MADISON, Wis. — Modern statistics show it’s now common for the average individual to stay at a job for about four years before getting a new one. This next woman is above average in many ways. Joanne Johnson is celebrating a huge work milestone. You will also find out why her connection to her employer started on her very first day. No, not her first day of work; her first day of life.
There’s a saying: if you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life. By that measure then, Joanne Johnson says, in the roughly 18,250 days since she started at St. Mary’s Hospital, she hasn’t lifted a finger.
“I’ve never wanted to leave ever for a day in the past 50 years,” Johnson said, smiling.
Truthfully, though, Johnson has worked very hard — in one place — for the last half century.
“When I walk through the doors, I feel like I’m home,” Johnson said.
That’s not too far off. When most individuals say they’ve spent their entire life where they work, they’re exaggerating. Not Johnson.
Brady: “You were born here.”
Johnson: “Mhm.”
Brady: “You met your husband here.”
Johnson: “Mhm”
Brady: “You had your children here.”
Johnson: “Mhm.”
Brady: “I think you’re stuck here.”
Johnson: “I look at myself as an icon here. Can’t be changed or removed.”
Johnson started at St. Mary’s as a teenager in 1972 and has no plans to stop anytime soon.
“Joanne’s really an institution within an institution here,” Father Pat Norris, chaplain for SSM Health, said.
St. Mary’s is celebrating Johnson’s career and her outstanding impact. First of all, Johnson oversees about 380 volunteers and says she can name all of them…
“Earlier today we had Barb and Gloria. Yesterday we had, Pablo is typically here,” Johnson said, rattling off name after name. “Bill, Gary, Marsha, John,”
Johnson could have easily continued to name the rest of the hundreds of volunteers, so we’ll give her a break and say we believe her. Piles and piles of photographs show all of the work Johnson has done to help patients and support her staff. She even co-created the No One Dies Alone program to make sure everyone has someone with them in their final moments.
“I feel like my purpose here is to help improve the quality of life for those around us,” Johnson said.
Norris says Johnson just wants to help everybody.
“I think Joanne has this true calling to be with people to reveal God’s healing purpose,” Norris said.
When Johnson was born, she says her parents joked they had no room for her and she should just at St. Mary’s. In the best way possible, she did.
“I believe my parents are up in Heaven and looking down with pride that I’m still here,” Johnson said.
“Joanne has been making a difference here every day for 50 years and that is just marvelous and something to celebrate,” Norris said.
When Joanne Johnson says she’s never worked a day in her life, obviously that’s not true. It’s easy to see, in 50 years and counting, she’s done one hell of a job.
“My advice is for everyone to find their purpose in life and if you believe in that purpose, you’ll go far in life,” Johnson said.
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