Coleen Rickey and a life of service<\/p>\n
For much of Coleen Rickey\u2019s professional career, every road has led back to Ascension St. Vincent\u2019s. It\u2019s where she first embraced servant leadership 25 years ago, and where she returned \u2013 for the third time \u2013 after walking alongside a sibling through a serious health event that redefined how she thinks about her career, her faith and showing up for people in their most vulnerable moments.<\/p>\n
Rickey first arrived at St. Vincent\u2019s Riverside after overseeing corporate wellness programs for NBC in New York City and the YMCA in Jacksonville. She took a coordinator role and provided the foundation for what would become the patient experience program.<\/p>\n
When St. Luke\u2019s Hospital became Ascension St. Vincent\u2019s Southside, she helped onboard an entire workforce in a single day. She rose through the organization, moved into ambulatory care and eventually joined the national office, traveling to Ascension ministries across the country to share what the Jacksonville team had developed.<\/p>\n
Then her brother needed a liver transplant. Rickey, one of 10 siblings, stepped away from her career to prepare as his donor. She spent four months completing 12 specialist evaluations while attending daily Mass to discern the decision. In 2023, after a successful transplant, God put it on her heart to do more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved my career. It was continuing to rise, and I thought that was what mattered,\u201d Rickey said. \u201cThen this life experience happened and I thought: What is important? Is it a big title? It was how I could help transform people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
That clarity brought her back to Ascension for a third time. As Ascension St. Vincent\u2019s Mobile Outreach Health Ministry Manager, Rickey now leads a team that sets up clinics at churches and schools across Jacksonville to serve residents who lack access to care. Through generous donations to Ascension St. Vincent\u2019s Foundation, the ministry treated 10,000 patients, filled about 3,500 prescriptions at no cost and delivered $2.7 million in value of care.<\/p>\n
She spends 60% of her time in the community alongside her team, bringing a lens shaped by two decades in patient experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always looking at it from the consumer experience, from the patient we\u2019re serving,\u201d Rickey said. \u201cThey don\u2019t know the jargon. They\u2019re thinking, \u2018I\u2019m scared.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That perspective drives a population health strategy to make sure clinics sit where the community needs them most.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe might take 100 blood pressures and they\u2019re all normal,\u201d Rickey said. \u201cThen number 101 comes in hypertensive with no medication. That person didn\u2019t even know. We can change the trajectory of their life.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year Rickey is building a strategy to grow the ministry\u2019s reach by at least 10%, with new grant-funded programming launching in the LIFTJAX corridor on Jacksonville\u2019s eastside.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was able to be there for my brother when he needed me most and wanted to find a way to do that on a daily basis,\u201d Rickey said. \u201cGod works in mysterious ways. Every time there\u2019s been a knock on my door, it\u2019s led me right where I\u2019m supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coleen Rickey and a life of service For much of Coleen Rickey\u2019s professional career, every road has led…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-218023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}