Terrie Sterling is the first woman and first black to serve as an executive in Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center’s 76-year history. But another accolade means more to her than all the others: the first nurse to serve as chief operating officer. “There is such respect for the [nursing] profession. It is sacred, and it is special,” she says. “I consider it to be a privilege to be a nurse and care for people and use care and compassion in administrative leadership.”
The Baton Rouge native’s first impressions of the hospital were formed not as a clinician but as a child. “My father believed that if family members were in the hospital, somebody needed to stay with them. Beginning in middle school, we [the children] were expected to take a day shift if one of my grandmothers or an aunt was in the hospital. We were obligated to do what we were told and do so with a joyful spirit.” No matter the women’s physical health, Sterling says, their spiritual strength never faltered. “If we didn’t go to church, my grandmother made sure we had church at home.”
By the time Sterling penned predictions in her Baton Rouge High School memory book, she planned to pursue a career as a nurse or pharmacist. After receiving her bachelor’s of nursing from Northeast Louisiana University, Sterling began a 20-year career at the Lake.
“I am comfortable and proud of the mission and ministry side because they fit with my upbringing. When I look back, it [working at OLOL] was an extension of how I grew up,” Sterling says. “There is a specialness about maintaining the ministry—although people think that’s no longer in style. I am reminded that we stand on the shoulders of some real giants—like Sister[s] Linda, Edana and Magdalene. I’m proud I can work for an organization where it’s OK to do the right thing for patients. We always try to err on the side of the patients.”
As she progressed from a med/surg and gerontology nurse to supervisor, she continued her clinical education, receiving an Executive MBA from LSU and a master’s degree in nursing from Loyola University.
Despite workforce shortages, federal and state budget cuts and increasing costs of technology and pharmaceuticals, Sterling’s current responsibilities include assuring hospital financial and physician relationships remain healthy, patients receive warm, compassionate care and employees who provide that care are skilled, motivated and valued.
“I consider myself a team member,” Sterling says. “I round on the units, at night and on the weekends. Anything I ask [staff] to do, I am willing to stand beside them and do it. It’s about trust and transparency. Most people come to work with a sense of pride. If the outcomes fall short, you ask: Did the process fail? Did the system fail? I have high expectations of the leadership team to benchmark best-in-class organizations.”
And the community shares those expectations. Besides benchmarking against its medical care against other hospitals and its guest relations against Ritz-Carlton and Malcolm Baldridge criteria, Sterling relies on other indicators.
“There is a sense of commitment to care for the community,” she says. “I see friends and neighbors here. My dad comes to see friends in the hospital. So, I hear about how we’ve done. There is a real humbleness being a child of this community.”
