Journey from student to compassionate clinical supervisor at Northside Hospital
Jenny Allen’s career journey with Northside Hospital started long before she became an employee. From an eager Mercer University student to clinical supervisor at Northside Hospital Cherokee, Allen has taken her love for helping people and turned it into compassionate patient care.
As the saying goes, ‘when you know, you know,’ and Allen knew when it came to her path to nursing.
“I knew I wanted to do something that helped people,” Allen told Access Atlanta.
“I knew that I had certain strengths. One day, I just kind of had this epiphany: Oh my gosh, I need to go into nursing.”
So, that’s exactly what Allen did — and she did it knowing exactly where she wanted to be.
Allen’s guide to her Atlanta
Best place to unwind: Gibbs Garden – “I probably go at least twice a month … most of the time I’m trying to walk and get my steps in but a lot of times I’ll just sit on a bench and stare at a tree and just chill. You can bring a book you know, and hang out and it’s just a really like, lovely option to relax.”
Favorite date night spot: Goin’ Coastal – “It’s really delicious and we love it. We’re just really lucky that we live like 10 minutes away from it.”
Go-to hobby shop: A Cone To Pick – “We started collecting them (vinyl’s) together; Mac (Allen’s husband) and I decided to invest in a record player. We started cultivating a collection … and it turned into an obsession.”
As a clinical supervisor, Allen’s responsible for overseeing nursing scheduling, planning the flow of the day and much more.
“Northside really prioritizes the patient experience … We go into their rooms and we talk to the patients specifically about how their care has been, if they’re having any issues, anything that I need to know about anything that we can do to make their experience better.”
Although those are a few of Allen’s tasks, her career-turned-calling is much deeper than that. A few years ago, the clinical supervisor was able to teach a class on nurse resilience, which actually helped her with some self-realization.
“From that, I learned a lot about myself: being able to separate your home life from your work life and taking part in self-care … making sure that you’re not trying to pour from an empty cup — those little things that truly make a difference on a daily basis,” Allen explained.
“Helping my nurses when I can tell that they’re feeling overwhelmed, to take a moment to take care of themselves so that it doesn’t become too much and that they’re able to come back the next day and feel good about what happened the day before, and still have something to give to their patients.”
A sense of giving that Allen learned Northside took seriously early on.
“I just noticed a difference in the service that the nurses, the techs, the doctors, and all of the staff really showed towards the patients,” Allen said. “It wasn’t just like, ‘This is my job, and I’m getting this done,’ there was also the piece of ‘I’m going to be kind, I’m going to make sure that I take the extra step and make sure that this patient feels comfortable.’”
Having been with Northside Hospital for more than a decade shows the commitment Allen has to a place that she says offers the best care possible to its patients. Allen’s goal is to continue to assist in facilitating growth and resilience among her nurses, as well as offering patients help, healing and a hope of brighter days ahead.
Northside Hospital: Look to Northside
Locations: Multiple locations; Website: jobs.northside.com; Social: LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube; Contact: 404-851-8000
