For sisters Anna Jones, Becca Hook and Katie Hook, many of their childhood memories include OSF HealthCare St. Mary Medical Center.
“We kind of grew up here with a single mom working in the hospital. We would call here and ask for ‘Mom,’ and they knew where to send us,” Anna said.
Their mother, Wendi Hook, has been a radiology technologist at OSF St. Mary since 2001. Raising her daughters in nearby Cameron, she always encouraged them to consider a career in health care – even if they didn’t follow in her footsteps as a rad tech.
“I told them I love my field, but we do not have the options you will have as a nurse,” Wendi said.
Finding their own path
Each of the three has found their own niche in nursing.
Anna and Becca both started at OSF St. Mary as patient care technicians.
As an RN, Anna found the type of nursing that fits her analytical personality in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“I just loved ICU. In the ICU it’s so critical and technical. You have to be on top of all the drips and the vents,” said Anna, who now works in ICUs as part of the Clinical Resource Team. “I definitely found where I’m supposed to be.”
Becca first worked in the Emergency Department (ED) as a PCT, then as an RN on the night shift. After switching to surgery – a field she’s been interested since she had a brain tumor removed as a teenager – she now works in the same hospital and same shift as her mother.
“When I was in the ED I was night shift and I never saw Mom,” Becca said. “Now that I’m back on day shift we have lunch together again.”
“I always thought I was too afraid of needles. I feel like there’s a type of nursing for everybody,” Katie said.
Katie, the most compassionate one of the bunch, found her fit in hospice care.
“I feel like there’s a type of nursing for every type of personality,” Katie said. “Hospice is super personal, which is what I was looking for.”
Feeling like family
While each of the four women works in a different field of medicine, they’ve all found an opportunity that fits them individually within OSF HealthCare, an organization they say makes them feel at home.
“For me, St. Mary was always a family,” Wendi said.
Now it is in more ways than one.
To find out more about careers at OSF HealthCare, visit careers.osfhealthcare.org.
Last Updated: April 22, 2022