Telling the Story

We are about to embark on a new journey for our hospital - blogging. This is still relatively new to the health care world.

We will have at least 30 employees, physicians, nurses, volunteers and executives contributing to this blog. It is our way of giving you a closer look at what truly happens in a hospital. This will not be a marketing blog, rather real life stories, experiences and perspectives from the front line at Texas Health Fort Worth.

I value your comments and feedback. I would also like to encourage you to share our blog with your friends, colleagues, and family. If you have any social media sites, we would like to be a link that you share with others.

As one of the many individuals who will be contributing to this blog, I wanted to take a second to introduce myself and my role. My name is Whitney Jodry. I am the public information officer for Texas Health Fort Worth. I am a graduate of Auburn University, where I studied nursing and public relations. I will be helping to navigate our journey, but will not be the only contributor.

For now, I would like to give you a window into my role as the public information officer.

Every day, I have the privilege of working with some of the most incredible individuals. My favorite time of the day is when I get to roam the patient floors and find out the latest in patient care technology, life-saving patient stories and grateful patients.

Another part of my job is dealing with issues management. My philosophy is to be proactive when an issue or opportunity arises. This is the only way to make our hospital stronger. The most recent issue I handled was the swine flu. By working with the media and educating the public, I do believe we were able to share messages that were informative and factual. I encourage each of you to bookmark this blog as a tool and information resource if/when we have another health scare like swine flu.

The other large piece of my job is working with the media. We have some incredible news reporters who truly want to bring good news to inspire and encourage you. One of the most awesome patient stories I have ever had the opportunity to share is that of Truman Duncan. Many of you might have seen his story on the Today Show. Truman is one of those patients that I will remember for the rest of my life. He had the will to live and a true desire to defy the odds.

I will never forget the call I received from our ER in 2006. They told me that we had a gentleman who was run over by a train, who made his own 9-1-1 call. I knew at that moment that he was a fighter!

I immediately ran up to the ER to begin working with his family. Media calls poured in from all over the world. At that point, I began to realize the magnitude of his story.

Truman spent 4 months at our hospital. During that time, media outlets from all over the world wanted to share his story. Truman was focused on getting better.

Over the next two years, I continued to receive calls from many media outlets, both locally and nationally. It wasn't until late 2008 that Truman decided to share his story. When he did, he inspired the entire country!

Looking back on Truman's experience and his story, I am reminded why I love working at this hospital. The dedication and heart that each person puts into caring for our patients is incredible and the opportunity to work with patients, like Truman, who truly want to inspire others, is what gets me excited about coming to work every day.

Photo Credit: Glen E. Ellman