Alumni Spotlight: Katie Cope
From Fitness Studio to the Frontline of COVID-19 Care
What does it feel like to be in charge of a hospital emergency room during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic?
For Katie (Standefer) Cope, ’08, manager of Emergency Services at St. David’s Medical Center, she considers it a privilege to be able to use her skills and training to care for the Austin community. Yet when it comes to battling COVID-19, she says, “it feels like the worst marathon I’ve never wanted to run.”
St. David’s Medical Center, the flagship hospital of St. David’s Healthcare, one of the largest health systems in Texas, is situated within walking distance of the UT Austin campus where Katie was once a carefree, yet diligent student. Now Katie oversees 81 healthcare employees, including nurses, nurse externs, paramedics and patient care technicians. Katie began her career at St. David’s in 2011, working in inpatient rehabilitation and brain and spinal cord injury. After two years she made the switch to Emergency Services and “got ‘voluntold’ into being a supervisor/charge nurse,” she says in jest.
Raised in McKinney, Texas, Katie moved to Austin in 2005 to pursue a degree in business administration. After earning her degree, Katie pivoted to earn a bachelor of science in nursing in fall 2010 at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. While attending UT, Katie found on campus employment with RecSports to help pay college expenses. She also found a way to learn career-transferrable skills while working for RecSports. She became a TeXercise instructor, personal trainer, Fitness & Wellness program assistant and interim program coordinator, and also worked for Sport Clubs.
Today as she manages staff who work with COVID-19 patients and those potentially infected with the disease, she has had to dramatically change the daily routine of Emergency Services and the way in which she does her job. She must maintain constant communication between hospital leadership and staff for the latest in COVID-19 information, ensure that every person entering the hospital is screened for the virus, ensure the safety of patients and staff alike, share case numbers across Travis County to health officials, report on the availability of PPE including N-95 masks and ICU/ventilator availability, and much more. All while managing a large diverse staff and making sure to set aside time to listen to them.
“Listening is a big one. The frontline nurses have so much to say and their perspectives are so valuable and unique; it can’t be garnered from anyone else. They are the heartbeat of the unit and above all else, my job is to listen and advocate for them,” she says.
Not surprisingly, Katie says she “absolutely” derived preparation for this lifesaving career while working for RecSports. “From teaching group fitness, I learned how to be comfortable and have confidence in front of a crowd. From personal training, how to make that one-on-one connection with people and how to really listen and help individuals meet their goals,” she notes.
“I was fortunate to have so many wonderful mentors at RecSports. Each one of them taught me different things,” she says. She recalls that her office was right across from one program director who was constantly visited by students concerned about work and non-work-related issues. Katie particularly noticed the large number of students who seemed to want to discuss non-work issues. “They knew it was a safe place to go because she (the program director) cared about them as a person. This made her employees loyal and want to do a good job for her,” she says.
Witnessing that the real key to employee loyalty is listening has helped Katie manage her 81-member staff at St. David’s Medical Center during this unprecedented time in modern U.S. history. And it’s made her job all that much more rewarding.
Home life for Katie is all about family. Her husband, Jacob, offers unconditional support and words of encouragement. On days off they enjoy time with their two-year-old daughter Cameron (a Mickey Mouse fan!) and infant daughter Callie, born March 14, 2020, just one day after the COVID-19 warning released by local, state and national officials. Their home is rounded off with two dogs and four goats! One day soon, post-COVID-19, Katie hopes to get back into the habit of running, just for fun!
