At Bethany Children’s Health Center, our employees truly are the heartbeat that drives the organization. Every day, through the care and service they provide, they live our mission of maximizing the potential of every child and exemplify our core values of compassion, integrity, excellence, service and stewardship.
We hope you enjoy getting to know our amazing employees through our Heartbeat profiles.
Joann Speers’ commitment to patient care through Health Information Management
In order to provide the very best medical and rehabilitative care, it’s essential for the team at Bethany Children’s Health Center to have a complete medical history for each patient. Joann Speers, Release of Information (ROI) Specialist, makes it her mission to manage the health records that form each child’s story.
“Our providers need to know as much of a child’s history as possible in order to treat them as completely as possible,” she explains. “As an ROI Specialist, I am responsible for obtaining records for our providers from other doctors and facilities, and for providing records to treating providers, parents and others.”
Joann says one of the most rewarding things about her work is hunting for records no one thinks she will find, and the appreciative response from hospital providers when she does locate them. For the families, having those records helps complete the child’s medical history and allows the family to seek appropriate care. “I hope families feel our department continues The Children’s Center’s dedication to service for them and their children,” she says.
Joann has always had an eye for detail, having served as a construction inspector with the City of Philadelphia Highway Department for 17 years prior to relocating to Oklahoma in 1990. She worked in Dr. Washburn’s private practice for 12 years before joining the Health Information Management (HIM) team at the hospital almost 10 years ago.
“I try to document everything so I have answers if a problem comes up, and I like others to know exactly what I’ve done in the event I’m not available to answer questions,” Joann shares. “At home I love all the details of entertaining and preparing a meal. Attention to detail seems to make hospitality so much easier for me.”
Joann’s first contact with the hospital was as a volunteer assigned to rocking babies. Because of the kindness shown to her by nurses and hospital staff, she knew she would enjoy working here. She brings her own positive spin to her job, approaching every day with the belief that “something wonderful is about to happen.”
A true Philadelphia native, Joann’s first job was working at the Veteran’s Stadium concession stand for Philadelphia Eagles games, and one of her favorite movies is still the original “Rocky,” which was filmed in her childhood neighborhood.
Today she calls Midtown Oklahoma City home, and loves cooking and entertaining friends in her free time.
Fun Facts:
Favorite book: “I have too many favorite books to mention! Ten years ago I read the book “The Checklist Manifesto” by Dr. Atul Gawande and I have been a list maker ever since.”
Favorite song: “I could always get my late husband to dance with me to Bob Seger’s ‘Old Time Rock and Roll’!”
Favorite food: “The gluten-free Blanco Pizza at Hall’s Pizza Kitchen
Favorite inspirational saying: “From my dear friend, Andrea Myszewski, ‘Treat everyone as if their heart is broken, because there’s a good chance it probably is.’”
Dream weekend: “Planning and cooking a big dinner for people I love at a beach house.”
From the Bucket List: “Seeing an opera at the Met in New York.”