Laurie Cain Retires After Almost Four Decades of Reading Doctors' Handwriting

When most people think of a doctor’s handwriting they think of “messy”. Stereotypically their handwriting is sometimes a challenge to read but for the last 37 years Laurie Cain has come to know the writing peculiarities of the dozens of doctors that have passed through North Country Hospital’s Health Information Management (HIM) during her years of working there.
“The doctors' handwriting hasn't gotten any better over the years,” Laurie laughed at her retirement party that was hosted by her colleagues in HIM on August 10th. “I can read most of their writing but sometimes I need some help.”
At the time of her retirement, Laurie was a coder, a position that she has held for as many years as she can remember. The most important element of her job is to transcribe the doctors' orders and diagnoses into codes that are then submitted into insurance companies for reimbursement.
Thinking back to April 22, 1970, her first day on the job, Laurie said that accepting the job was a big leap for her, having never before worked outside the home. Back then many people felt that a woman's place was in the home. Although she kept it no secret that she enjoyed being a wife and mother, she also wanted to work in the outside world.
“When I was at home I just felt like I was somebody's wife, somebody's mother, but when I went to work I felt like my own person.”
Laurie is one of a vanishing breed of North Country employees, the one who was there when the hospital opened its doors in January 1974. Most of these employees were previously employed by the Orleans County Memorial Hospital which was located on Highland Avenue in Newport. There are only a handful of these employees left at North Country.
Although she is looking forward to her retirement years, Laurie leaves the hospital with a heavy heart knowing that she is leaving behind almost 40 years of her life and an extended family. “These girls here are more like family than co-workers.”
Now the mother to two grown children, a grandmother to one grandchild with another one on the way, Laurie said she plans to spend more time with her husband, Bob, and use some of her free time volunteering her time in the community.

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