Cervantes celebrates 40 years at hospital district

“I used to say I was going to wheel myself to the nursing home when I retire …,” said Donna Cervantes, who celebrated her 40^th year at South Big Horn County Hospital District last Tuesday. “When you’re happy where you work, it makes all the difference.”

Cervantes started working at the hospital district’s Bonnie Bluejacket Memorial Nursing Home facility between Basin and Greybull in 1985 when she was 18 years old. Her only job experience before that was wrangling sheep. But her grandmother, mother and sister had all worked at Bonnie Blue, and Cervantes continued the family tradition. 

She started as a nurse’s aide, helping with cleaning, baths and feeding. After that she switched to restorative care, helping the seniors get on the move and stay healthy. The residents, she said, gave her job its meaning. 

One well-known character at the hospital was Cervantes’s own grandmother, Maggie Fisk. 

“She was a barracuda,” Cervantes said with a smile. 

When it was time to put Grandma Maggie to bed, the caretakers were drawing straws. Cervantes remembered an occasion where she was caring for her grandmother, who asked her to grab 25 cents from on top of the refrigerator to buy a pack of cigarettes. 

“I said, ‘Grandma, cigarettes are like $1.75 now,’ and she started cussing me,” Cervantes laughed.  “She said, ‘Well I’m not smoking anymore!’ And I said, ‘Good for you Grandma, we don’t want you smoking anyways!’”

Fisk stayed at the nursing home for four years before her passing.

“She was ornery, but everybody just loved her,” Cervantes said. 

Cervantes spent about 12 years at the nursing home, through the ups and downs. When the hospital closed for seven years due to financial hardships, she stayed at Bonnie Blue through it. And she was always there to care for her residents. 

She recalled a time during the beginning of her tenure at the nursing home; she was 18 and pregnant, and there was an old farmer whose family wasn’t with him as he passed away. Cervantes stayed at his bedside until 2 o’clock in the morning holding his hand. When he passed, his fingers left divots in her palm. 

“I just couldn’t leave him,” Cervantes said. Her own father would pass at the facility later on. 

Cervantes switched to office work at South Big Horn County Hospital’s clinic on a dare. One of the employees at Bonnie Blue had experience as a receptionist and thought she was a sure bet when a position at the clinic opened up. 

“So, me being the little smart butt I am, I said, ‘Well, maybe I’ll apply for it!’ And I got it,” Cervantes laughed. 

It was a big shift to go from working directly with patients to working behind a desk for Cervantes. 

“I did say that when they switched to computers, I was quitting.” she said. But she stuck around as the clinic transitioned from pen and paper to screens and keyboards, save for one occasion where she arrived at work to find her computer gone. 

“The first one they had me training on they took away from me,” Cervantes said. She had been handling any icon that popped up on her screen by clicking and deleting it, which was apparently not its intended use.

As a receptionist at the clinic office, one of Cervantes’s favorite times of year has been sports physicals. She recalled girls being shy about turning in their urine samples, while the boys would slam a quart jar on her desk with no reservations. 

At this point the staff at Three Rivers Health, the hospital’s new moniker, is like family to Cervantes, who has seen employees come and go through its many transitions. Her fellow receptionist, LeAnna Nicholson, is among her favorites. The pair has been working together almost seven years.  

“She can tell me to be a little softer, softer with myself. She’s quite a joy to work with, and that’s what makes it easier is your coworkers,” Cervantes said.

Cervantes has seen people going through some of the toughest moments in their lives – an attempted murder-suicide, child abuse, car wrecks. 

“You become more tuned in to people’s pain. You know, LeAnna’s most favorite quote is, ‘You’re not here because you’re happy or in a good mood.’ You have to be kind to people, we don’t know what they’re going through.”

Cervantes and Nicholson don’t stay behind the desk. They are comforting children in the waiting room, giving people in distress a place to calm down and helping people in financial hardships get access to healthcare. 

After 40 years, Cervantes still plans to work as long as she can with no intention to retire soon. She has three grown children, Dallas, David and Yolanda, all still in the area, as well as 10 grandkids.  

“We’re here to help you, just come on in, you’ll see me and LeAnna’s smiling faces,” Cervantes said.