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Tracy Rheault |
“What’s happened now?” she thought as the cardiothoracic surgery team gathered.
Then, her mentor, Carin Borg, made an unexpected announcement.
Rheault, manager of the cardiovascular and thoracic surgery section, had been chosen as this month’s Chancellor’s Gold U Award for her exemplary service.
“I was completely surprised,” said Rheault, who once won front row tickets to a Keith Urban concert for submitting a winning essay to a local radio station. “Everyone said my face turned so red, but it was an honor.”
A 12-year employee of UNMC, Rheault (pronounced row) says her day-to-day job is to keep the cardiothoracic section running smoothly.
Her nominators say she succeeds.
“If every employee had her vision, skill and passion, the university would truly be unstoppable in accomplishing any mission in the future,” one nominator said. “She sets the standard that I strive to meet everyday.”
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For 4 ½ years, she served as the liaison between faculty, clinical staff and patients before moving into administrative roles within the section. In 2004, she spent 10 months serving as the administrator for both urologic and cardiothoracic surgery, before returning to the cardiothoracic surgery section.
Today, she shoulders a broad range of responsibilities from handling the section’s finances and managing its non-physician staff of nine to assisting the section chief.
“I work with an extraordinary team of physicians and staff who all work hard and put the patient first,” Rheault said. “That’s what makes my job so rewarding.”
Her nominators praised her managerial skills, noting her positive spirit, willingness to help others and sincerity.
“Tracy cares and has the best interest of her employee’s at heart,” said a physician nominator, who praised her professional, yet assertive, leadership and decision-making skills.
“I have never known her to be unprepared or unwilling to take on additional risks,” another nominator said. “She is always willing to share her knowledge, which has helped us all grow.”
The petite blonde who had visions of becoming a teacher is quick to support her colleagues in whatever way she can.
“I try to empower my employees to take advantage of all the learning opportunities,” she said, recalling how she was encouraged to finish her college degree by a UNMC colleague.
“I took it one class at a time,” Rheault said.
The work paid off and, in 2005, the mother of two earned her bachelor’s degree in health care management from Bellevue University, becoming the first in her family to graduate with a college degree.
Rheault’s life experiences, including seven years working at Richard Young Hospital in Kearney, gave her a unique perspective, she said, in managing staff and dealing with patients of all ages.
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Being involved with the patient success stories at Richard Young was rewarding, she said, and cemented an interest in helping people.
“We truly work as a team here so each patient has a good experience,” Rheault said.
As she says this, a colleague pulls a copy of Rheault’s resume off a printer and asks, “Applying for a job, Tracy?”
“Scared you, didn’t I?” Rheault says, with a smile.
Her colleagues can rest easy knowing the printed resume was not for a potential new employer but rather for a pesky writer who needed backround for a story about the March Gold ‘U’ winner.
In addition to juggling the activities within the section, Rheault’s interests revolve around her daughters, Taylor, 13, and Sydney, 10, who actively compete in dance, gymnastics and other athletic events. She also visits the gym as a stress reliever, has spent an hour on KAT 103 as a guest disc jockey and enjoys traveling with her husband, Dave, with whom she recently returned from a Jamaican resort.