In health care, high-functioning teams often share several common traits, including a wide range of clinical expertise, clear communication skills, and psychological safety.
At the Pain Management Center, staff members take that to the next level. Here, therapists, psychiatrists, medical assistants, nurses, doctors, and administrative professionals come together to care for patients with a whole-body approach that addresses the physical, mental, and emotional components of chronic pain.
The unintended side effect is that people of vastly different walks of life work side by side under the same roof. Divisions of education, background, class, or title cease to exist within the team’s relationships. Doctors sing the praises of the recently hired mother of four who ushers patients from the waiting room to the infusion room. Students are referred to as “superheroes” by medical staff who’ve worked at the center for nearly 20 years.
Here, all aspects of healing are considered vital for recovery—laughter included. An elderly man with a sharp tongue and pain no one can physically see cracks a smile—his first in years—after a medical assistant makes a corny joke. But that joy didn’t just start during his appointment. It started at 5 am, when that MA chose to drive an extra hour from her home near Camp Williams to the Pain Management Center in Salt Lake City because the team there makes her feel like family.
Everyone who works at the center is treated with equal love and respect, proving that an investment in building and sustaining highly effective teams can lead directly to better patient outcomes.
–By Lauren McKinnon; Photos by Niki Chan Wylie
This story represents a small portion of the Pain Management Center team, which includes more than 35 staff members. Thanks to those pictured above and below, along with Bridger Bach, Matt Sommer, Jamie Sorenson, and everyone who contributed.
Follow a few team members on a normal day at the Pain Management Center.
When Stephanie Wade was just a baby, her father carried her during horse rides. She grew up to love caring for horses and people; during middle school, she eagerly helped hospice workers take care of her elderly grandmother. She also volunteered at the old Cottonwood Hospital in Murray—childhood experiences that led her to a career in health care.
As a clinical supervisor at the Pain Management Center, Wade (left) often turns the conversation to colleagues like Anya Clark (right), with a long list of compliments for everyone on her team—even those who only work a couple hours a week.
“I’ve worked in my department officially for almost 14 years,” Wade says. “When they hired me, I was hugely pregnant and working construction full-time. I quickly fell in love with the people and the work they were doing. It’s rewarding to see the physical therapists come in and visit patients that are absolutely hopeless. You can see life come back into the patient’s eyes. It is so rewarding that I drive 32 miles one way to work at this particular clinic, even though I live pretty close to South Jordan Health Center. I get so passionate about this place because it is my family.”
An anesthesiologist, Newaj Abdullah, MD, is praised for his attentive bedside manner. During his fellowship in chronic and interventional pain at the U, Abdullah was taken aback by the mountains and “Martian” landscape of the Southern Utah desert. So he chose to stay.
“I interviewed everywhere, from Duke to OSHU and Vanderbilt, but I decided to stay here,” Abdullah says. “Even though I don’t have any family members in Salt Lake City, I’m happy to be here, because they are my chosen family.”
“You can work at many different places and just feel like a person working there, but here, I can count on every single one of my colleagues,” Abdullah says. “We have this collaborative synergy that translates into better patient care and outcomes. When everybody comes together for the betterment of our patient, listening and validating that the pain is not in their head, it creates a trusting relationship. You go home and feel like you’ve done something good.”
An avid mountain biker and a psychologist at the Pain Management Center, Eric Yelsa, PhD, specializes in pain management through therapy and hypnotherapy. Currently recovering from his own mountain biking accident, he recommends not ignoring the muscle tension stored in the body from physical trauma. He is grateful to work at a multidisciplinary clinic that addresses the emotional and mental aspects of healing.
“The difference here is that it’s not just interventions and procedures,” Yelsa says. “It’s the psychologist, the therapist, the physical therapist... all elements of health are being addressed. They call it multidisciplinary treatment, and multidisciplinary treatments tend to have better outcomes. I wouldn’t want to do anything else. This is what I want to do.”
Mohammed Imran, a medical assistant at the Pain Management Center, has worked there for four years while finishing nursing school. When he first started his externship at the clinic, he couldn’t stick a needle for an IV. Now, as an MA, the team refers to him affectionately as a “vein vampire.” They also compliment his ability to meet patients where they are emotionally and elevate the rooms he walks into with a calm, comforting demeanor.
“I started during my externship in high school, and the people here are the reasons I’ve stayed,” Imran says. “It’s easy to get along with my coworkers. I try to match the patient’s moods. If they are having a bad day, which is most of the time, I don’t want to be energetic, I want to empathize with them. That provides them the space to be who they are.”
“Day to day, we show up for each other in ways that go far beyond job descriptions,” says Chris Lipscombe, clinical manager at the Pain Management Center and self-described office plant mom. "We communicate openly, help without being asked, and genuinely care about how we’re doing both at work and in life. No one is above pitching in, and every role is respected and appreciated for what it brings to the whole.”
“There’s a lot of trust, laughter, and understanding, especially on the harder days," Lipscombe says. “The physicians care deeply about the patients and the staff, and that compassion sets the tone for the entire clinic."
“It’s a safe space where people feel comfortable being themselves, asking questions, and supporting one another,” Lipscombe says. “We’re in it together, and you can feel that every single day.”
“At our core, we just want to take good care of people,” Lipscombe says. “Our main goal is to help patients feel heard, respected, and supported while navigating chronic pain—something that can be incredibly isolating and hard to swallow. We want patients to know they matter and that we truly care about their journey, not just their appointment.”