Cathy Conant, Eastern Plumas Health Care\u2019s Director of Human Resources, is retiring after 34 years. But, this sentence does little to impart the true meaning of Cathy\u2019s presence at the hospital all these years. As CEO Tom Hayes will tell you, \u201cCathy\u2019s loyalty to this organization is second to none.\u201d For a third of a century, Cathy has believed that it\u2019s her duty to be a \u201ccaregiver\u201d for this hospital, its staff, and its patients. \u201cYou don\u2019t find healthcare, she said, \u201cit finds you. There\u2019s something about the honor of caring for another that goes beyond a job description.\u201d
\nSince 1995, Cathy has been the face of human resources. Back in May 1972 at age 22, however, she started off in the business office, and she was also an admitting clerk. Cathy left the hospital temporarily when she had her first child, as she didn\u2019t want full time work away from home. So, for 2 \u00bd years, she worked at the Portola Reporter, working up from a few hours of writing to the position of editor.
\nIn 1981, Cathy said, the hospital called and asked her if she\u2019d come back and do billing on an on call basis. By March of 1983, however, they convinced her to come back full time as a biller. She loved billing, she said, because she was working hard to get insurance companies to pay patients\u2019 claims. In fact, of all the positions she\u2019s held over the years, Cathy said billing was her favorite. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t always easy, but there was a great sense of satisfaction \u2026directly helping patients get their claims paid and resolving issues for them. And, I was good at that.\u201d
\nShe went on to become business office supervisor and then manager. For a short time, in 1991 \u2013 92, she helped manage the Portola Clinic, and then in 1994, she returned to administration. She was a jack of all trades, doing staff credentialing, public relations, and whatever other administrative duties were asked of her. \u201cI was really just happy to serve. Wherever they put me I tried to do my best\u2026and I learned along the way.\u201d
\nThen, in 1995, she \u201cbecame HR.\u201d That is, she stepped in to head what was then a department of one. Cathy said she felt she\u2019d come full circle, because her first job out of college was at a hospital in West Covina in human resources.
\nShe\u2019s been in HR for the past nineteen years. In 2004, she became a Director, which means she is part of the strategy group of four to five who, along with the CEO, steer the course of the hospital.
\nOver the years, Cathy\u2019s job and the organization have seen a lot of changes. And, somewhere along the line, what was initially just a job became recognized as a vocation. This is the truth underlying Cathy\u2019s long tenure at EPHC. It has been something she\u2019s felt called to, and she takes that calling very seriously. \u201cMy attitude toward EPHC is one of stewardship. EPHC is not something that was mine or belonged to me, but I came to see myself as a steward. As [Director of] HR, I advocated both for the employee and for the organization because each without the other cannot survive.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s this sense of unswerving loyalty that underlies everything Cathy has ever done or hoped to accomplish at EPHC. And it will be her legacy when she retires\u2014a sense of caring for this organization, combined with an integrity that means she\u2019s sometimes had to protect the hospital from serious harm. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t let something go that was detrimental\u2014whether that be a process or a person,\u201d she said. This included letting the Board of Directors know when something was going very wrong as she did on at least one occasion years ago.
\nGrowing up in a military family with both parents serving in the Marine Corp gave Cathy an \u201cunderstanding of what it is to be loyal and to serve.\u201d It was an easy transition for her to take those same values on board when she embarked on her EPHC career. \u201cThis organization, for me, was where I grew up. I learned the good qualities of the Auxiliary\u2014their dedication and commitment to community, their code of service. I looked at nurses who\u2019ve stayed for decades and physicians who have come to make their homes in our community in order to serve our patients. I knew how important EPHC was for our community. I wanted, as much as I was able, to be its caretaker, to look out for it.\u201d
\nCathy has seen a lot of change during her tenure here\u2014buildings built, services expanded in Portola, clinics added in Loyalton and Indian Valley, as well as two skilled nursing facilities, expanded ambulance services, and more. Since she\u2019s helmed human resources, the staff has grown from just under 100 to 250 employees. The additional staff and, more than that, the maze of state and federal regulations, has seen her department grow and her duties multiply in complexity.
\nIn addition, she\u2019s managed to survive working for fourteen CEOs. She credits Charles Guenther, CEO here for fourteen years, for teaching her \u201cHR processes.\u201d Of current CEO, Tom Hayes, Conant is highly complimentary. \u201cHe\u2019s by far the nicest CEO I\u2019ve ever worked for, and the most effective. He\u2019s very good for this organization\u2026I wish our paths had crossed sooner.\u201d
\nThough this hospital has indeed been Cathy\u2019s life in many ways, she is ready now for retirement. She and her husband, George, who retired from the railroad seven years ago, finally will have time to take the little Airstream trailer they bought out on camping and fishing trips. They also have plans to visit their children and grandchildren in Japan and Illinois. Cathy also loves quilting and combines her love of art and story in the quilts she creates. She also hopes to get involved in the local historical society.
\nHer personal history seems as dedicated to steadfastness as does her work career. She met her husband, George, when they were in seventh grade in Southern California after Cathy\u2019s father retired from Camp Pendleton. George was born in Portola and moved to Southern California when his father took a job with Southern California Edison. He and Cathy met again at La Puente High School and started dating their senior year. Their first date, she said, was a golf date. They both graduated from California State College, Los Angeles, in the Fall of 1969, where they played for the golf teams. In Janary of 1970, they were married, and thirteen days later George got his draft notice. After his military stint, served in Alabama, they returned to California and moved to Portola, George\u2019s home town.
\nBecause she had grown up in a military family, Cathy said she \u201clived with stickers on everything all my life.\u201d She\u2019d never felt like any place was home, which it turns out was something she longed for. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel like I came home until we drove into Portola,\u201d Cathy said. \u201cThe sense of homecoming was wonderful\u2014because I hadn\u2019t had it. A small town just made sense. \u2026 I became a part of something when I came to Portola\u2014at EPHC and in this community.\u201d
\nShe said that people ask if they\u2019ll move when they retire, but it has never even occurred to them. \u201cThis is our home. You can\u2019t trade that feeling for anything.\u201d
\nThat strong sense of home and family compliments her unflagging sense of loyalty; these things have shaped Cathy\u2019s perspective. When asked for parting words of advice, she said, \u201cDon\u2019t forget that we\u2019re family and we\u2019re a team, and when times get tough, we just need to turn to one another for greater support.\u201d She added that even though she\u2019s retiring, she plans to \u201chover.\u201d \u201cThere are relationships I hope to keep. This is my second family. I can\u2019t think about walking away from everybody, and I\u2019m going to continue to support the hospital and the people here in any way I can.\u201d
\nIn summing up her 34 year career, Cathy had this to say: \u201cHealthcare finds you, because you find a truth within yourself\u2026there are certain people who are just natural caregivers, and everyone who works in healthcare is a caregiver\u2014serves the patient and serves the mission of healing. And I didn\u2019t know that I would find that within this organization and within myself. I\u2019m grateful that I found this path.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cathy Conant, Eastern Plumas Health Care\u2019s Director of Human Resources, is retiring after 34 years. But, this sentence does little to impart the true meaning of Cathy\u2019s presence at the hospital all these years. As CEO Tom Hayes will tell you, \u201cCathy\u2019s loyalty to this organization is second to none.\u201d For a third of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}