Name: Teresa Packer (she/her/hers)
Job Title: Support services supervisor
Years of Service: 15
Worksite: Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital (KBH)
Community: Trail
Ancestral Territory: Ktunaxa (tun-ah-ha)/ Kootenay Ktunaxa
Favourite Quote / Advice to live by: Stay positive, make someone laugh and give a compliment every day. This will make for a healthier and happier you.
When Teresa Packer walked into Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital 15 years ago to apply for a food service worker role, she was a first-time mother looking to rejoin the workforce. Bringing her 18-month-old son along at the time, they spoke with the support services supervisor for more information. Little did Teresa know that this would be her role a few years down the line.
Teresa is now the housekeeping and food service supervisor based in Trail, and if she isn’t helping out someone at work, she’s likely taking care of family or a filly nearby!
Learn more about her journey with IH
Teresa has always been a family-first individual. Growing up as one of the eldest in a large homeschooling family with four sisters and five brothers, she helped raise a number of her younger siblings when Mom and Dad had to work. The household was always busy and there were constantly areas in need of her help. That’s why Teresa has such a deeply ingrained affinity for helping out and taking care of others.
Teresa best describes her key attributes as being friendly, supportive and a peacemaker. When asked about why she joined IH in support services, ‘help’ is always a key word.
I enjoy the challenges of what a regional hospital brings. There are good days and bad days but having the ability to support my coworkers and help people through teamwork - that is what I live for.
Beyond making a positive difference, Teresa finds the flexible hours and the ability to continuously learn to be attractive parts of her job. She has taken advantage of IH-funded courses to rise to the supervisor position, and continues to improve her skills.
As a housekeeping and food service supervisor, Teresa has a varied role that looks after the many staffing needs of a team of over 115 employees. This could be anything from:
- Running safety huddles
- Problem-solving concerns
- Delegating duties
- Making job observations
- Processing staff requests (vacation, leaves, shift exchanges, overtime requests)
- Creating injury reports
- Helping staff with duties when short staffed
- Performing probationary reviews
“I love working with so many staff members to encourage and build an environment based on teamwork. It’s so important to help keep a workplace with a positive energy that can be passed onto others through engaging in kindness. Also, the feeling of helping keep everyone fed and the hospital clean for patients’ needs is incredibly rewarding.” Teresa said.
The affinity for helping doesn’t stop at humans. Growing up, Teresa was a passionate horseback rider and would often hit the trails with friends in the Casino area of Trail (and still does to this day). But her caring nature soon took over in this area too.
“After some time, I learned how to take care of horses at a camp ranch and now I get to use my skills on my friends’ horses. It’s a great way to find peace in the mountains.”
As an active individual, when Teresa isn’t horseback riding or caring for horses outside work, she can often be found on the slopes with her family in winter, or playing team sports in the summer.
“I love spending time at Red Mountain resort. I am so lucky to have the beautiful, large mountains to enjoy while I snowboard with my two kids and my friends. Now that the snow is melting, I am going to start to enjoy softball with my husband and new team, the Denim Dingers.”
Teresa says she is looking forward to travelling to Mexico and one day would love to travel to Italy with her family to learn more about the culture.
Teresa nominates Maggie Roach, support service manager, to keep We Are IH going
“Maggie is a team player who always tries to help coworkers in need. She supports everyone who asks despite having an incredibly busy job, which requires her support for four other facilities.” - Teresa Packer
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