Supply Chain Recognition Week: A Day in the Life of Lisa Heuston

Providing exceptional customer service is embedded in TransForm’s mission and values and staff that work on-site at member hospitals are a specific example of how that works.

At Chatham Kent Health Alliance, Lisa Heuston works on-site as the Perioperative Supply Chain Specialist, ensuring surgical teams have the medical supplies and equipment needed to complete their procedures.

From a small office beside the in-patient surgical unit, Heuston begins her day at 8 a.m., greeting fellow staff members and changing into scrubs. From there to her office, she squeezes around boxes and piles of medical supplies that are expired, need to be ordered or need a call to a vendor to find a viable substitution.

Working closely with surgical staff and vendor sales reps is a large part of her day-to-day activities, forming relationships of mutual trust and respect. Several times a day, she will get a visit from a rep or surgical staffer asking about ordering necessary products or materials.

Visiting the different surgical supply rooms, Heuston hustles from place to place, greeting more staff and explaining each room and what sterile materials are stocked there. As she walked, Heuston explained the strain on the surgical department currently as they try to catch up post-Covid, with surgeries canceled daily due to lack of bed space.

Opthamology, ortho, urology, ENT, dental and other specialties all have their supplies and equipment separated and organized into sterile clean rooms. Heuston said all items have bar codes that are scanned twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays for inventory control and ordering.

The surgical packs they receive from the medical supply fulfillment company are customized to each service, such as ortho, and the preferences of the surgeons at CKHA are taken into account, so when a pack is picked, it has everything that surgeon needs to perform the surgery.

Back in her office, Heuston goes over the papers on her desk, including a list of procedures that happened over the weekend, so she can order more supplies and equipment. Each day, Heuston noted, is different and how much she needs to order depends on the surgical schedule, so communication with surgeons and their teams is critical.

And being on-site is important to how effectively and efficiently she does her job.

“It’s much easier for me to be on-site because they’ll come to me to ask me to check to see if we have this, or check this catalogue number. It’s just easier to know what is going on in the operating room on a day-to-day basis if you’re here,” Heuston explained.

Once a week, she does a spreadsheet for the ortho equipment sales reps, to keep on top of the supplies needed each day, something that is not a job requirement, but helps keep everyone on top of what is needed and in stock.

On her desk are various pieces of equipment that may not come with a package, but a surgeon is looking to source it. Because of her good relationships with sales reps, she can send a picture of the piece and that rep can identify it and let her know what to order.

Relationships with her counterparts at the other TransForm member hospitals in Windsor, Leamington and Sarnia are also important, when a particular medical supply piece is needed urgently. Heuston said there have been times when she needs to put out an urgent call and have the material sent by cab from other member sites.

The issues with supply chain currently have made her job more stressful, she noted, and having good relationships to help fill the gaps are vital. In some cases, they are on a second or third substitution and it needs to meet surgeon’s preferences.

Some days, Heuston said if feels like there are just not enough hours in a week to get all her work done, but she loves her job and is committed to doing it to the best of her ability to help surgeons save lives every day.

“I take my job to heart. It wakes me up in the middle of the night if I feel like I forgot to do something and I will log onto the computer to check,” Heuston shared.

As her door opens and another sales rep comes in to discuss how a certain piece of equipment worked during surgery, Heuston continues her busy day as a vital cog in the surgical team’s machine, making a difference in the lives of patients at CKHA.