Career Reflections: Kriston Phillips
March 25, 2024
When visiting the Terrace Café, employees, patients and visitors have a good chance of meeting Kriston Phillips. She can be found working the cash register; always ready to offer a smile or strike up a friendly conversation as guests pay for their meals.
Like many employees of East Alabama Health, Kriston has made a career with the organization that spans decades. In fact, May 2024 will be her 25-year work anniversary.
What makes the job rewarding to her is getting to help make an impact on the people she encounters.
“I enjoy working with my coworkers, and I enjoy helping our customers,” Kriston said. “During lunch, we get a variety of people. We see patients, families and mostly employees, and you can start to feel like you are a bit of family because you see some of them often.”
Her time with the organization began in May 1999 as a filing clerk for the Radiology Department. During her training period, the organization realigned some positions, leading Kriston ultimately to the Terrace Café.
From working second-shift on the cook line to grilling food, Kriston has played a key role in feeding visitors, employees and patients alike for over two decades. For the past nine years, Kriston has worked as a second-shift cashier.
During her time as an employee, she has encountered many members of the East Alabama Health work-family. A member of that work-family who Kriston says has a big impact on her, and her career, was Eva Jointer.
“She was working here when I joined, and she and I became very close,” Kriston recalled. “She would go to bat for me, and she is actually the reason I got to be a cashier.”
Kriston’s dedication to serving those around her over the course of her career is a story that can be found throughout East Alabama Health, and is part of what makes the organization one of Forbes Best-In-State Employers.