“The core of it is the patient.” That’s a phrase Janice Smith has told herself for nearly 42 years of service at CoxHealth. Janice is retiring in May 2022.

Her time with CoxHealth started when she attended nursing school at the Burge School of Nursing, now Cox College. It wasn’t her first career choice, she wanted to be a flight attendant but didn’t meet the height criteria back then.

“I was fresh out of high school, green as a gourd. I was scared to death of anyone that wore white! Heaven forbid they carried a doctor's bag or stethoscope,” she says with a chuckle.

After graduating from Burge, she went home to Louisiana, Missouri, to work in a small hospital but decided to come back to CoxHealth where she would start as a nurse in the Orthopedics Department. She describes her time in Orthopedics as intense manual labor.

“You couldn't have told me when I was a student that I would work there in the future, much less that I would like it,” Smith adds.

Over the years, Smith went in and out of Orthopedics by joining the nurse float pool, a group that provides nurses to a variety of departments depending on needs. Around the early 2000s, Smith made the permanent move to Preadmission Services, which is where she would finish her days at CoxHealth.

Throughout Smith’s life, she has overcome some tough battles. In the past 20 years, she has gone through marriage, divorce, widowhood and two rounds of successfully fighting breast cancer.

“This is the best crew to work with, in all my years. This is really extended family here; the Lord puts you where He wants you to be,” Smith adds.

As she reflects on her final days at CoxHealth, she shares how the system cares for its employees just as much as the patients.

“I have always felt like CoxHealth cared not only for its patients, but its employees in the community. I believe in the system, it’s my bread and butter. That’s what I do, that’s what I want to do,” says Smith.

In all of these years, she only remembers one time that she seriously considered leaving the system, but the CoxHealth culture motivated her to stay.

“I had looked into moving closer to my home, I was single again. I thought it would be nice to be closer to family and I did some extensive interviewing in the St. Louis area and found out those people up there did not have near what I have down here. So, I came back to work and kept my mouth shut and here I am!”

As for what kept her motived at work, she prayed for wisdom every day immediately after pulling into her parking spot. She also tried to keep a smile on her face for the patients, and that smile came in handy during her time in Orthopedics. She shared a story of a man who suffered from a fractured pelvis due to a tractor incident.

She would do rounds every morning to lay eyes on each patient so when she did rounds with physicians later, she would be clued in on who she was talking to. This man came back weeks later and brought Janice and the physician a gift of a handmade rolling pin made of wood and said, "Your smile is what kept me going.”

Janice Smith reflects on her 40+ years at CoxHealth

That patient’s words were a reminder that keeping the patient at the core of everything we do is the key to success in health care. It is a lesson she sees her colleagues living out each day and she takes comfort in knowing that her patients will be in good hands as she heads into retirement.

Janice is looking forward to traveling and being with her kids and grandkids. She says she will always carry with her an appreciation for her CoxHealth family.

“I’m thankful that I had this career to provide for my family. I’ve made lots of friendships and relationships along the way.”

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CoxHealth Colleagues: How a height requirement brought Janice Smith to CoxHealth, where she would retire over 40 years later