Spotlight on the Treasurer:  Laura Rizzo

Having a father who was a physician (retired in 1999), I knew that when I “grew up” that I wanted to pursue a healthcare career.  As many new college students, I changed my major during my freshman year.  I had initially planned to be a physical therapist, but the results of a career test at the University of Pittsburgh showed that my strengths were in analytical and organizational skills.  This test helped me to select Health Information Management (HIM) as a career—healthcare without direct patient care.   

I have worked at Lancaster General Hospital since my college graduation in 1982.   I can honestly say that I have never regretted my career or employer choice.  There have been many changes over the past 28 years, both in the profession and in my work place.  This has certainly made for a very interesting work life!

In addition to working at Lancaster General, I have been actively involved in CPHIMA and PHIMA.  I was also an adjunct faculty member in the Harrisburg Area Community College HIT Program (which sadly no longer exists) and taught ICD-9-CM and other HIM classes.  I really enjoy supporting students and currently serve on the advisory boards of the Pennsylvania College of Technology Health Information Management Program, the Lancaster County Career and Technology Center (LCCTC) Medical Administrative Assistant Program and the York Technical Institute (YTI) Medical Billing and Coding Program.  It has been gratifying to work with the other advisory board members and to make a difference in the lives of individuals pursuing HIM and related careers.

There are many things that I could say about my HIM career, but I thought it might be more interesting to share a little bit of personal information about me as well.    This week, I was asked to complete a “Getting to Know You” questionnaire for our Transcription Services newsletter.  Below are a few of the questions and answers.

What do you do on Fridays?   Fridays used to be sports nights when our girls, Alicia (21) and Natalie (19), were in high school.  Both cheered, so we went to a lot of football and basketball games.  Now that both of the girls are in college (Alicia is currently a senior nursing student at Temple and Natalie is a freshman athletic training student, also at Temple), Joe and I usually go out to eat or get take out dinner and relax watching Jeopardy and then a movie.

Define yourself in 3 words:   diplomatic, organized, optimistic

If you could have one human superpower, what would you choose?   I’ve never thought about it, but I think time traveling would be pretty cool.  It would be especially interesting to go back in time and meet ancestors.

Who do you admire most?   There are certainly a lot of famous people to be admired, but since I don’t know any of them personally, I would have to say that I most admire my mother.  She has a lot of admirable traits— intelligent, witty, non-judgmental, reserved, classy, caring, able to handle any situation in a calm, rational objective manner, etc, etc.   When I have a tough decision to make, I often say to myself “what would mom do?”  I also say to my daughters, “would Grandma do that?!” 

What do you do for fun?   I have quite a few interests.  If I had the time and money, I would do a lot more traveling.   My regular fun activities are Zumba classes and Cybex weight training at the gym, walking with friends (we have a 3 mile route that we do at least 4 times/week), watching Glee & Jeopardy, daily bedtime reading, and doing the Sunday News crossword puzzle.  I also enjoy singing and have sung in church choirs and for weddings and funerals.   I must confess that I also enjoy shopping, but am trying to cut back!

If you could pick anyone dead or alive to have lunch with, who would it be?   It would be wonderful to have lunch with my Grandma Smolko (paternal grandmother).  I was very close to Grandma and miss her every day.  She died n November 2004.  It would be great to catch up with her and to find out what it’s like to be in heaven!

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as PHIMA treasurer for the past four years.  I highly recommend “getting involved!”