JPS team member Harrietta Epherson’s job title might be “housekeeper.”
But if you ask her – or anyone who has worked with her – what Harrietta does for a living, they’re likely to say she’s a professional perfectionist.
“I make sure every patient on my floor has a perfectly clean room,” Harrietta said. “I work on the Oncology floor, so it’s important everything is clean to keep away infection. But it’s also important because, it doesn’t matter if they’re a relative of someone who works here or if they’re homeless, everyone who comes to JPS deserves the best care we can give them.”
It is Harrietta’s personal goal to make sure her floor has the tidiest stock room and bathrooms anywhere on the JPS campus. She has 22 patient rooms to make spotless on her daily shift that starts at 7 a.m. and runs until 3 p.m. But her responsibilities don’t end there.
“I think it is part of my job to do whatever I can do to put a smile on the face of every patient I meet,” Harrietta said. “I like to talk to the patients while I work. I think it makes people happy when someone shows interest in them.”
Her secret: Talk about anything but the patient’s illness.
“I might talk to them about the show on television, their family or just about anything else,” Harrietta said. “But when people are in the hospital, the last thing they want to think about is their troubles. I try to help them get their mind off that for a little bit.”
Harrietta said patients like to see her because doctors often bring bad news and nurses have to perform painful procedures. But she is there with a friendly face to and a willing ear, no strings attached.
“When people are sick, they aren’t themselves and they might just be looking for someone to vent to,” Harrietta said. “They might be irritable. I understand that and I don’t take it personally. I just come back the next day with a smile and, sooner or later, they open up to me.”
Harrietta’s supervisor, Executive Director of Environmental Services, Textiles and Transportation Louis Bedford, said she isn’t just an inspiration for other housekeepers. She is a model of the dedication, attention to detail and unwavering compassion JPS seeks in every single team member.
“She’s fantastic and is well-known throughout the organization,” Bedford said. “She is very engaged with patients and does everything she can to meet their needs. She is a great example, not only for the EVS team, but for anybody who works in patient care.”
Patient Advocate Sylvia Houston said not only her colleagues and her supervisor recognize the great job Harrietta is doing. The people being treated at JPS certainly notice, too.
“I always hear a lot of good comments about Harrietta from the patients,” Houston said. “Always. You can count on that.”
Harrietta, a licensed phlebotomist, has worked at a number of different jobs and at a variety of different places throughout her life. But she said none of those roles has given her as much satisfaction as she gets from cleaning patient rooms on the seventh floor at JPS.
“I’m just a nurturing person,” Harrietta said. “It seems like I always end up filling the role of the mama in anything I do. That’s because it’s my passion to try to make people happy. We can always chase money. But you have to do what you love to do. Taking care of people is what makes me happy.