Jen's journey to becoming a fully fledged member of #TeamNorthMid
39-year-old Jennifer (Jen) Leslie has lots of personal connections to North Mid, going back to before she was even born and now in 2020-21 she has become a fully-fledged member of #TeamNorthMid!
Jen's journey to joining the North Mid family started in April last year when she joined the Trust's bank staff after being furloughed from her previous role during the pandemic. She started working within the donations team for three months from Aprll to June 2020 before moving to Endoscopy, providing admin support for four months from July to October 2020.
She then became team leader of the 2-week cancer performance team, managing a team of seven - the cancer performance team are responsible for processing referral for patients who have suspected cancer. She stayed in this role for four months before starting her current role as health outreach and work experience coordinator earlier this year.
“Working in the donations team was a godsend, I could give something back and it was extremely rewarding. To see the gratitude on the faces of staff when we would drop off donations was an unforgettable and humbling experience that I’ll never forget. Working with the cancer performance team was a wonderful experience too - they are an extremely hard working group of people and I was so lucky to be a part of it.
"In my current role I am really priviledged to be working with our local communities to make a difference to lives of so many adults and young people."
It's not just professional connections that define Jen's journey at North Mid - she was born at the hospital in 1982, the second of six siblings to be born here, starting in 1980, Jen (1982), 1989, 1993 (twins) and 1997. Jen then followed in her mother's footsteps, having all four of her children here, with her eldest daughter Tshana born in 1999 (Tshana also worked at North Mid from 2017-2020), followed by Jen’s son Tafari in 2006, daughter Amyrah in 2010 and youngest daughter Nyah born in 2017.
She says: “North Mid to me is the hub of our community, it has always been here and it will be here for many more years to come. So many lives have and will come and go at North Mid. It’s a special hospital with so many personal links; whenever I pick up the phone to a patient or a colleague or meet someone, I always remember how I started here and it’s lovely to now be a part of the North Mid family.”
“I chose to apply for a role at North Mid last April because I wanted to do something purposeful and what better way than to work at the hospital where I was born and where I had my family!
Jen is certain the Leslie family connections to North Mid will continue in the future too with her grandchildren, (and her mother’s great grandchildren), being born at their local hospital making it the third generation of Leslies to be born here!
(An earlier version of this article appeared in the Centenary edition of True North magazine earlier this year).