Morris Hospital IT Applications Specialist Thrives on Helping Others
August 12, 2022, Morris, IL – Nikki Jackson, of Seneca, was recently honored as Morris Hospital & Healthcare Centers’ Fire Starter of the Month for bringing excellence to the organization.
An Applications Specialist in the Information Technology department, Jackson has evolved into Morris Hospital’s intranet expert since joining the organization in 2010. It’s a role that enables her to interact with every department while continually building and maintaining an internal website that is a vital tool for everyone in the organization as they go about their daily work. It has been a perfect fit for someone like Jackson who thrives on helping others.
Having grown up down the street from Morris Hospital, it seems that Jackson was destined to work there. She spent the summer before graduating from college working as an intern in the hospital’s Human Resources department and then returned a year later for a position in Nursing Administration that involved working on patient care and nursing policies. During that role, Jackson became very familiar with the back-end of the hospital’s intranet, and she loved it. When an opportunity came along in 2013 for an IT Application Specialist focused specifically on the intranet, Jackson made the move.
“I enjoy being the person that everyone goes to for their intranet needs,” says Jackson. “I get to work with almost every department in the organization, both clinical and nonclinical, which is great because I’m very much a people person and enjoy helping people. It helps that I’ve been here a lot of years and know everyone. I can see where people are going with their requests and have a good feel for what they need.”
John Wilcox, Chief Information Officer at Morris Hospital & Healthcare Centers, praises the “breadth” in which Jackson delivers customer service.
“Nikki is so approachable, service oriented and effective,” said Wilcox. “She has a way of listening to the needs of her internal customers and working jointly with them to deliver what they need and want. That’s the high level of service we want to provide in IT, and Nikki makes it look so easy.”
Along with the important role of providing functionality for departments through iShare and access to computer systems for all employees, Wilcox says the worldwide Kronos outage that occurred at the end of 2021 further highlighted Jackson’s value to the organization.
“Nikki was able to build a temporary timekeeping system for us through iShare, something many organizations that were in the same situation weren’t able to replicate,” says Wilcox. “It really displayed what Nikki is able to do for our organization every day.”
Over the past 12 years, Jackson has contributed even beyond her job responsibilities. She serves on the hospital’s Wellness and Employee Relief committees, helps out at the annual Cornfest 5K run, and has volunteered alongside other employees at We Care mobile food pantry and fill-the-pantry events, in addition to serving meals to the homeless at St. Vincent’s Table.
“I’ve had good role models over the years,” says Jackson, referring to other hospital employees. “I watched them and thought, that looks fun, let’s try it. I also want to give back to my community, and I’ve been able to do that by volunteering through my hospital.”
In early civilizations, fire starters were individuals who had the important job of keeping the flame alive. With over 1,400 employees, Morris Hospital & Healthcare Centers is the largest employer in Grundy County.
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