I’m proud to say that my mother, Ruth Cummings, was a Cleveland Clinic employee for nearly 30 years.

She and two other women — Betty and Peggy — handled the phones on the central appointment desk. They were perpetually busy helping callers who were seeking advice or looking for guidance about which doctors to see. 

Mom always remembered the people she scheduled for appointments. When they came in, she would greet them personally. I still have some of her notes and a book that she kept from when she learned medical terminology. 

She stopped working when my father was in poor health with heart problems. He, too, was a patient for years. 

When my mother left, many patients were so upset that they called her at home to make their appointments. Our phone was always ringing. Mom in turn would check with Cleveland Clinic and then call the patients back. After several months, my brother and I told her we thought it best to wean these people off their dependency on her. She was so caring. 

In return, Cleveland Clinic was wonderful to her, especially in her later years. And all those people in our extended family never forgot how Mom made sure they got to the right doctors who could help them. 

 

Eileen Kaplan has been a Cleveland Clinic patient herself for more than 70 years. 

A sepia print of three woman answering phones at a call station

Ruth Cummings, center, takes yet another call at Cleveland Clinic’s central appointment desk. | Photo: Cleveland Clinic Archives