story and photo by
James Coburn, Staff Writer
Amy Clark arrives at work every day feeling blessed as the chief clinical officer (CNO) at Inspire Specialty Hospital, located in Midwest City.
“God chose this path for me and it’s what I’m doing,” said Clark, RN.
The long-term acute care facility serves as an extension of ICU care, serving the metro and rural communities, said Diane Metscher, business development director.
“Patients come to us for specialty care, ventilator weaning, severe wounds, and post-op complications. So, they’re very critical when they come here,” Metscher said.
The average stay for the 31-bed hospital is about 25 days. Clark brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to her role. She has been a nurse since 2006 after graduating from nursing school at OSU/OKC. She began her career as a cardiac and stroke nurse for two years.
After the birth of her youngest daughter, she focused on PRN work and worked in emergency care and the ICU at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. She also worked in the CCU unit at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital’s south campus for several years before taking a break to raise her family. Clark eventually moved to home health for the flexibility it allowed her to devote to her daughters. Eleven years ago, Clark felt a calling to return to bedside nursing.
Metscher recruited Clark to join Inspire Specialty Hospital and soon she began teaching other nurses there. She moved up the ladder of success quickly.
“My boss had come to me and wanted me to start charging. I had never done that – of course I didn’t think I’d be very good at it and ended up loving it,” she said. “I did that for about another year and then I moved up to a quality and infection control role.”
In 2020 she moved into the role of chief clinical officer. COVID would strike about two or three months later, she continued.
“You can imagine trying to instill quality, run staffing and be the chief nursing officer during COVID. It was really the good, bad, and ugly. I mean we sweated tears and worked through it,” Clark explained. “In January they split my role back up, brought in another quality person, and now I’m just doing all the chief clinical work and managing that. And I love it. I love my team, love my staff. I absolutely love what I do. I learn something new every day”
To provide the best outcomes, the nursing staff’s goal is to provide the best care for each patient’s individual needs. Patient centered care has inspired the team.
“I don’t feel like they fear me. We have this full circle as a team. Everybody had each other’s backs,” Clark said. “On the hard days, just as much as the easy days, they’ll come in to cover each other.”
Positive outcomes sometimes transcend the odds. Some folks enter the hospital who don’t think they’ll ever walk out, Clark continued. Most of the time patients leave feeling restored to better health.
“That is what keeps a team together,” Clark said.
COVID was hard, however when some nurses left fearing contagion, other nurses came on board to weather the storm.
“Those that were passionate about nursing really stood out,” Clark said. “You could really differentiate those that care from those that this wasn’t for them. I think it taught me and a lot of people that it takes you back to the core of why you do nursing. We had so many people come in for the money, per se. And those people just didn’t make it. But those who have a love and a passion for this field – they thrived.”
The pandemic reminded her that a nursing career remains a valued field.
“It makes my heart flourish now because you see how people truly care and still want to do this service work,” Clark said.
She recalled one young man who was on the edge of battling COVID. His prognosis of survival was grim. He was on a ventilator with further complications due to an accident.
“He comes here. We didn’t really expect him to get off the bed. He’s walking up and down the stairs now with his family, carefully. He’s still in rehab but out of the wheelchair, walking, talking, with his kids around him. We’ve had so many of those stories. …He was able to hold his first-born baby.”
Nursing has taught Clark that she is capable of things she would otherwise never have imagined. Nursing has a tremendous impact on healing.
“We get to do things that oftentimes physicians don’t have the time for,” she said. “We take those treatments and those orders and actually deliver them. We get to be a huge part of the next success of our patient.”
For more information about Inspire Speciality Hospital visit:
http://www.inspirehospital.com
