For Keith McCray, an attendant with St. Charles Bend’s Environmental Services team, the fulfillment he finds in his job comes not from his day-to-day tasks, but from the people he meets along the way.
“This is the best place I’ve ever worked, because I get to go into patient rooms and clean their rooms and talk with them,” he said.
“And they’re having a bad day, man. They’re in the hospital,” McCray continued. “So to bring them a little joy and a little conversation is fantastic to me. I wish I’d known about this job when I was 21 years old, because I would’ve been doing it all along.”
McCray brings to those patient rooms a sense of perspective and empathy that not everyone can provide. A few years ago, he was working at a national home improvement retailer when he fell off a truck and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
“I was in the hospital for a week and off work for two months, trying to relearn how to talk correctly and walk correctly,” he said. “So for me, especially when I’m working on the third floor (home to Bend’s Ortho/Neuro unit) and I’m meeting patients with head injuries, I feel like I know what they’re going through.”
Among other duties, McCray’s job is to empty the trash cans, change soiled linens and mop floors. But like many of St. Charles' EVS workers, he also gives patients a chance to talk with a non-clinical caregiver – someone who isn’t in the room to discuss test results or deliver potentially worrisome news.
“We were looking for something for Keith that would fit with his personality, and he always wanted to be able to connect with people,” said his wife of 26 years, Kelly. “He’s a chatty, outgoing guy, and he felt like he didn’t matter at his previous job. He feels like he matters here.”
A chance encounter brought McCray to St. Charles. In late 2021, when Kelly’s mother was in the hospital for surgery, she started talking to the guy who cleaned the room. Recognizing that working in the hospital would give her husband the kind of people- and service-driven work he needed, she encouraged him to apply for a job.
He was hired shortly after his interview.
“Moving 425-pound refrigerators starts to wear on your body after seven years,” McCray said. “So I gave my two-week notice and came to the hospital. It’s the best place I’ve ever worked.”
Before he worked at the home improvement retailer, McCray was a mechanic for more than 30 years.
“I was the kind of guy that I could pull your transmission out, take it apart and fix it, put it back together, and you're good for another 200,000 miles, but I couldn’t do that now to save my life,” he said with a laugh.
“But now, I wake up every morning and I’m excited to go to work,” McCray said. “I get to help people when they need it most. I get to work with a wonderful team of nurses and everyone else. I get to work in a positive environment where I have the support I need. And I like being a part of that.”
