Working at St. Anthony Hospital has brought both personal and career rewards to the life of Rebekah Jamison and some family members.

The surgical unit at St. Anthony is where she met her husband, Derek Jamison, a former nurse there for three years.

Now, the Jamison's are are expecting a baby boy, one who will be born at St. Anthony's Joyful Beginnings.

"Everybody's real nice," said Rebekah, a registered nurse serving for four years in the surgery unit at St. Anthony.

Because she is a surgery nurse, Jamison typically transports patients from the pre-op area before staying with them for the duration of their surgery.

"She brings patients to me in the recovery room," said Michele Jamison, Rebekah's mother-in-law, a registered nurse and the nurse manager of the post anesthesia care unit (PACU).

"She has worked in there when we've been in need. Last year she worked in our area for three months."

Michele and her husband Richard have been married for 29 years and have two other sons besides Derek. Drew, 24, is a member of the Army National Guard that served in Iraq from June 2006 until June 2007. He is also a new OSU graduate. Jay, 22, is a senior at OU.

Michele said the fact that St. Anthony Hospital is a family oriented place makes it a friendly environment for several members of families working at St. Anthony.

"You get to know people, but it is fun working with family members, too," Michele said.

Michele came to work at St. Anthony 30 years ago as a new graduate from OSU/OKC. She's stayed at St. Anthony through the years because it fulfills all aspects of a Christian based hospital.

"I believe in the mission," Michele said.

For 26 years, she worked in surgery before moving to the PACU. She had been working in the eye surgery area three years ago when St. Anthony began renovating the unit. A nurse was needed in the PACU.

"Those nurses came to me and asked me to come there and be their manager," Michele Jamison said.

Changes at St. Anthony have increased business, she said. In 2003, St. Anthony embarked on a 10-year strategic plan to invest $30 million in new surgical suites, $180 million in campus design redevelopment and landscaping, and $10 million for new Saints Medical Plaza.

"I think it's great," Michele said. "The image has changed and the area of the hospital itself. I think administration has done a really good job having changed our image."

She said PACU has an excellent group of coworkers. Many are long-term employees and the group is like an extended family, Michele said.

"We work as a team all the way," Michele said. "We've had a lot of new nurses come and go, but there's still a basic unit of nurse who have been there for several years."

PACU is receptive to help nursing school students learn more about nursing opportunities, Michele said.

"We treat them very well," she said. "There's a lot of requests for students to come into our area. They can learn a lot."

Rebekah said she enjoys working with the staff and physicians at St. Anthony. Helping patients through a surgical procedure is a reward in itself, said Rebekah, a nursing graduate of the OU Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.

She is also in graduate school at OU for nursing education.

"I'll be doing that also later on," Rebekah continued.

Rebekah said surgery is a good field for new nursing graduates to establish themselves.

"It's a really good place to go. You learn to deal with doctors and you have a lot of skills that you use as far as being a nurse in surgery," she said.