Meet Janice York: Warrior, Encourager, HOPE Legend
- HOPE Family Health
- 4 days ago
- 12 min read
By Liz Ferrell
Development & Community Outreach Specialist
Occasionally in the life of every organization an employee comes along whose name achieves legend status. At HOPE Family Health, Janice York has become such a legend. A Family Nurse Practitioner, Janice has worked at HOPE since 2013, serving most of those years as the provider at HOPE’s Westside Clinic, on Highway 52 in western Macon County. But she initially joined the HOPE Family in 2006.
Beginnings
Born and raised in Hartsville in neighboring Trousdale County, Janice married Lafayette native Clifton York, and they set up house in Lafayette. Soon Janice decided she wanted to pursue a career in healthcare.
“When I was in school, Jewell Allen, the mother of my best friend Sue Allen, was a Registered Nurse. She would have to work 24-hour shifts all the time because she didn’t have enough help,” Janice recalls.
“I had worked at Trousdale Medical Center as a ward clerk for the nurses, so I got to see a lot of stuff. I would think, ‘I really want to draw blood. I could do that,’ and that sort of thing. I just mentally began envisioning myself doing it. So I decided to go to nursing school so I could come back and help Jewell.”
Clifton’s job in the oil and gas industry required extensive travel, so when Janice decided to pursue nursing, she went to live with her parents in Hobbs, New Mexico, and attended nursing school there. After graduating in 1982, Janice joined Clifton in his travels until their son was born in 1983. The couple returned to settle in Lafayette, and Janice embarked on her new career.
Building Knowledge and Experience
Janice worked for four years at Trousdale Medical Center in Hartsville, then for the next five years taught the Licensed Practical Nursing program at the Red Boiling Springs campus of Tennessee Technology Center. But she missed working with patients, so she took a nursing position at Macon County General Hospital in Lafayette. Over the next 18 years Janice expanded her knowledge as she held different roles and took on increasing responsibilities.
“I did a lot of things on the floor,” she reflects. “I helped develop the school nursing program, and I also helped with the diabetes education program.”
Always looking for the next challenge, after nearly two decades at MCH, Janice returned to school to become a nurse practitioner, graduating in 2006 from Western Kentucky University. Shortly afterward Janice began working for HOPE Family Health.
Journey to HOPE
“I had always known about HOPE from working at Macon Community Hospital,” Janice says. “HOPE was always a part of the community, and Dennis Wolford, the hospital administrator, was on HOPE’s Board of Directors.”
In her first role at HOPE, Janice worked a Sunday afternoon shift alongside CEO Jenny Dittes, a Physician Assistant. But as a new NP working in a place that turned away no one, Janice felt ill-equipped to provide the level of care the job required.
“I was not strong enough to deal with all our uninsured patients and the help they needed,” she admits. “I didn’t feel like I had the knowledge and the experience to help them.”
Janice rejoined the staff at MCH and worked for five years alongside Dr. Philip Hunt before returning to HOPE in 2013. This time, she didn’t look back.
“I was more experienced this time, and felt better equipped to give the patients the medical treatment they needed and deserved,” says Janice. She grew into her job and gradually became comfortable both with HOPE’s small staff and with the patients falling through the cracks of the healthcare system who turned to HOPE for help.
“One of the best experiences I’ve had is working with Amanda Perry,” Janice says. “She is just so caring, confident and helpful – not only to her patients, but also to her staff. She mentored me, even though she was younger.”
Janice admits that at first, she found the idea of working with Amanda intimidating.
“She’d been working at HOPE awhile and I thought she was so much smarter than I was. I was always afraid of making a mistake and not doing something right!” Janice remembers. “But then she would come to me with questions: about home health, which I had done through my work with the hospital, or asking me how to direct-admit a patient to the hospital. So I began to see I had something to offer and that we could help each other. And together, Amanda and I helped HOPE develop a good working relationship with the providers at MCH.”
If Amanda was Janice’s mentor, nurse Karen Simons became her partner in fun.
“Amanda never was one for Halloween, parties, that kind of thing…but Karen was, and so was I!” Janice said. “So the first Halloween we all worked together, Karen and I got Amanda’s outfit and eventually talked her into wearing a fairy costume with a tutu. We were all fairies.”
Legacies
Janice soon became known for forging strong connections with patients. She advocates fiercely for them with other providers, with insurance companies, and sometimes with the patients themselves, if she feels they need to be more proactive in taking charge of their health.
“You treat your friends and family when you live in a rural community,” Janice says. “I’ve had several patients that I’ve cried with, argued with, prayed with, that I’ve grown close to. And some patients require tears, arguments and prayer."
“A patient came in one day complaining of episodes of passing out for no reason,” Janice recalls. “I put a holter monitor on him – a cardiac monitor – and sent him on his way. About 15 minutes later the company called and said he was having 10-second runs of asystole; in other words, he was flatlining. I called him back and said, ‘You have to go to the ER right now!’ He didn’t want to go, but he did, and they put a pacemaker in him.”
