50 years of improving lives

UCHealth’s Parkview Hospital has been around for 102 years and Charlene Olivas has been working there for 50 of them.

When she started as a CNA at the hospital back in 1975, visitors were allowed to smoke in hospital rooms. White nursing caps were still worn, and patients arrived the night before to have surgery the next day.

“I took a CNA class in high school so I could come into the medical field. We did training here at Parkview, so I just stayed here,” Olivas said.

To say a lot has changed at Parkview in 50 years is an understatement.

Back when she started, doctors — well known for their neat penmanship — would write their orders by hand.

“I used to have to transcribe those orders, which was very challenging to try to read,” Olivas said. “Now it’s really nice because they put their orders in computers and it’s easier.”

While the number of technological advancements in medicine in 50 years is astronomical, the switch to Epic made life much easier for Olivas and her colleagues in the mom-baby unit, where she now works as a unit clerk, one of many jobs she’s had since 1975, when Gerald Ford was president and Captain & Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together,’’ was the No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts.

Parkview leadership could not recall another instance of an employee reaching 50 years of service.

“Charlene is the definition of stability. I think she has been here longer than most of our staff has been alive,” said Kristin Blair, director of women and children’s services at Parkview. “She’s had so many different roles throughout her time here. We’ve asked her to do so many things over the course of her career and she’s been willing to try anything we’ve asked of her. Everybody here at the hospital knows Charlene.”

Olivas now works at the desk beyond the door people enter to get into the mom-baby unit, so she is often the first person people see and are greeted by.

Her job responsibilities are diverse and thorough.

She does a daily assessment sheet for the charge nurse including incoming patients and patients being discharged, makes sure charts have consents signed and dated by providers and patients, schedules follow-up appointments for discharged patients, monitors a secured locked unit, runs a daily report on outpatient procedures and screens incoming visitors and staff, among many other duties.

For several reasons, she’s never left to work elsewhere.

“My interest in the medical field and opportunities, for one,” Olivas said.  “And the goals and values the company has and room for advancement have been important to me.”

A reception to honor Olivas is planned for February 18. Parkview’s staff, friends and family are encouraged to stop by and celebrate the 50-year milestone.