Misty Gunning – Celebrating 10 Years and a Role at NorthShore Health Centers

Misty-Gunning Originally from Lake Station and now residing in Portage, Misty Gunning will be celebrating 10 years with NorthShore Health Centers in 2017, and in that time, she has climbed the ladder and built a career with the regional health care provider.

Gunning started working at NorthShore Health Centers in 2007 after deciding it was time for a career change.

“I started here at NorthShore in Lake Station in 2007 working at the front desk,” Gunning said. “I was really looking for a change in career at that point.”

“I had worked in retail for 14 year and then I was given the opportunity to do something different so I took it,” said Gunning.

Gunning had always had a desire to work in nursing and health care, and has taken classes in the past, but had not pursued a career in the field until the opportunity with NorthShore came along.

“I’ve always had a passion for nursing and I started out at NorthShore working as a receptionist in OB/GYN,” she said.

Since starting out, Gunning has worked in several different departments at several NorthShore locations which well prepared her for her current position as a nursing department assistant.

“I just started the position that I’m in now last year,” said Gunning. “It was an assistant position that became available in the nursing department and, like I said, I’ve always had a passion for nursing so I applied for the job and, out of five other people, I got the job.”

“My job is to assist the nursing manager with non-clinical duties such as supply orders and reports. Also I help our prenatal department with any non-clinical task that they may need done for their events.”

The values and mission of NorthShore Health Centers to serve everyone, no matter what your financial situation is or whether you are insured or uninsured, is closely aligned with Gunning’s own personal feelings and desire to help people.

“I feel we serve such a great purpose,” Gunning said. “Being here for people who either don’t have insurance or even the ones who do is important because we’re able to offer them some many services at one site.”

Having worked with NorthShore for going on 10 years, Gunning has gotten the chance to see the health care provider grow by leaps and bounds in that time. She’s also gained a great deal of knowledge about many areas of the organization which will allow her to be incredibly effective in the position that she has recently stepped into.

“When I started, we had two offices,” Gunning reflected. “We had the two offices in Portage. The office that I work in now in Lake Station we actually got to walk through while it was being built, and I've been able to watch everything grow.”

“I’ve gotten the chance to work in every office except for Hammond. Before, I was working just with the patients. Now, I’m working more with the nurses and what their needs are, kind of understanding how we can all work together as a team to essentially help all of our patients. I feel like I can help bridge the gap between our front desk and our nurses which will help our patients.”

Gunning is excited to excel in her new position and one way that she will be able to do that effectively is by continuing her education, which she will be looking to do in the fall.