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Linda Spencer: Still Caring Deeply After 45 Years
Linda Spencer: Still Caring Deeply After 45 Years
By Chip Newcome
A quick Google search will tell you that the median amount of time people stay at a job these days is 4.1 years. Linda Spencer, an indispensable do-it-all administrator at Countryside Family Practice in Marshall, definitely breaks from the median. Her start date at Countryside was June 1, 1979, just over 45 years ago.
A graduate of the University of Virginia’s School of Radiology, Spencer is a Registered Technologist in Radiology (RTR). She began her career working at Fauquier Hospital, where she also met a young physician, Dr. Norris Royston.
“I remember I was called in one night to work and we worked together closely that evening,” she said. “He said to me ‘I have an opening. Why don’t you come work for me?’” She had great respect for Dr. Royston, a long-time practitioner and area native, and thought it would be a good opportunity to work with him.
Clearly, it was an easy decision “and I said, ‘OK!’” Now, 45 years later, she’s still enjoying her time at Countryside, both working with the staff, including Dr. Royston and Dr. Robert Houska, and providing the patients with the best possible care.
“We’ve always given the best medical care,” she said.
And the secret to the length of her tenure at the practice?
“I like working with patients, and medicine, and working with good people,” she said. “You’ve got to pick a place to work, and make certain that’s where your heart is.”
Her advice for young people just starting out in a career is simple: find the right place to work, choose the right career path, the right people, and you will find longevity.
And her advice to someone starting out in the medical field?
“When you start this position, you need to do the very best,” she said. “You need to strive to do a step more that what is expected of you. And if this is not where you want to be, and this is not what you like to do, you shouldn’t stay. You should move on and do what is right for you.”
At nearly 70 years young, she continues to perform X-Rays, even though her “official” title is practice administrator. She’s also received her certification as a Certified Medical Office Manager, with official duties that include payroll, taxes, payables, billing, and “anything and all that would be needed to run a medical practice.”
She also oversees the staff and of course, she works with what she described as both “wonderful and knowledgeable doctors….caring people.”
But her unofficial duties are many.
“Some days,” she said, “I’m sitting all day working on administration needs and some days I’m moving all day. If you could work at any medical practice, anywhere, this is the best place to work. They aren’t just co-workers, they are family. Everyone is treated as part of the family. We really care about each other.”
Details: For more information about Countryside Family Practice, visit their website at www.cfpdocs.com.