“Two weeks later he walked into the clinic and sat down by the door, and he was gray. We rushed him into an exam room and found he had pus running out from an infection where his pacemaker had been put in,” Janice says. “I told him he had to go back to the ER, and he didn’t want to, but I told him he didn’t have a choice. So he went. When he came in two weeks later he was doing very well. He survived, and he was my patient until he passed away with COVID in 2023.”
"He was one of the ones that required tears, arguments, and prayer," she adds.
HOPE has continued to grow, especially in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked its havoc. Today HOPE has nearly 100 employees and, in addition to primary medical care, also offers behavioral healthcare, an onsite pharmacy, Xray and mammography imaging, medication management, chronic care management, and more. In 2023 HOPE added a third location in Gallatin; in 2024, HOPE purchased a mobile health unit that currently provides behavioral health services to Portland, Lafayette and Hartsville, where HOPE does not otherwise have a physical presence. Recently HOPE entered a new era with the departure of its founder and former CEO Jenny Dittes, and the arrival of new CEO Lauren Smith.
Poised for growth, HOPE’s administrative team continues to look for ways to provide more healthcare services to more people so that it is affordable and accessible to everyone in HOPE’s service area. Janice agrees wholeheartedly with this approach.
“Keeping on a path of expanding the services we offer, offering more to more people, is one of the most important things HOPE is doing right now,” she says.
When asked what she values most about working at HOPE, Janice does not think twice.
“It’s the people,” she says. “Not only the staff, but also the patients. That’s my biggest thing.” She also likes the work schedule at HOPE and the atmosphere. “You don’t have someone standing over your shoulder,” she said. “If you do your job, you’ll do well. But you’ve got to be dependable and do what you’re supposed to do.”
As much as Janice loves HOPE and believes in its mission, she does not want its staff to become complacent about patient care. She feels HOPE must keep a careful eye to cost and availability of services.
“I realize fees have to go up sometimes, but I think one of the best things we can do for our patients is to try to keep our self-pay prices as low as possible,” she says “I would also like to see HOPE offer more specialist services so our uninsured patients can see a specialist and still have a sliding fee scale discount. Sometimes it’s difficult for our self-pay patients to get in to see a specialist because it costs so much. I’d like to see if we can get more specialists in the area to come to HOPE facilities.”
Janice also encourages HOPE’s staff, particularly its clinical staff, to give beyond what their job requires.
“I’d like to see our staff fully invest in HOPE, not necessarily with money, but in going beyond
their abilities and their jobs, in the way they care for people – not only for our patients, but for each other, too,” Janice says. “Look past how they look or act, or how loud they talk, because these surface things can give a wrong impression. A lot of times when you really get to know a person you’ll learn more about what they’re going through outside of work and you’ll understand them better.”
Finally, Janice also shared some words of wisdom for HOPE’s patients and supporters.
“I have been very blessed in that I haven’t experienced a lot of health issues, especially more routine things,” Janice shares. “But when I came to HOPE I had just developed trigeminal neuralgia – a very painful chronic illness that impacts one side of the face. Eventually, after about 12 years, I decided to have surgery, because the pain had become almost unbearable and was really taking away from my quality of life. It was not an easy surgery; it involved going into my skull. It was scary, and very painful. But I did it.”
“What I want to tell people is this: if you realize you are developing a health condition, don’t be afraid to face it! Whether it’s serious or minor, the sooner you address it, the less impact it will have on your life and health, and the easier it will be to treat,” she says. “If you can’t prevent it you may be able to minimize it or at least control it. And if you know there are things you can do and should be doing to stay healthy, then do them!”
“I would like people to know that HOPE is the place that cares not only for your physical and mental health, but also for your family, and for who you are as a person,” she concludes. “I hope every one of our patients knows that at HOPE, we don’t just care for you, we really do care about you.”
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A Word about Janice…
Colleagues Share their Janice Stories
At HOPE’s October Org Day, the HOPE staff celebrated Janice York on the occasion of her retirement and honored her for her years of service to HOPE and its patients.
The epitome of the phrase “force of nature,” Janice does not leave anyone in doubt as to where they stand with her or what she thinks (about anything, really). She loves and instinctively nurtures her family, friends, colleagues and patients with fierce devotion. As funny as she can be imposing, Janice loves to laugh and is the first to laugh at herself.
So when the floor opened up for her colleagues to reflect on their experiences working with Janice, a long line of people stepped up, and they didn’t hold back any more than she would have. Here are the things they shared about her.
When Janice is being Janice, it’s always good for a laugh.
Janice has a certain “ride or die” quality that makes her a top choice to be on your side in a bar fight, and that aspect of her personality has turned many an outing into more of an adventure than was originally anticipated.
Jessi Gregory shared what it was like being trapped in an escape room with Janice.
Brooklyn Smith said she will miss Janice’s glare when she’s stressed out.
