At SpecialtyCare, we have the privilege of working with over 1,200 hospitals around the country across our services lines. One of them is St. David’s Medical Center, which was recently ranked number one among community hospitals by the Austin Business Journal. Our team at St. David’s includes our Area Clinical Managers, Erica Conner and Carter Moroz, along with our Director of Operations, James Buck. They share what it’s like to be an integrated part of St. David’s Team and what keeps them excited about coming to work each day.

Team Players Who Build Connection

As the Area Clinical Manager for Perfusion for the North Austin Perfusion team, Erica works with her team of perfusionists to provide a high level of care during cardiac surgery and, more specifically, during cardiopulmonary bypass. The perfusionists play a pivotal role within a multi-disciplinary cardiovascular surgical team which includes cardiac surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, surgical scrub techs and other additional support staff.

“Working together in a multi-disciplinary surgical cardiac team provides not only a safe environment for the patients but also helps deliver the highest level of care,” says Erica. “Everybody on our team is very open with communication. We always discuss complex cases ahead of time to ensure that everyone is aligned and that we have a game plan going into surgery.”

James, our Director of Operations, explains how important it has been to him to have a cohesive team. “I’ve been with SpecialtyCare for 30 years and what’s kept me here is just the camaraderie that I have with all of my clinical managers and their teams, along with our leadership at the corporate office — it’s just been a great company to work with for all these years.”

Erica further emphasizes the same sentiment. “It is rewarding to build the relationships we have with each other and be able to go to work each day and enjoy what you do and who you work with.”

A Variety of Opportunities for Career Development

SpecialtyCare works with hundreds of high caliber cardiac centers like St. David’s throughout the US, which provides our associates internal training and career development opportunities that may not be possible through a single hospital or health system.

Carter Moroz explains how SpecialtyCare offers versatility to those seeking professional growth. Having been with the company for five years, Carter started training in Normothermic Regional Perfusion and eventually became the Chief of Perfusion at two different Trauma I centers before his role as a Clinical Manager in Austin.

“I think the kind of people who look at SpecialtyCare are people who want to grow in different ways. If it’s in terms of research, there’s a lot of opportunity within our Medical Research Team, and because we have so many accounts across the country, we have one of the largest perfusion databases in the country,” Carter explains. Carter goes on to share that “there is no other perfusion organization that offers many levels of professional development for Perfusionists from Perfusionist I through IV, Chief, Area Clinical Manager, Director of Operations, Vice President, Region President and all the way up to Service Line President.”

James Buck is a great example of the professional development opportunities within SpecialtyCare. “The growth and development the company provides for perfusionists, I think, is very beneficial, and I’m actually a product of that. I started out as a perfusion assistant and grew into my current role as a Director.”

Key Resources and Support for Our Partners

Not only are our team members focused on successful integrations with staff at partner hospitals, but they have access to resources, data, and training that can improve processes and outcomes.

“SpecialtyCare provides us with many resources for best practices, guidelines, and quality report data for surgeries to ensure we are performing as well as or better than hospitals similar in volume,” says Erica.

Our focus is on making surgery safer in every aspect, and it’s our team members who bring a patient-centered mindset to every situation they’re brought into.

“At the end of the day, we all do this for the patient,” says Erica. “When our patients are brought into the operating room, they are often medicated; they don’t remember us, and they might never even know what a perfusionist is. Regardless, we still get such a rewarding feeling at the end of the day because we made an impact on not only that patient but every person that is connected to them. The feeling is hard to describe but it’s what keeps us going each and every day!”