Celebrating Our People – Meet Felicia

"I don’t have any problem talking with people,” said Felicia Hairston, communications operator at Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington, seriously understating her talents. 

“I just do a little bit of everything — whatever I can do to help a patient, that is what I do in this hospital. I’m just a very passionate person,” Felicia said.

Among her duties at the information desk she has staffed with a smile for the past two decades are helping visitors with patient room numbers, fielding phone calls with the hospital’s other operators, and even taking people to the various departments if they need assistance finding them.

“Whatever someone asks me to do, I’ll do it. But then there’s other things I’ll just do on my own, because it’s just my personality,” she said.

Felicia worked at a bank for 17 years, then spent 24 as a paraeducator and  paraprofessional at a Fayette County middle school. Her work at Saint Joseph Hospital began during the school summer breaks, then moved to full time once she retired from the school system. “Those two jobs — kids and hospital — has always been my passion,” she said.

Growing up in West Virginia at the eastern Kentucky border, she wanted to be a nurse, but instead got married. Her brother is an obstetrician/gynecologist and her mother is a nurse.

“I’m not a nurse but I’m here to do my job, to fulfill what I’ve always wanted to do,” Felicia said.

At the information desk, she often encounters people who are stressed, fearful  or anxious. “I try to comfort them. Sometimes you have to take a deep breath and you have to listen, listen. That is the key: You have to listen to them. And then listening to them, I can go from there and help them. And I will comfort them, I will hug them, I‘ll pray with them if I have to. That is how we were raised coming up in the Appalachian Mountains of Williamson, West Virginia, and Pike County.”

When Felicia worked in the middle school classrooms, while helping students, she made sure to work alongside them, to be an example. “My language arts skills and my math are the bomb,” she said. “I did everything they did. That’s how you get the rapport with your kids. They have to see you doing things.” 

She also coached the dance team and kept stats for the girls and boys basketball teams. Before she could work for the school district, she had to take a math class and then later earned her paraprofessional certificate through Bluegrass Community and Technical College. “I was the oldest one in class—and I did it online,” she said proudly.

Felicia also has worked in patient experience at Saint Joseph Hospital, and is a familiar face in Spirit activities. For two weeks prior to Christmas, you’ll find her wearing a different seasonal costume each day. When Easter rolls around, the information desk is staffed by the Easter Bunny.

Her life has been marked by tragedy—her only grandson, Berkley, was killed by gunfire at 17. She and her daughter, Alisia Hairston, have established Berkley’s It Really Does Matter charity in his honor and to benefit children impacted by gun violence. “What gives me comfort is knowing he’s in a better place. I know he’s looking on at everything we do,” Felicia said.

She is involved in Three Shades Pink, a fledgling business supporting breast cancer patients founded by her daughter, and named after three sisters (Felicia’s mother and two aunts).

Felicia, who will be 75 in June, also attends church and participates in water aerobics and other exercise. 

“I just try to keep myself busy. I’m not ready to retire yet. I really believe it’s because I love my job and I’m doing what I enjoy,” she said.

Humankindness works here. Learn more about careers at CHI Saint Joseph Health.