Leadership for Life Alumni Newsletter

Spring 2004: Jimmie Butts Leads with both Passion and Humor — Lessons of Leadership from Alaska to Vermont

Everyone has a story to tell. CCL Foundations of Leadership alumna Jimmie Butts has many. In 1994, Jimmie retired from a successful nursing career at SAS Institute's healthcare facility in Cary, North Carolina, to travel the United States sharing good health and humor. She signed on with an agency that sent health care professionals on temporary assignments across the country.

In her book, Healthcare in the Trenches, she shares stories of her experiences in a variety of places, including a medical compound in Bethel, Alaska; a healthcare clinic for employees of a diesel engine company in Indiana; a cancer institute in Boston; a Choctaw Nation hospital in Talihina, Oklahoma; a family practice clinic in Rutland, Vermont; and an urgent care clinic in the mining town of Morenci, Arizona. "In the book, I wanted to tell stories of the art of nursing rather than the science of nursing."

On her first assignment in Bethel, Jimmie writes, "When I first arrived in Alaska, I did not see the beauty that is advertised in the travel brochures. There were no colorful totem poles, no exotic animals, no trees, and the population was sparse. The land appeared to be flat, and I might well have wondered whether I had arrived at the beginning of the earth's formation or at the end of the world."

Soon she saw the beauty of the land and its inhabitants. "The beauty becomes apparent in the sky, the cloud formations, the birds on the wing, and in the faces of the people. I loved the work. I loved the people — the natives and my co-workers."

Working mainly with the Yupik Tribe of Native Alaskans, Jimmie found humor expressed in their eyes. "They don't laugh out loud there. Even if they found something to be extremely funny, they would only simply smile. They refer to people from the lower 48 states as 'people of thunder' because we are so loud."

At the clinic in Columbus, Indiana, she performed physical exams on mostly men 40 years or older who had never been examined by a woman. "My biggest challenge was to make these men feel comfortable and to teach them how to improve or sustain their health."

When working with patients, she not only discussed physical maladies and preventive health measures, she asked them about their work, what they did and how they enjoyed it. In her book, she recalls a man describing his work at the diesel engine company as "throwing a rod all day." "I suggested he consider that he was helping to build a great diesel engine, to which he responded, 'Lady I have never even seen a diesel engine.' "

On assignment in Talihina, Oklahoma, Jimmie's work at the Choctaw Nation Hospital led her to write a humor column for Choc-talk, the hospital newsletter. She later presented her "Laugh for the Health of It" program, in which she told humorous stories that related to her co-workers at the hospital. "I've done this program all across the country. With this customized program I show the audience how laughter can enhance their personal lives, their work lives and improve their health."

At a breast cancer center in Boston, Jimmie wanted to learn how these patients and their families incorporated humor (or the lack of it) in dealing with this dreaded disease. While there she met a 45-year-old Portuguese woman who told fortunes. "She loved to tell my fortune and give me lucky numbers for the lottery. I always wondered why she never seemed to have much luck with numbers herself. In spite of her situation, she still found laughter and gave much love to those of us who were caring for her."

Throughout her travels, Jimmie has observed that people share similar needs no matter what their origin, culture or ethnic differences. "They have the same need for being heard, receiving affirmation and connecting with another who has their best interest at heart."

Jimmie's journey to Bethel began in a classroom at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL^®). While still working full time at SAS Institute, Jimmie was one of a handful of employees selected to attend a leadership development program at the Center. As a participant in the Foundations of Leadership Program, Jimmie discovered her leadership strengths were not in managing people, but leading and helping people discover their potential. "Being a good manager and leadership skills go hand in hand."

Jimmie returned to North Carolina, where she continues to be a leader in her profession and her community. She works part-time at SAS Institute's healthcare center, and volunteers her time as a nurse in the Encore Plus program, performing breast exams for uninsured women who need mammograms. She also is a docent at the North Carolina Museum of Art, where she loves to lead children and seniors to "feed their soul" as she feeds her own through the study of art and its place in history.