As one of the newest nurse employees, Scott Catone looks forward to working with members, offering the empathy and support he’s always provided patients throughout his nearly 30-year career.
He also believes his own story of survival could offer members strength and encouragement as he helps them manage their health conditions and illnesses. In March 2020, as threat of COVID-19 infections kept Americans quarantined at home, Catone waited in a Dallas-area hospital for a heart transplant, which he received weeks later.
He shares his story because he knows it gives other people hope. The hospital recorded a video testimonial of Catone and his wife, which it plays on a TV screen.
“A patient at the hospital recognized me from the video and told me that they watch it all the time,” Catone says. “Nurses have to have empathy, but this experience has given me a different perspective.”
While successful, Catone’s transplant required him to reinvent his nursing career, which started in the early 1990s after he trained as a U.S. Army combat life saver during his Operation Desert Storm deployment. Anti-rejection medications suppress his immune system and increase his infection risk, preventing Catone from performing the direct patient care he was used to providing.
He joined BCBSOK after a fellow church member and clinical operations director for the company suggested Catone apply for a position that would allow him to make use of his nursing skills and work from home.
“If I can do something for other people, I’ll definitely try,” Catone says. “I still love helping people.”