NEWBERRY — Susie Myers is transitioning to life in Newberry as Newberry County Memorial Hospital’s newest Health Information Management Director.
“In many facilities, it has traditionally in the past been referred to as medical records. But because of change in technology, we deal more with electronic information,” said Myers. “The decision was made many years ago in our profession to change the name of our title from medical records to health information management as we’re dealing with more health information on the computer and electronic medical records.”
Myers, who is originally from Lincolnton, N.C., has been in health information management for about 35 years, serving on the director level. A graduate of Western Carolina University, Myers received her bachelor of science degree in Health Information Management.
“Most of my employment has been in acute care hospitals in North Carolina. I have a diverse background in working in a large academic medical center that had 14,000 employees, but I’ve also worked at mid-size healthcare facilities and small community hospitals,” Myers said.
Myers said she prefers the smaller community hospitals and when she was approached to work at NCMH felt that this position was the opportunity to take the next step in her career.
“This was something I’ve always been passionate about. I wanted to work in healthcare, but I also knew that I did not want to become emotionally involved with patients, but I wanted to feel like I made a difference in working with patients and physicians,” she said. “That was the perfect opportunity when I went to Western Carolina University because they had the B.S. program at that time and I became involved with working in hospitals, but not with what we call direct patient care.”
No matter what size hospital Myers worked at, she said she’s found everyone has the same focus when it comes to quality care and safety for patients.
“I don’t care what environment you work in as far as the size of the facility, everyone has the same goal and objective and that’s to provide the timely, accurate care for a patient in a safe environment. The difference is in a smaller facility, you get to know your co-workers, physicians and peers on a personal basis,” Myers said.
She said taking on a new position does come with its fair share of challenges. Myers said she has discovered one of the challenges of her position is maintaining independence but also bringing in new technology with limited resources. On the other hand, Myers said working with individuals with the same goals was one of the easy parts of her position.
“That is easy because we all have that same philosophy of working together in management,” said Myers. “The biggest challenge is truly, with any healthcare organization, is trying to maintain independence but also bring newer technology to an organization.”
Being a North Carolina native, Myers said she has felt welcomed by her co-workers and has already met people in the community, received help from the Chamber of Commerce with relocating to Newberry and met individuals who have helped make the transition to Newberry easier.
Myers has an adult son and daughter who will remain in North Carolina and two dogs that will soon be joining Myers in Newberry.