Making a Difference: No Task is Too Small

Jim Creegan was busy.

It was a Saturday afternoon, and the main stationary engineer was the only one on duty in Carroll Hospital’s facilities department when a nurse from the Pediatrics unit called.

A patient on the unit had already watched all the movies on the GetWellNetwork, an interactive system on the hospital’s televisions. The patient was hoping to play games on the system, but the only keyboard on the unit didn’t have batteries. The nurse wanted to know if Creegan could help. 

Creegan arrived and soon discovered that the screw for the keyboard’s battery door was stripped, so he took it down to the shop to repair it. When he brought it back, he discovered another problem: a piece necessary for the keyboard to pair to the television was missing.

“Jim went above and beyond to search the hospital to look for this extra piece,” says nurse Kristy Willingham. “He returned and spent time making sure the keyboard was paired to the TV. In all, he spent about two hours [helping], and he was very kind and helpful to the patient and his mother.”

Creegan, who has worked at the hospital for 13 years, says that the request could have been easily dismissed as anon-urgent matter, especially when working solo on a weekend shift. But he knew it was important to the patient, and that made it all worthwhile.

“It wasn’t a life-saving procedure, but it helped him,” Creegan says of his actions. “And that’s what it’s all about.” Willingham saw the difference it made to the patient and his family. “The young patient was so thankful and happy that Jim took the time to do this for him,” she says. “It meant a lot.