quality of life.

“It’s a great combination of incredible women, a social worker who gets it and is open to whatever topic comes up, and a place I can go where I don’t feel like the sick one,” she said in a recent testimonial. “I DON’T FEEL LIKE THE SICK ONE.”

Support Activities and Tools

The group meets for different activities that expose them to tools they can use while coping with their diagnosis, treatment and fear of reoccurrence, according to Stacy Florence, MSW, CSW, OSW-C, manager of Business Operations, Oncology Services.

“Group has been where I’ve learned so much – about treatment, recovery, resources, coping strategies, … Oh my! I realize physicians can’t give me a list of every possible side effect, information about alternative treatments, or share personal stories of patients,” Cindi said. “I’m amongst a group of women – intelligent, proactive women – who have educated themselves about self-care and cancer and are willing to share. I can show up at Group and ask, ‘Has anyone????’ and most likely someone has and is willing to talk about it.”

The women do yoga. They take cooking classes. They’ve done a drum circle. They’ve focused on things such as combatting fatigue, physical therapy, eating well, medication management and advance care planning.

“Our activities and outings – from meditation, restorative yoga, dog kennels – are a great combination of fun, distraction, and still with that common bond of cancer” Cindi said. “If someone needs to take it slow, no one complains. Good news/results, not so good news/results – it’s all OK. Bald heads, compression stockings, lopsided chests – it’s all OK.”

For Cindi, it’s more than the group meetings. She’s made new friends, who often check in with her and they meet regularly for lunch. That includes a special friend “who lets me whine and complain about the side effects of the aromatase inhibitor I am taking. She also deals with the same issues, and we support each other through emails, dinners, and texts. She is a huge support – which shows that Group extends outside of our scheduled gatherings.

“There is just something about the Rosie Ring that is special. I can’t quite put my finger on it and put it succinctly. I just know it works,” she said. “We are a group of women going through treatment and recovering from treatment – living with that shadow of recurrence that no one else quite gets.

“Group – it’s a good thing.”

Learn more about Rosie Ring and other Cancer Care support groups at Saint Joseph East.