40 Years: Audrey Derrick
By Heather Svokos
Employee Recognition 2016
Long-term employees play an invaluable role in the life of UT Southwestern Medical Center. Their faithful, dedicated service has helped the institution become what it is today. In this special edition of Center Times, we showcase some of these employees and their varied interests. Meet the 2016 honorees * Snapshot of 1975
If ever you find yourself in a stall in the ladies room in William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, and you hear someone softly singing Amazing Grace, chances are it’s Audrey Derrick. Of course, patients might know her voice better from over the phone, where the diet clerk and operator takes their orders for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Ms. Derrick, a 40-year employee, says she’s happiest at work when she has pleased a patient with special diet needs – and there are many to consider, from the American Heart Association diet to restrictions on calories, carbs, sugar, and salt.
“Because these diets are new to some of the patients, my challenge is to try to reason with them,” she says.
It’s like a dietary puzzle, and Ms. Derrick relishes it. “I like what I do,” she says. “I like talking to patients, making them feel better – getting a problem solved the best I can, and knowing that if I did that, I’ve made someone’s day.”
But if she does have a frustrating moment on the job, singing is her outlet. While she used to sing in a choir, her current work schedule keeps her from attending practice, so now she sings where she can.
“Sometimes in the bathroom stalls – I used to do it a lot in St. Paul [University Hospital],” she says. “When I get frustrated, I just let a song out, and then I feel better.”
It helps to get out and actually meet the patients in person, which occasionally happens when she goes out on rounds. “We go up on the floors and we have a survey, and patients get to meet the ‘phone people’ in person,” Ms. Derrick says. “The survey asks them about the food, the temperature of the food, the courtesy of the nutrition staff, and we ask if they understand their diet. If they have a complaint, we resolve it.”
Ms. Derrick says she likes to be known as a reliable employee who’s always on time, and manages to get in to work even on a snow day. In her spare time, when she’s not filling the air with gospel songs, she loves to sew and do crafts.
1975 Snapshot
Four UT Southwestern employees are being honored in 2016 for 40-year anniversaries. Their careers all began in 1975.
At UTSW- In April, dedication ceremonies at UT Southwestern marked a new complex that included the Eugene McDermott Academic Administration Building, the Cecil H. and Ida Green Science Building, the Fred F. Florence Bioinformation Center, and the A.W. Harris Faculty-Alumni Center.
- On May 24, commencement ceremonies were held on campus for the first time, as 133 medical students graduated. Lady Bird Johnson, a UT System Regent and former First Lady, was the speaker.
- Construction across the campus was tripling the available clinical and research space to almost 1 million square feet. Four decades later, UT Southwestern’s four campuses now stand at 11.5 million square feet of building space.
- On the sports scene, the Dallas Cowboys secured success for years to come with one of the greatest drafts in their history. New players included defensive tackle Randy White of Maryland with the second overall pick, linebackers Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson and Bob Breunig, and offensive linemen Pat Donovan, Herbert Scott, and Burton Lawless.
- People in America were enthralled with disco, 8-tracks, pet rocks, Rubik’s cubes, and mood rings.
- The conflict in Vietnam ended with the evacuation of Saigon in April.
- Microsoft was established.
- The movie Jaws shocked people in theaters, and All In The Family continued to be television’s top-rated program.
- The median income in 1975 was $12,700, a new house averaged $48,000, while a new car cost about $3,800.
- Parents could expect to pay about $1,800 per year to send their children to public college, or almost $3,800 annually for a private university education.
