Her Story
About Jessica
I've been in the healthcare field for 22 years, starting in 2004 without really realizing what I was getting myself into. Four years after I went into healthcare, my firstborn daughter was born with a congenital heart defect, and going through that journey personally really helped me understand what patients and families are looking for in a healthcare environment and the important factors in establishing a safe and flourishing environment for them, because things are already difficult enough. My background is in electrical engineering, and I started out in facilities management, but then I learned all the aspects of hospital operations. I've been everything from a hospital administrator to running the Texas Center for Infectious Disease, which is a specialty tuberculosis facility here in San Antonio. I then had the opportunity and was recruited by UT Health San Antonio in my current role to help them build a new hospital. I've been able to use my engineering problem-solving skills to help solve big issues, and now my primary job is making sure that we have the best care environment we can for our patients at our new multi-specialty research hospital here in San Antonio. My typical day involves making sure the building is running fine and our utility systems are running, attending several meetings, managing temperature and humidity requirements in critical spaces like labs, pharmacy, and ORs, and dealing with biomedical equipment. I currently have oversight of our biomedical equipment program, environmental services department, and food and nutrition. It's everything from solving the hot problems of the day to doing strategy planning, and it's a hard balance to know how much I need to be out in the field versus when I need to be at my desk to rewrite policies or procedures or make sure that we're thinking of all the things that we need to keep us running well.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jessica
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say my dad was absolutely right when he encouraged me to do electrical engineering and said if you can do engineering, you can do anything. Going through such a rigorous curriculum that's difficult helped me learn how to solve problems and how to look at things from a system level, not looking at one piece of the problem, but looking at the whole picture and looking at it as a system that needs to integrate and work together. I also believe in coming with an open mind, but more importantly, coming with an open heart. Coming with an open heart means you can truly listen to your peers, your patients, and your employees, and do things with heart, not just doing it because we're going through the motions. I always say things happen for a reason and it's part of God's plan. I strongly believe in prayer and trusting God that whatever I'm doing is really what I'm supposed to be doing, and then seeing where that path takes me.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
My dad was the one that encouraged me to do electrical engineering. He said, if you can do engineering, you can do anything, and he was absolutely right. Going through such a rigorous curriculum that's difficult helps you learn how to solve problems and how to look at things from a system level, not looking at one piece of the problem, but looking at the whole picture, and looking at it as a system that needs to integrate and work together.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I believe in coming with an open mind, but more importantly, coming with an open heart. Coming with an open heart means you can really, truly listen to your peers, your patients, and your employees, and do things with heart, not just doing it because we're going through the motions. I always say things happen for a reason and it's part of God's plan. I strongly believe in prayer and trusting God that whatever I'm doing is really what I'm supposed to be doing, and then seeing where that path takes me. I would say most of my time is spent making sure that I spend time with my family, because that's what's most important to me outside of work.
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