News

Exciting times lie ahead for Jean Tate as she ventures into retirement after 38 years with RiverView Health. The long-time director of Human Resources (HR) plans to fulfill a bucket list of activities, including travel, spending more time with family, learning to sew, house projects, and continuing her love of reading and cross-stitching. However, before her Dec. 6 departure, Jean sat down to reflect on her time with the organization.

Armed with a BS in Management, with an emphasis in Personnel, from St. Cloud State, Jean started her RiverView career in 1986 as the bookkeeper for Glenmore Recovery and assisted with RiverView’s payroll. When RiverView purchased Glenmore in 1987, Jean, a Gentilly native, joined HR and worked solely with payroll until 1995, when she began working in the HR benefits position. She was named director of HR in 2001.

Many things have changed throughout her career, with technology being the most significant on Jean’s list. Before computers, everything took a lot more time, like timecards. In those days, everyone filled out their timecards by hand, supervisors verified the cards and handed them over to HR, and then HR would spend another day and a half completing the process for each pay period.

“We never had computers,” she reported of those early days. “If you wanted something typed, you’d handwrite whatever it was, send it to medical records, they’d type it up, send a draft back, you’d look through it, and if you had a change or two, you’d have to send it back. So, when we got computers it was amazing. You were able to do so much more yourself.”

Jean was happy to embrace technology and leave behind the days of doing benefit enrollments and many other things on paper.

She remembers the upheaval in healthcare left by the 1997 flood, specifically when RiverView employees living on the North Dakota side of the river couldn’t get to Crookston for work. During that time, with regulations and licensures temporarily relaxed, military helicopters would land in the parking lot with orthopaedic patients and their doctors coming from North Dakota to use RiverView’s facility for procedures.

Another significant change came when RiverView began hiring doctors. According to Jean, Altru physicians had admitting privileges to the hospital, but RiverView didn’t employ any of its own physicians until Dr. Colin Fennell was hired in 2002, with Dr. David Rathbone hired soon after.

During her tenure, Jean had the privilege of having a voice in planning two building projects, the addition to the emergency department and operating room in 2004, and the 2020 new building.

Looking back on her career, Jean recalls many peaks.

“I believe I’ve done a good job for the employees when it comes to benefits, employee appreciation, and recognition,” she shared. “I’m most proud of the relationships I’ve built with a lot of people through the years. RiverView has always felt like a family to me.”

Jean’s advice for team members just starting their RiverView career? “Gain as much knowledge as you can, be open to trying new things or doing something differently, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Also, get to know your coworkers. They’ll help you in a lot of ways you’d never think possible.’’

She concluded with words in which she’s always believed, “RiverView has exceptional people that work here
and we provide exceptional care for exceptional outcomes.’’

Everyone is invited to celebrate Jean at a retirement party Wednesday, Dec. 4 from 2 to 4 pm in the RiverView Conference Rooms.