Seymour woman retires after nearly 41 years at Schneck

At 4:30 a.m., Mary Campbell was the first to arrive in the kitchen at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, so she turned the lights and appliances on for the day.

Looking at production sheets, she finds out what she has to do that shift.

First, she cooks all of the breakfast food for the dining room and patients. Second, she prepares the food for Meals on Wheels and gets them ready for delivery. Then from 7:30 to 8 a.m., she serves the tray line so food can be taken to patients’ rooms.

If she gets caught up, she helps on the cafeteria line.

After working in the kitchen for nearly 41 years, Campbell has her routine down to a science.

On Dec. 3, however, she worked her final shift at Schneck. She’s now officially retired from the place where she began working when she was 16.

“It’s just time for a change, time to do something different,” the 57-year-old Seymour woman said of her decision to retire.

“I’m going to find something else down the road. I’m too young to totally retire. I’ve still got a good 10 to 15 more years, so I’d like to do something else,” she said, smiling. “I’m going to take the holidays off. Then after the first of the year, I’ll look for something.”

She began working at the Seymour hospital when she was a student at Seymour High School.

“I was in high school and they had different jobs posted, so I saw it on one of our bulletins and I thought, ‘Hey, I want to try that,’” Campbell said.

The job in what was then called dietary was after school from 4 to 8 p.m. She was a dishwasher and served on the tray line. Part of her job was delivering trays of food to patients.

“I enjoyed that. I enjoyed getting to talk to people,” she said. “You can set their tray out for them and see if there’s anything else you can do to help them.”

Right before she got married in 1988, a full-time nutritionist position came open, so she applied and was offered the job.

She worked second shift for about 25 years before moving to first shift, which is where she remained until retirement.

A big difference with first shift was having to also cook meals for Meals on Wheels and Thrive Alliance.

Meals on Wheels involves Schneck kitchen staff cooking hot, nutritious meals five days a week to the elderly and homebound who are not comfortable cooking for themselves. The meals are put in containers to be delivered by volunteers.

“They can get two meals. We always give them at least a warm meal for their lunch, and then if they want a second meal, we give them a sandwich with other items for dinner, like a dessert and a salad,” Campbell said.

Thrive Alliance serves the elderly population and provides food for senior citizens centers. Schneck, however, hasn’t cooked food for that agency for a few years.

“It makes you feel good because I’ve always had respect for the elderly people,” Campbell said. “I’ve just always been taught that, and I just think they are so interesting. Anything you can do to help them, especially for the nutrition, is amazing.”

A big change during Campbell’s tenure is the type of food cooked over the years.

“We don’t do as much homemade items as we used to do,” she said. “Everything used to be from scratch when I started here — homemade pies and everything.”

Fulfilling patients’ diets has changed, too.

“When I first came, you had to learn all of the diets,” she said. “Now, they don’t do it as much. The computers pretty much do that for you now. Before, we had to know like how many carbs you can give them, and I still remember all of that. It’s kind of bred in you once you do it every day. If something comes down and I see that, I can say, ‘Well, wait a minute. They’ve got too many carbs. We need to take something off of there.’ There are a lot of special diets.”

The number of hospital patients they cook for also has changed.

“We’re in the 40s right now. When I first started here, we had 80 to 100 people,” she said. “Because everything has gone to outpatient, we don’t have as many inpatients now, so we don’t cook as many.”

About five years ago, Campbell said the kitchen began offering room service for patients on the obstetrics floor.

“They call down and they give us a specific order, and then we as cooks go ahead and fix those orders,” she said. “Then somebody else takes it up and delivers it.”

Campbell said per shift, there are about six employees in the kitchen, including two cooks.

In retirement, she said she will miss the people she worked with on a daily basis.

“The people are amazing. I’ve met so many people over the years, I probably could write a novel on just people,” she said, smiling.

She also praised Kathy Covert, vice president of workforce and support services for Schneck. Nutrition services is one of the hospital departments she oversees.

About a month ago, Campbell’s father was receiving treatment at the hospital.

“I came out of there and she just happened to see me and I was just bawling. I was really upset and emotional and she said, ‘You know what, you go be with your dad, and I’m going to go down there and work for you,’” Campbell said. “She actually came out of her VP position and she worked for me that day. Talk about an angel, I’m telling you. She is just amazing. She is a genuine person. I love that lady. I can’t thank her enough. She was my angel that day.”

Working with good people over the years made Campbell want to stay at Schneck as long as she did.

“The people are such good people. They have great hearts, such big hearts,” she said. “It’s like your second family, and actually, you’re here far more than you are at home. It’s just like a big family.”

Lesley Kendall has worked with Campbell for 17 years, including the past two years as nutrition services manager.

Given Campbell’s years of experience, Kendall said it’s difficult to see her leave.

“She’s just very knowledgeable of therapeutic diets for patients, she’s very knowledgeable on sanitation and food safety, and so she has always been a resource for new employees that have questions when they come and start,” Kendall said. “She has worked a few different positions within the department, so it’s always nice to have people that are cross-trained that know other positions.”

Kendall said Campbell’s knowledge has brushed off on others, so that will carry on.

“We all enjoy working with her and having her on our team, and we know that there’s going to be some knowledge that’s going to leave just from her years of experience,” Kendall said. “People just don’t stay at jobs anymore, and I think it’s really cool that we have a lot of people that have been here 20 years, 30 years, 40 years. That says a lot.”