Earlier this month, Kathy Grandmason celebrated her 50th anniversary as a caregiver at St. Charles, where she works as a communications specialist in the Transfer Center.
It’s a position she is naturally qualified for.
“I’m kind of a chatty person — a Chatty Kathy,” she said with a laugh.
Grandmason has put those skills to work ever since she was hired to work the switchboard in 1976, about six months after St. Charles moved out of downtown Bend and into its then-new hospital on Neff Road.
Kathy Grandmason works the switchboard at St. Charles in the 1970s
“It was a wonderful place,” she said. “When you’d turn to go toward the hospital, it was all trees — all of these parking lots weren’t here. So you’d go down the little winding road and then, all of a sudden, you came upon this beautiful campus.”
Born in The Dalles, Grandmason moved to Bend when she was 5 years old, and she graduated from Bend High School in 1969. Shortly thereafter, she started taking classes at Central Oregon Community College, where she got a job working the switchboard, which at the time was the old “cord board” style that required operators to carefully crisscross cords across a grid of audio inputs.
“If something happened and you yanked the cord, they all might fall out. So it was a little stressful,” she said. “But I found I really liked it.”
After a few years, she met someone who had done the same job at St. Charles and enjoyed it. So she decided to apply for an opening.
“At first, I just needed a solid place to work,” Grandmason said. “And then it turned into talking to patients and helping patients and talking to people in the community and helping them get where they needed to go. And I loved it.”
Back then, St. Charles switchboard operators not only took incoming calls, they also responded when patients called to indicate they needed help; then, the operators would contact a nurse to let them know what the patients needed. They also handled nighttime admitting to the hospital, Grandmason said.
She remembers a time when she answered a call and could hear only noises in the room — no words. She messaged the nurse, who responded to find the patient choking.
“I felt like I was really helping. I had a job that really meant something, and that meant more to me than anything else,” she said. “I was helping people. I was a part of a team. I was really connected and helping the doctors and nurses. I felt like what I was doing was making a difference.”
Five decades later, Grandmason’s office has moved a few times, but she’s still making the same difference, said Elisa Ginabreda, supervisor of the Transfer Center.
“Her skill is her genuine kindness and the caring that she has. It’s who she is,” she said.
“She takes every call and really listens and tries to help people get to the right place,” Ginabreda continued. “She doesn’t rush a call if someone’s not understanding. She takes her time with every single person, and she does so in a manner where you can tell that she not only enjoys what she does, but she cares about the people that she's talking to.”
When asked what it takes to be successful in the job she has done for 50 years, Grandmason didn’t hesitate, and her answer echoed Ginabreda’s observation.
“I try to remember that when someone on the phone says something to me, it's their first time. It might be my 100th time hearing the same question, but it’s their first time asking it,” she said. “And people need to feel safe and feel encouraged that it’s OK to come here if they need to. So I need to be the front face for the hospital. I need to be the smile. I need to be welcoming, because we have a terrific team here.”
In addition to her sharp communication skills, Grandmason is an invaluable presence on that team, Ginabreda said.
“She brings a lot of insight and a lot of history to the office. There are things that only Kathy knows because she has been here,” she said. “I love when she’s working because she’s just a joy to be around. She elevates the day.”
