Snapshots from Consultant Cathy Walley’s Virtual Office

Since I’ve never taken a selfie, here are my desk and trusty office mate, Dexter. My husband and I are in the midst of remodeling, so this is a bare bones temporary office – my second temp space in the past 9 months.  The pictures on the wall are favorites from past projects – the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which was across the street from my office when I worked for IBM; the Bay Bridge and Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco, where I spent most of 2018 and 2019, as a Change Management PM for the implementation of Epic at the SF Department of Public Health.

When I started with MPS, the pandemic had already begun, and everyone at the VA was working from home. Interesting note: only a few of my co-workers in the Acute Care Delivery & Acute Provider Councils, and other associated workgroups, turn their cameras on, so I have no idea what most of my colleagues look like. This is the first time that I’ve worked 100% from home. (My previous job involved travel, from Baltimore to San Francisco, every week for 16 months.) The challenge at first was getting access to everything I needed to do my job. After 3 months, I finally got my GFE, PIV Card and email address!! Then I had to figure out how to access the Cerner tools and learn how to use them to track build. One month later, I started orienting a new Council Administrator (CA) for the Provider Council, teaching him how to acquire and use the tools. Talk about See One, Do One, Teach One!

I spend my spare time cheering on my recently retired husband, as he shifts from accountant to handyman. My biggest task is pulling him away from cost analysis paralysis. I also enjoy virtual meetings with my two older grandchildren, who live in Pittsburgh, and the occasional visit with my 17-month-old granddaughter who lives nearby and is very smart and a lot of fun.

After the week we all just went through, and will continue to go through until Inauguration Day, my words of wisdom: Be kind to one another and let the healing begin.