by Bobby Anderson, RN, Staff Writer
Few nurses have the opportunity to open a new hospital.
But Joy Carpenter, RN, may just get the opportunity to do it twice in one career at Integris Health Edmond.
“This is an amazing facility to work for and Integris is just home, it’s family. I have grown here in my career and they have opened many, many doors for me to advance in my career,” she said.
Carpenter has opened a few doors of her own, namely the ones to the widely-successful Integris Edmond campus.
Carpenter joined the med/surg team in 2011. She floated from Integris Southwest in order to open the hospital Oct. 3 of that year.
It was actually a longer commute, but she didn’t mind. The opportunity to build something from the ground up really appealed to her.
She roamed the hallways before patients were admitted. She had a hand in developing not only the look and feel of the new facility but how nursing would be done on the floor.
“It was amazing to see the plastic on the chairs and we had an IV pump class,” she said. “I got a five-minute tutorial (starting out as a new nurse) and they got a whole class.”
This past June Integris announced a massive expansion that will more than double the complex in size, adding 64 new inpatient rooms.
The campus – nestled in a tree-line stretch just east of I-35 – will grow five stories in some areas.
“Our commitment, from the time we opened our Integris Health Edmond campus six years ago, was to grow our facilities and its services to meet the needs of a growing community,” said Avilla Williams, president of Integris Health Edmond, in a release.
The project will add some 143,000 square feet of additional space in three sections of the main hospital.
The hospital currently has 40 inpatient beds that include 24 private surgery rooms, six intensive care units and 10 beds in the women’s unit.
Expansion will increase total bed capacity to 104 beds once construction is finished.
There are also plans for two additional emergency rooms in the expansion.
For Carpenter, it’s yet another opportunity to help put her stamp on the facility.
“It’s going to be amazing to be a part of that, just like it was when they opened the doors,” Carpenter said. “We grew so fast from having four patients to have four holding. It’s so quick and so amazing. The community is amazing. It’s helped me expand in my career to watch Integris go.”
“I really didn’t think that it was going to take off as quick. I thought we were going to be sitting down for three years. As soon as the lights went on … it’s been wonderful ever since.”
Carpenter started her career in 2005 as an LPN, graduating from Canadian Valley Technology Center.
“I love people. I love fixing things. I love problem solving,” Carpenter said. “I love the challenge. Every day you walk in it’s a different challenge. It could be the same diagnosis but it’s always a different challenge. It’s always different and it’s always helping.”
“People are glad to see you when you walk in the door. Something about working in the health care field people appreciate you and they trust you.”
Carpenter was named by her peers as the 2018 med/surg nurse of the year.
It earned her a spot on the hospital’s unit-based council.
“It’s an opportunity to present ideas and things that we are growing, things we’d like to help the community with,” she said. “It’s a wonderful time to be on the council to help make decisions.”
In May, the campus saw the completion of Arcadia Trails, a 60,000-square-foot addiction recovery center with 40 beds.
A multidisciplinary staff including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, dietitians, therapists and clergy will offer individualized treatment programs ranging from 60 to 90 days.
In April, Integris Health Edmond was recognized by the National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program as a “National Certified Bronze Safe Sleep Hospital” for their commitment to best practices and education on infant safe sleep.
They are one of the first hospitals in Oklahoma to receive this title.
The National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program was created by Cribs for Kids, a Pittsburgh-based organization dedicated to preventing infant, sleep-related deaths due to accidental suffocation.
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