In modern healthcare, information technology (IT) and medicine are deeply intertwined. From telehealth visits to simple documentation, almost every step in a patient’s treatment involves computers or other electronic devices in some capacity. That is why NorthShore Health Centers depends on a team of expert IT professionals to ensure there are no disruptions and that all their provider’s tools are working as intended.
Among those IT professionals are Yuri Curtis and Tiara Torres, two women who have established themselves as leaders and trusted advisors to NorthShore Health’s staff. Both were recently honored as NorthShore’s Employee of the Month, Curtis in May, and Torres in June, in recognition of their accomplishments.
“The people that I work with are the reason I come into work every day,” Curtis said. “Them being patient with me and understanding, knowing that we’re all working together for one goal always makes me get up in the morning thinking ‘let’s go, let’s do this, what’s our next adventure.’”
Curtis began working in IT directly out of high school, getting her start at a bank. Ever since then, she has put her job description into very simple terms.
“I’ve always, no matter which job I’ve worked, said that I want to be the bridge between people and technology,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to bridge that gap, and over the last couple of years, I’ve definitely been doing that. I actually do our new employee training, and when I meet with them, I emphasize that the biggest thing for me is to make sure that they’re comfortable.”
Before finding themselves at NorthShore, both women often found themselves fighting to build a space to thrive in the IT industry, a field where a strong majority of positions are held by males, and often seen as something of a boy’s club.
“I was on a college tour, planning to enter for computer engineering but when they hit the IT portion, and every class described to me seemed like things I enjoyed,” Torres said. “They told me ‘oh, these are for people who are into video games and are really nerdy.’ The way he said it was like he said, ‘that’s not what you are, so this probably isn’t the field for you.’”
Not one to be dissuaded, Torres began her studies and launched her successful career.
“What he said hit me kind of hard, so I don’t know if was trying to prove a point, but I said let me do this because it seemed more like me,” she said. “I saw it as something I could do for the rest of my life, and sure enough, I’ve been doing it for eight years now.”
Curtis went through similar experiences during her studies, always working against an unstated, but an ever-present assumption that she was not taking the career as seriously as the men around her.
“It’s kind of like a hazing process, I’d reach out for help on something and then get a half-answer or no answer at all,” she said. “But that’s helped me grow into who I am today and turned me into someone people can trust and rely on to do my job. I’ve built those skills by learning mostly on my own, using my own resources to find answers to my questions.”
IT is constantly evolving, and unique problems always find a way to reveal themselves. For Torres, adapting to the ever-changing industry and troubleshooting those new dilemmas is one of the best parts of the job.
“It’s always a surprise, this never gets old and that’s what I love about it,” she said. “No day ever has the same schedule, there’s always some surprise where you have to drop everything and go solve something else. It really keeps you on your toes.”
To learn more about NorthShore Health Centers, visit northshorehealth.org.
