All in a day's work

When a new patient called the front desk to set up a treatment planning appointment, receptionist Twila Bailey had no idea how things would turn out.

Gary Campbell lives in New Glasgow, 163 km away from Halifax. But, as he told Twila, he had heard good things about the Faculty of Dentistry clinic and wanted to come there to have his teeth looked after.

Twila took the time to talk to him and answer his questions as she made the appointment for him. Then, as January 5 drew near – the day of the appointment – she sent out a reminder and made a final call to confirm. It was all in day’s work, so Twila thought.

What she didn’t realise is that Mr. Campbell had called Cindy, one of Twila’s colleagues on the front desk, and told her that he was bringing in a cake to say thank you to Twila.

So on January 5, Twila was summoned from her lunch break to come down to the front desk where she met Gary Campbell for the first time and received his thank you cake.

She also had the opportunity to ask him an important question. “What did I do that was so special?”

Mr. Campbell replied that she “showed love on the phone and I noticed how you treat other people.”

“It was really nice to hear,” says Twila, but she is quick to say that looking after the patients who come to the clinic is very much a team effort between the students, staff and faculty. “In the end,” she says, “it is important to treat patients the way you want to be treated yourself.”