Hospital has its own jack of all trades

 
ennis Collins couldn’t help but laugh when asked about his extended career as a maintenance mechanic and plant operations employee at Mercy Medical Center-New Hampton.
“Well, I was born here,” he said, “and I always tell the story that when I was born, they slapped me, I liked it and never left.”
The reality is that he hasn’t spent his entire life as an employee of the hospital that is preparing to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding.
But he has spent 43 years working at Mercy, beginning when he was 16 years old when he took a part-time job to earn some extra money.
“My mom worked here, my aunt worked here and at the start, it was mostly mowing after school and working summers,” he said. “At 16, I didn’t expect to be here for 43 years, but what 16-year-old is looking that far ahead?”
— For more on this story, see the July 21 Tribune