What was your background prior to joining Galen?

I started with Galen in July of 2011, and brought with me a diverse collection of life experiences. I had been a realtor and “household engineer” for many years before enrolling in free training courses available to anyone that wanted to venture into the world of meaningful use and complicated reimbursement mandates for electronic health records. I took the leap and at the time was most pleased with the student ski pass I could purchase for the year at Stowe. To be honest, when it was time to find a job I had no idea what I was getting myself into. To be doubly honest, Galen had no idea what they were getting into with me. My resume had some interesting points on it. I was a software engineer working on the operating system controlling the pumps and valves of the fuel system for the Stealth Bomber. A highlight, that always seems to rise to the top of conversations, is that I was on the U.S. Ski Team (a long time ago). I never went to the Olympics, but raced with those that did. To this day I love to ski and rise early on weekend mornings to meet my friends at the mountain.

Please tell us about your experience in working with EHRs.

My experience working with EHRs began with Galen. For the first two and a half years I was on the road helping providers, nurses and clinic staff transition from paper medical records to electronic medical records. I traveled throughout Iowa, Nebraska and Kentucky, helping users go from the frustrating experience of being completely new to an EHR to having a semblance of familiarity two weeks later. With those early EHR adoption days over, I continue in the Galen way to remain nimble in response to the needs of our industry. I built customized notes for various specialty clinics. I spent years back-filling an organization’s interface team by taking care of the daily bridging and order/result building. I immersed myself in round-the-clock legacy support for an organization moving to a new EHR. I have just begun work with Galen’s data migration team. My tales about all the different things I’ve done are not ending any time soon.

What originally drew you to Galen/what was your first impression?

I was originally drawn to Galen by the glowing report I was given about Matt Woodside and Jason Carmichael from a former colleague at Allscripts. My friend convinced Galen to give me an interview.  I was ushered down the narrow spiral staircase into the former Burlington office basement conference room for the interview. I met Matt, Jason and Erin Sain for the first time and enjoyed learning more about Galen. I decided I would give them a chance. However, I was not sure they were going to give me a chance – and for good reason because a) I had no experience in the field and b) I refused to answer Erin’s question about the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to me. I passed the answer off by saying I didn’t know them well enough to share what I was thinking. On reflection, I could have told them about the time I burst into a neighborhood home apologizing about being late for the party, only to have a strange couple look up at me and say they thought I might be in the wrong house. That’s all history. We’re all still here and every year has been more fun than the last.

What does your day-to-day job involve and why are you passionate about it?

I just spent two weeks at a client site doing full-scale validation for their data migration from one EHR to another. In the office, my ramp up on the data migration team involves reading all the available documentation, watching webcasts, listening in on calls colleagues are having with clients, and generally looking for anything I can learn from the wealth of talent and information I’m surrounded by at Galen. I treasure the ability to continually grow and work with such smart, fun people. We are all in it together doing our best from the mundane, to the extremely challenging aspects of our work.

What’s the one thing you hope to achieve in your role?

In every role I assume, I try hard to provide value-add with the quality of my work and by being a positive, supportive, and problem-solving member of the team.

What do you like about the culture here?

I believe in teams, the whole being stronger than the individual parts. Here at Galen, I love working in an environment where high quality work is the norm and working as a team allows us to reach goals for ourselves and our clients.

Anything else you’d like people to know?

I have lots on my bucket list and I’m trying to stay healthy enough to be able to cross some off. I’d love to be captain of my own sail boat on Lake Champlain. I’d like to start piano lessons again. I want to bike in new beautiful places. I can’t get enough of pointing my skis down the fall line. I could go on and on about all kinds of things I want to do, but there is no reason for anyone to know these things! All that remains unknown about me is more fun to share in person and often with a laugh at my expense.

Caught the Galen culture bug? Meet some other awesome Galeneers here.