Major career change leads to inspiring profession

How lessons learned in business helped this Sanford Health employee succeed in the health care profession.

Major career change leads to inspiring profession

Sandy Fultz’s original career plans focused on fashion merchandise and management, which led to jobs as director of the Tracy (Minnesota) Chamber of Commerce and then at a local retail clothing store.

One day in the 1990’s, she was chatting with a friend who was the director of nursing at the Sanford Tracy Medical Center and they thought she would be a good fit for health care. Her business background gave her a strong customer service base, and she was excited for the chance to work at Sanford Health.

But switching from the business world to health care as a profession was far from easy because she didn’t know what to expect. Fultz remembers picking her kids up from day care and saying, “I don’t know if I can do this.” She “had no idea what would walk through the doors of a hospital on a daily basis — I was naive.”

Though she never imagined she’d go through such a drastic, inspiring career change, it has now been 20 years and her passion for health care hasn’t waned.

Fultz works in the hospital’s nurses’ station. She says “no two days are ever the same” and is always learning while on the job. “The medical field is always changing and I love that the staff I work with is so knowledgeable and willing to share their knowledge,” she says.

In Fultz’s position, she deals with patients directly, whether it be communicating with their family or with the patient themselves. She reassures patients that the nurses will be there to help them.

“I never like for a patient to feel like we are not remembering them,” she says. “Being able to be a service to these people is the best job.”

Inspired every day

The doctors, nurses and other employees inspire Fultz daily. “I see day and day out what a great team we have here and how we treat our patients with such care and compassion.”

Even when faced with a crisis or trauma, everyone is willing to help.

“I am very proud to say that Sanford Health is my employer. I try, along with the people I work with, to give our best every day, and we do it by always putting the patient first,” Fultz says.

Part of Fultz’s role is to keep the environment upbeat in the nurses’ station. The role “is only as hard as you let it become. You can find a light moment in everything — even if it is as small as a smile.

“My role with Sanford Tracy Medical Center has shown me that it really comes down to people. Not only the people you work with, but also the people that come through the door.”

Posted In Health Information, Sanford Stories