Stent placement uncovers close connections

Rebecca Johnson is more than happy to take her work home with her every day.

On June 13, Rebecca, who works in final quality control at Cook Spencer, went to the hospital to have an 11mm kidney stone “lasered.”

“It was the biggest stone they had ever seen!” she said, laughing. “When I woke up from the procedure, the doctor told me that they also had to place a stent between my kidney and bladder. Then I found out it was a Cook stent. I told him, ‘There’s nothing like a Cook stent!’ He told me that he prefers ours.”

Not only was it a device that is manufactured at Cook Spencer, it is also one that regularly passes through Rebecca’s department.

“I wanted the lot number so I could find out if it was one that I had QC’ed myself,” she said. “It wasn’t. But I did find out who had worked on it—I wanted to give them all a hug and tell them ‘thank you.’”

Vicky Sheese and Carrie Wall, two veterans of the Spencer stents department, had built the device. It had been inspected by Rebecca’s long-time coworker Shanta Baxter. For all three women, this was the first time they had the opportunity to meet the recipient of a device they’d worked on.

“It makes you realize how important your job is,” said Vicky, who has worked at Cook for 12 years. “I had seen Rebecca many times around work, but I never knew who she was. Now, not only do I know her, but I also have a face to put with a device I worked on—that’s really neat.”

For Carrie, who has been with Cook 17 years, knowing someone who received a device she worked on gave her a fresh outlook on her job.

“When you work on something all day, every day, it can just become a piece of material to you,” Carrie said. “You can lose sight of exactly what you are doing. You may not be having a great day at work, but what you are doing can give someone a better life.” In Shanta’s case, a device she has inspected ended up in someone she sits with for at least eight hours a day, five days a week.

“Rebecca is my friend, I have known her for years,” said the 20-year Cook employee. “We are close. I felt really good when I found out her device was one I had inspected.”

“It is amazing how many different people play a part in getting one device to a patient,” Rebecca said. “It really makes you wake and realize what this place does for people. It makes you feel pretty good.”

In total, over two dozen employees, from Incoming QC, through Production and Packaging, to Shipping and Customer Support, played a part in getting the stent from a raw material to a finished product for the physician who treated Rebecca.

Rebecca added, “I was glad that I got a stent from Cook, instead of one I knew nothing about. I know how hard everyone here works to do a good job.”