Teresa Salas

Teresa Salas is one of many former St. Paul University Hospital employees whose jobs relocated to William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital when it opened in 2014. As a Cashier in the Clements University Hospital cafeteria, she does far more than just handle purchases of meals.

In her first job at St. Paul – she says her job title was “tray passer” – she began a career that has lifted her to a Cashier, and so much more. If “cafeteria mom” were a job title, then she’d hold that moniker too as she is beloved by co-workers over a long career, as well as by patients, clinicians, and customers, many of whom weren’t born yet when she began working at St. Paul.

“I have stayed because I like my job, and the people I have met are so interesting, from co-workers to customers,” Ms. Salas says.

Therein lies her most rewarding memory – meeting actor John Travolta when he came to St. Paul in the 1970s to visit a friend who was being treated there.

It probably won’t surprise anyone who has seen the bustle of the Clements University Hospital cafeteria to know that Ms. Salas is considered hardworking and dependable.

Her passions when off-duty? Her house, her yard, and her grandchildren.