Over six decades, medical records have changed extensively Editor’s Note: Sharleen Brady celebrated her 55th year at Fulton County Medical Center in March before retiring in May 2020. The Medical Staff Administrative Assistant sat down with Mike Straley, Executive Director of the Sharleen Brady FCMC Foundation, for an interview. She offered insight on a number of topics as then the longest-tenured FCMC employee, including working in the original building on First Street and the many changes she’s experienced over five decades. Sharleen: When I first started at the hospital, there were only 25 people employed and you knew everybody. They had an old dumbwaiter (small serving tray system in an elevator shaft guided by pulleys and ropes) that meals came up on located across from the nurse’s desk. I remember one night, they sent up food for the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift. They made chicken sandwiches. Someone put a whole chicken leg in one of the sandwiches (laughing). Mike: Go back to when you admitted yourself when you were in labor. Sharleen: There were nurses, but I did my
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own paperwork. It was so different then. Mike: I talked to Ann Sheeley (DeShong) who was a registered nurse. One of the things that struck her was that it was an entirely different world, but it was such a good world, in her words. Everyone knew each other and everyone worked together and it wasn’t a case of “that’s not my patient.” If the patient needed help, you helped them. Sharleen: We had 48 patients in the hospital lots of times and that included patients in the hallways. The hospital was licensed for 48 beds. The patients could stay as long as they wanted. There was a lady who stayed with us for three years. This was before Medicare. Back then, there was no long-term care. Long Term Care (nursing home) didn’t happen until 1976. Mike: Why have you stayed for 55 years? Sharleen: I love it here, I do. If my husband were living, I would’ve retired long ago. Every day was different and that’s a good thing. I enjoyed working with the medical staff. Mike: Is this like your second family? Sharleen: Yes. We had this one little tiny kitchen where they prepared all the food for everybody. At the end of it was this little room where you could go in and eat. The lab director would come in and eat and that’s where he came in the morning and got his bacon. At lunchtime you would come in and eat. It was a family atmosphere. Mike: When there were plans to leave downtown to move up here (current Peach Orchard Road campus), there was a lot of doubt. What
May 2017: – An $800,000 grant was awarded by the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission to construct an access road that will open up the south side of campus for further development.
April 2017: Fulton County Medical Center Women’s Imaging Department acquired the newest technology in breast health with a 3D Mammogram.
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was your mindset? Sharleen: I didn’t have any doubts about it. The hospital has always been here and it’s community-oriented. It was a big step to take, but it had to be done. There was no room for expansion; we were outgrowing what we had. We couldn’t go up or out. There was nowhere to go but to another location. Mike: Was the old hospital an interior portion of the building that is now on First Street? Sharleen: You couldn’t tell by looking at it now, but yes. In 1958, they added an addition to the original building. In 1970, they added a Solarium. In 1973, there was an ER and Lab expansion, which was finished in 1976. The additions changed the whole look of the original hospital. Mike: What was the ER like back in the day? Sharleen: It was one room staffed by local physicians. Whoever your doctor was, that’s who they called, until there was a call schedule set up. You came in and filled out a little card. Mike: When you first started, you typed the X-ray reports. What did starting the medical records program entail? Sharleen: Any record that was produced was put in a file box, all handwritten. Blue Cross came in and helped me get established with a filing system and a Dictaphone system. I didn’t go to school for medical records, I went to school for medical secretary. Dr. Lorentz dictated his X-ray reports. Mike: Was he the first one to do that? Sharleen: Yes. When we started the Medical Records Department, we started a filing system
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October 2017: Phase One of CAM opens with MacDonald’s Pharmacy, Lobby, Fulton Family Practice, Specialty Services, Behavioral Health, IV Infusion, Cardiology/Pulmonology/Radiology.
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Sept. 22, 2017: Jason Hawkins announces his resignation as CEO to take the CAO position for PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical Center in Florence, Oregon. Deb Shughart (CFO) and Kim Slee (COO) were named co-CEOs
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November 2017: The Community Health and Wellness Building opens to the public after renovations and construction of the former Dollar General were completed.
FULTON COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER’S 70TH ANNIVERSARY
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