We Are IH: Team lead celebrates over 40 years at Interior Health

March 6, 2024

Barb Burke riding the Kettle Valley Railway train with her son Mike, daughter-in-law, and grandson Malcolm.

Name: Barb Burke (she/her/hers)
Job Title: Team Lead, Home Support Transformation Project
Years of Service: 41
Worksite: Kamloops Public Health
Community: Hybrid – Home and Penticton Regional Hospital
Ancestral Territory: Sylix Nation
Favourite Quote / Advice to live by: “Family is everything”

During her 41 years working at Interior Health (IH), Barb Burke, team lead, Home Support Transformation Project, has worked in almost every department in the hospital.

She says she loves the challenge of work, but most importantly she loves helping people.

“I started in the laundry at Penticton Regional Hospital on Feb. 14, 1983. I’ve worked in almost every department that you can think of," she says. "My favourite was probably the operating room. I love the challenge of work, but I love helping people. No matter what I was doing, whether it was working in admitting, switchboard, or housekeeping, you’re always helping someone.”

In this Story…

Learn more about Barb’s journey with IH

Barb nominates Desirae Lafreniere, Continuing Improvement Coordinator, Staffing Services to keep We Are IH going:

Explore Home Support Careers@IH

Learn more about Barb’s journey with IH

Woman and a child on ride at Disneyland — One of Barb’s favourite thing to do is spend time with her grandson. Here they are on the Dumbo ride at Disneyland.

From Barb’s perspective, every position in the hospital plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth delivery of quality health-care services.

“When you work in the hospital and you have a uniform on, a patient doesn’t care if you’re a dietary aid or a doctor. When they want help they want help, and I really enjoy that part. I just love helping people.”

To me, you’re always helping people and always trying to find the best answer to a question for a manager who is trying to accommodate staff. That feeling of always being able to help people and have answers.

-- Barb Burke

During her over four decades of working for IH, Barb says there have been many highlights to reflect on.

“For a lot of years, I was quite involved in my union and I’m proud of the work I did there. Working to resolve issues at a local level and working with management. And the other thing I did that I’m really proud of is the work I did developing the rotation specialist team. I had a wonderful director, Lee Vanmeter, and she really let me run with it and I think we developed a lot of really good policies and procedures.”

A woman and a child holding a pinecone in front of a forest — Barb enjoying a hike in Portland with her grandson.

When Barb isn’t working, she relishes in leading an active lifestyle and savouring quality time with her family.

“I do a lot of reading, I love to walk, I love to hike and spend time with friends going wine tasting,” she said. “And, of course, going to see my kids and my grandson.”

For anyone considering a career in health care, Barb says it’s all about passion.

A woman with a child in brightly coloured swim gear in a lake. — Barb and her grandson swimming in Okanagan Lake.

“I would say that you have to have a passion for helping people 24/7. If you don’t want to work shift work it might not be the best idea,” she jokes, “and you have to be compassionate, you have to be understanding, you have to be respectful and you have to listen. You have to listen to what your patients, clients and residents are saying to you. What worked for one person does not work for the next. Everybody is different.”

Barb nominates Desirae Lafreniere, Continuing Improvement Coordinator, Staffing Services to keep We Are IH going:

“Des has worked tirelessly to ensure the proper coverage for all areas of IH Home Support Transformation. Developing areas of service so staff have less travel and more time for clients and better expenditure of our limited health-care dollars, as directed by the [Ministry of Health]. Working with managers, directors, IT, etc. to ensure our clients have full service and the proper number of staff are in place in order to provide optimum service in every IH community. She's a great listener and a wonderful co-worker.” – Barb Burke