Chris Mitchell, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Riverside’s Director of Critical Care, originally drew some inspiration for his career path in his childhood, where he lived across the street from a male nurse.
It was not a profession many men were in back then, he explains, but it opened his eyes to the possibility. “When I graduated, I knew I wanted to be in healthcare, but I wasn’t sure about what aspect of it. It came down to a few different paths, and I ultimately decided I could best accomplish my goals through nursing—by delivering care directly to patients and being involved with their outcomes.” It was the right choice, as it turned out.
Chris’s passion for leadership and the number of opportunities he has encountered throughout his nursing career have paid off for him both personally and professionally, he says. “There are so many options in nursing, so many specialties—it’s exciting.”
Today, Chris has oversight of Riverside’s three critical care units, plus respiratory therapy, rehab, telemetry, dialysis and organ procurement, as well as professional development. He directs a lot of best practice initiatives, working with the managers to ensure that quality and safety are maintained at the highest levels to provide the best possible care for patients. It’s a big job. With a department of about 400 in total and eight direct reports, he stays busy.
But Chris is also a family man, with three children and a wife who is also in a healthcare profession. “As parents, we had the same fears everybody else had about COVID-19,” he says. “We wanted to be there for our patients, but we also wanted to protect our family. In healthcare, while it’s always possible that you can be exposed to different pathogens, this time was different—COVID was a big unknown. That was the scariest part.” He worried constantly about the well-being of his children, who are in high school and college.
However, that didn’t stop Chris from doing the work he was born to do—work that was by its very nature demanding. “The precautionary measures we needed to take changed nearly daily,” he says.
“Trying to keep up with all that and the latest treatments for the virus was really challenging.”
He does admit that he got a little teary-eyed when it was first announced that the vaccine was in the approval process. “At that point, I became hopeful that we might finally get ahead of it.” And as more people have become vaccinated and the cases are starting to dwindle, Chris has finally been able to breathe a sigh of relief. “At last, the situation has started to feel different,” he says.
While it’s been a difficult period for healthcare professionals, Chris is grateful for the job security he’s had and the support he and his team have received from Riverside.
“While so many families had to worry about where their next meals were coming from or if they would be able to pay their mortgages, I was able to continue to provide for my family during the pandemic. Riverside really invested in the team to keep people working.”
As to his family, this dad says with gratitude, “We all stayed healthy and got through it together.”
