122 Years of Service
(This article will be the second of three installments highlighting long-time employees at West River Health Services, totaling more than 122 years of service.)

Submitted by Frank Turner, Adams County Record in Hettinger acrnews@gspublishing.net

After nearly half a century of work as a ward clerk at West River Health Services, Jody LeFebre will be retiring from her position at the end of March. LeFebre's career as a ward clerk started in 1975, back when West River Health Services was known as Western Memorial Hospital, and she has maintained the position ever since.

Over the years as ward clerk, LeFebre has helped run day to day operations at the hospital like organizing patient charts and screening incoming patients.

“On the sidelines, I did some volunteering as an EMT, but I've always been a ward clerk,” said LeFebre. “Once I started, I just felt that that's where I wanted to be.”

I've always enjoyed what I do and I've always enjoyed being around the people. It's not a monotonous position at all, there is always something going on,” she added.

Although LeFebre has maintained the same position her entire career, she said the job duties associated with being a ward clerk have changed vastly over the years.

“A lot of the work that ward clerks do is computer work based on physicians' orders and the documentation of patients,” she said. “It all totally changed when the computer came in. When I started there was no computer and it was all manual documentation – quite different than it is now, but the same position.”

Now that retirement is on the horizon, LeFebre said she is excited to spend more time with her friends and family.

“It's been 45 years of working every other weekend and every other holiday and I want to get away from that and enjoy the summer,” she said. “My husband is semi-retired and we both love to hike and camp and garden, so we are just going to enjoy the summer.”

Even still, LeFebre said she has enjoyed her time at West River Health Services, connecting with both coworkers and patients.

Like the other retiring West River Health Services employees, LeFebre said she will greatly miss her coworkers.

“I love the people I have worked with,” she said. “A lot of the people I work with have become like family to me, so I will greatly miss them.”