The new Director of Perioperative Services at Estes Park Health is a woman with a background as an operating room nurse for almost 39 years. Terri Neumann took over her new role on Dec. 7.
“I’ve always liked technical stuff,” Neumann said. “Every time you turn around there is a new technique or improvement. We work off of evidence-based practices. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We’re the patient’s advocate because they are usually asleep. We make sure safety precautions are followed, the patient is positioned properly and we double check to make sure this is the right patient, the right side and the right procedure.”
Perioperative services includes everything from lab visits before the procedure, pre-op prep, the actual operation and post-op care.
As a nurse, Neumann emphasized it is her job to relate to patients and staff.
“Patient safety is the number one priority,” she stated. “We care for them. We try to treat them like family. You always take care of your family. We have respect for the patient. We always want to do what’s best for them.”
Neumann is originally from Galveston, Texas. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from UT Galveston and her Master of Arts in Organizational Management from Ashford University.
She has worked all over the country, beginning with a hospital at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. She then went to St. John Hospital in Nassau Bay south Clear Lake, Texas. Afterward she worked at Alvin Community Hospital, part of an HCA facility and Bayshore Hospital in Pasadena.
Neumann worked as a traveling nurse around the Houston area before her employment at MD Anderson Houston where she worked for 11 years.
She then took as stint as a traveling nurse again in the Austin, Texas, area and North Carolina before moving on to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston working in the quality department. She served a brief stint at an Indian health hospital in Stika, Alaska, and then returned to Texas to work at UTMB in Galveson as an OR Manager. Finally, she worked at Wilsman Jones Hospital in Sherman, Texas. The COVID pandemic created downsizing at that facility and he rposition was eliminated.
“During COVID, it was difficult to find a job,” Neumann said. “I looked all across the United States. I could have gotten a staff nurse position, but I wanted a managerial role.”
She was contacted by EPH from her posts on Indeed and LinkedIn. Since her children live in Thornton, she was happy to find a position in Colorado.
“EPH is trying to grow its service lines,” Neumann said. “We looking at getting some different surgical lines, possibly urology, podiatry and place surgery for services like breast reconstruction.”
As for her move from Texas to Estes Park, Neumann said she is happy to be in Colorado.
“I love the cool weather,” she noted. “I like the scenery. I’ve had the big mule deer come through my yard. There are a lot of little bunny rabbits.”
Neuman likes to fish and would like to learn fly fishing. She enjoys spending time with her grandsons who are two and six-months old. She can see them more often because now she lives closer to them.
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