RSC Helps Cincinnatian to Career Path of Surgical Assistant
A few years ago, Kevin Arrington was serving customers in a
buffet-style restaurant. Seeking a career change, in spite of a
learning disability, he received services from the Ohio
Rehabilitation Services Commission that set him on the path to a
new, very successful career.
Kevin
is part of a surgical support staff unit at Christ Hospital in
Cincinnati. His job has him staging patients for upcoming
surgery or moving them to recovery, assembling operating tables
for surgical procedures and cleaning up afterward, and making
trips to the blood bank or pathology. He tracks all this
activity via the hospital’s new NaviCare computer system.
“The good part of working with Kevin is that he does everything
to the best of his ability – 100 percent – buy also goes above
that because he does it with a pleasant attitude and a smile,”
said an operating room manager. Kevin, who has been nominated
several times for employee-of-the-month, has been recognized for
demonstrating proficiency in assembling at least 16 different
types of operating tables – all unique to the type of surgery
being performed.
Among Kevin’s duties, is to check that the right person is in
the right surgical room and confirm that they are scheduled for
the right procedure. His manager notes that “everything (in the
surgical process) has to be perfect and that’s one of the things
he manages. He knows the equipment well. Co-workers who trained
Kevin praise his ability to learn quickly and adapt to new
technology saying further, that he’s very good with equipment,
people and the hospital’s computer system.
Christ Hospital is part of the Health Alliance of Greater
Cincinnati, which operates seven facilities
that employs 13,000 people.
