Page 78 - Southern Oregon Magazine Winter 2019

feature | people who support

ASANTE ROGUE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER
People come to their careers by various paths, some in ful-
fillment of long intention. Not so for Maria Costantino. As a
teen, she became an addict/alcoholic. Imagine instability, inad-
equate food and housing, and you have her crazy life. That story,
however, has a happy ending. She has been clean and sober for 10+
years. She worked retail, drove a truck, and eventually hired on with
Environmental Services at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center
(ARRMC), where she learned infection prevention. Through patients,
she was inspired to become a Certified Nursing Assistant—CNA 2 in
her case, the second certification required for hospital work. (She’s
also in school to become a nurse.)

Maria currently works in oncology. “I have the best job,” she says. “I bring
dignity to them.” Comfort care is both hard and rewarding, for these
patients are on their final journey. She strives to give them the best expe-
rience possible, and not let them die alone if she can arrange it.

She wears a necklace with the Alcoholics Anonymous Sobriety Circle
& Triangle Symbol. People wonder what it means, but when someone
already knows, she has the opportunity to share her story, to encourage.

Becoming a CNA is another happy ending, Maria’s opportunity to give
back after she was rescued. “If I don’t give something back, I don’t
get to keep these gifts.” In giving, she is blessed by the joy her patients
bring. She unknowingly summed up her life today when she leaned
forward and said in a voice that implied disbelief and amazement, “This
is the best job in the world. I get to help people.”
ASHLAND COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
Going to the hospital usually involves a degree of unease. As Lead
Patient Access Representative/Registrar at Asante Ashland Community
Hospital, Shar Stenseth feels she is the frontline when patients walk in.
She greets them and endeavors to put them at ease. Her responsibili-
ties include registering patients, gathering and giving information, and
getting needed documents signed. She also takes payments, goes over
payment plans and aids patients seeking financial assistance. Further,
she oversees the switchboard, emergencies, the wound clinic and the
family birth center. If needed, she summons a wound nurse to the hos-
pital. She called the hospital a big ship that takes many people to run it,
and Shar is pleased to be onboard.

Ashland Community Hospital offers diverse birthing experiences, such
as water births and having a doula (a birthing support person). Brittany
Weems-Smart, a CNA and a Unit Secretary in Obstetrics, is delighted
to be part of people’s birthing experiences. (She also administers hear-
ing screening in another part of the hospital.) She makes sure forms
are updated in the unit and on the website, and handles calls about the
many educational classes offered. Prepping the inviting and beautiful
birthing rooms for families includes monitoring supplies—educational
DVDs, pamphlets, gift bags, perhaps aroma therapy—setting up deliv-
ery instruments and baby baths, and getting dads comfortable with
an extra bed. She talks with parents and gets consent forms signed in
case birthing plans change, works to rearrange schedules due to babies
arriving on their own schedule, and handles discharge paperwork. It’s
working with patients during their happy event that she loves best.

76 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | winter 2019