Client for a Cause: Jean Francis & Mayo Clinic

B&C client Jean Francis has a clear passion for helping others. Jean’s work in the healthcare field began in 1966 when she was a teen volunteer at St. Vincent’s in Jacksonville. She earned her BSN at Duke University, and then served in the US Army Nurse Corps where she became a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP). After three and a half years on active duty, she transitioned to the Army Reserve and worked as a PNP at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati. She later entered graduate school and earned two master’s degrees, one in nursing and the other in business administration.

Jean served in administrative roles in University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, and All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL. When she left her position in St. Petersburg, she became an adjunct instructor for the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida in their online RN to BSN program.

Although Jean retired in May 2016, she still wanted to remain connected to the medical field while finding a way to give back to the community. She found a way to do both at Mayo Clinic’s Jacksonville campus. There are many wonderful hospitals in the Jacksonville area, but Jean was drawn to Mayo because she felt that its values and culture reflected those found in the pediatric facilities she had worked in, particularly Mayo’s focus on family-centered care.

For the past year and a half, Jean has volunteered in the surgical waiting room at Mayo as a liaison between the surgical staff and patients’ families in the waiting room. Once she and her fellow volunteers check families into the surgical waiting room, they act as the informational go-between for hospital staff and patients’ family members. Jean also guides families and visitors to any services or amenities they may need during their stay, including taking them back to see their loved one before they are discharged from the surgical department. The most rewarding part of volunteering for Jean is being able to work with the patients, families, staff and her fellow volunteers.

When Jean was working at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Jean encouraged her mother to volunteer at the hospital. Her mother worked in the Surgical Waiting Room there for 20 years. It seemed like serendipity when Jean interviewed to become a volunteer at Mayo and they told her, “We really need you in the Surgical Waiting Room.”

Interested in learning more about Mayo Clinic or volunteering there? Visit www.mayoclinic.org for more information.

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