“People know I’m a little headstrong,” Jennifer Newberry said, “but Janice is more! We’ve butted heads.” Jennifer recalled once hanging up on Janice. “She was talking loud so I hung up on her. She called me right back and said, ‘I’m not yelling! I need you to listen to me!’” Janice has also been the provider of choice for Jennifer’s family, and for good reason. In treating Jennifer’s mother, Janice once caught something two other providers had missed: both arteries in her neck were blocked. Janice’s personal knowledge of her patient’s medical history saved her life.
Miranda Gooch told about the night Janice paid her a surprise visit after leaving dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Knowing Miranda loves sushi, and knowing she would drive past the home where Miranda and Brandon, her law enforcement husband live, Janice decided to surprise Miranda with a gift of sushi. “We rarely have company,” Miranda said, “And never after 8 o’clock at night. So when we heard the knock on the door, Brandon went into instant cop mode.” Brandon, who cuts an imposing figure even when he doesn’t mean to, opened the door and saw a woman he did not know holding something behind her back. Janice, oblivious and undeterred, pushed past him calling to Miranda: “I brought you some sushi!”
“I tell this story to say, Janice loves doing things for people," Miranda said. "And once
she’s made up her mind to do it, she’s just going to do it.”
Jenny Dittes recalled HOPE’s staff cheering Janice on when she was in a beauty
pageant competing to become Mrs. Senior Macon County. “We cheered and threw dollar bills at her.” Sure enough, Janice took the crown, and at the next Org Day she brought every employee a tiara and explained that everyone is beautiful and proclaimed that “all the women of HOPE are princesses and all the men are kings.”
Janice is an encourager.
Amanda Perry reminisced about working alongside Janice during HOPE’s early days and watching her steadfast support for patients in the face of her own personal loss.
Tammy Nichols talked about seeing in her everyday actions the extent to which Janice sacrifices for others.
Stephanie Tarpey, a cancer survivor, shared that without Janice and Amanda insisting that she go to a doctor to address her symptoms, she would not be alive today.
Lindsey Watson said Janice initially intimidated her, but her kindness and big heart soon put Lindsey at ease.
Nikko Lane shared how Janice made him feel seen. “She saw things in me,” he said, saying Janice had intuitively understood his needs as father to a young, growing family.
“She is real, and she is honest,” said Shawna Farley, “She reminds me of me, and I love her. Thank you for being the person and the provider you are, Janice.”
Janice is an effective mentor.
Kristen Kovach talked about how much she had learned as a precept under Janice.
Shelly Cole said Janice helped her understand the importance of boundaries. “Thank you for giving me the ok to tell my patient, ‘No, we’re not doing it like that today. We’re going to do it my way, and it will work.’”
Nedra Bowman, who has known Janice most of her life, recalled how Janice mentored her when they worked together at Macon Community Hospital, and helped her through a difficult time in her life.
Having watched Janice treat an endless stream of patients over the years, Amy Parker said she has never seen a provider that knows her patients the way Janice knows hers. “Janice, if I can be half the provider you are, I’ll be good,” she said.
Janice deserves to take it easy and have some fun.
Alethia Goss, who has known Janice since growing up and attending school with Janice’s son, expressed her love for Janice. “She deserves a great life in retirement,” said Alethia.
Kaleigh Chitwood noted that when she began working at HOPE, people would say to her, “Oh, that’s where Janice works!” Kaleigh added, “We don’t necessarily do what we do to reap rewards, but I hope you reap rewards.”
Jenny gets the next to last word.
“Janice’s word is grit, meaning strength and the ability to keep going,” outgoing CEO Jenny Dittes said. “Janice, there’s a certain expression you get on your face when you’re going through a hard time. But whether it was heartache or a painful physical condition, you’ve never stopped. You just keep on doing what you do best, taking care of people, laughing, smiling, showing up. You never give up.”
Jenny recalled Janice coming to work for HOPE around 2006 or 2007, shortly after they graduated from the double-wide trailer, but before Amanda Perry had come on board.
“I was burned out,” Jenny recalled. “Janice came in and she was a breath of fresh air. … You’ll know if Janice is upset with you. There’s no gray area. She’ll tell a patient how it is. She won’t let a patient sabotage themselves, and they will respect her because they know it comes from a good heart. She has always shown love to her patients, and they love her in return – and I’m talking up to tens of thousands of people.”
“There’s no better legacy than the legacy Janice has built,” Jenny concluded. “She has always gone above and beyond.”
Janice gets the last word.
Finally, Janice took her turn. True to character, she firmly called for HOPE’s staff to give their all to everything they undertake, especially when it comes to patient care.
“Going beyond is important,” she said. “The more you know, the more valuable you are, not just for patients, but for HOPE. Be honest with others. Be honest with yourself. Do that little bit beyond. You will never know the difference it will make in your life.
“I don’t like escape rooms or decorating sugar cookies,” she joked, “but I love HOPE and what it stands for. I want HOPE to succeed. And I love each and every one of you.”
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