Assistant Vice President of Perioperative Services, AnMed of Anderson, South Carolina
By Matt Skoufalos
Vangie Dennis’ earliest memories of hospital nurses stem back to her days as a high-schooler. She remembers the smell of alcohol throughout the building, and the sight of their crisp, white uniforms. After entering the profession, first as an LPN and nursing assistant, Dennis quickly discovered the unplumbed depths of her interest in the field of health care, and dove in headfirst.
While earning her associate’s degree, Dennis was exposed to several areas of nursing, from hemodialysis to intensive care, and trained in OR duties on the job at a time when RNs staffed, circulated and scrubbed.
“I had three months training with a mentor,” Dennis said. “She said, ‘You’d better learn these instruments because you’re scrubbing in tomorrow.’ I went straight into the OR with on-the-job training.”
At Gwinnett Hospital, Dennis worked in a variety of service lines for about 25 years – endoscopy, sterile processing, interventional radiology – and decided eventually to move into management because she felt like she could make more of a difference in that environment by leveraging her understanding of staff experiences and needs. Again, Dennis returned to her educational pursuits, earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a master’s degree in nursing and health administration, while taking on escalating leadership roles in ambulatory service centers, hospitals and health clinics.
“The ride has been tremendous,” Dennis said, “but I felt like I was kissing babies and shaking hands. I was losing touch with what I’m hard-wired for, and that’s the perioperative practice.”
So, she became the executive director of a Level I trauma center and Level II hospital until it closed under financial duress. From there, Dennis was recruited to join AnMed as its assistant vice president of perioperative services, and she fell in love with the opportunity to bring her skills and experience to its campus.
“I don’t think God means for us to retire when your life becomes a purpose or a journey,” she said. “In periop, you’re the voice and the eyes and the ears of that patient. The field brought together that patient care aspect because it’s a full sequence of events: pre- and post-op, surgery, rounds. Being able to make a difference in that patient care is like no other service. You create a camaraderie with your team that’s unlike anything else; you are the only person with you that takes care of that one patient, and everything that impacts that patient.”
As she attained different leadership positions, Dennis also found her voice in the management role in communicating at scale, bridging different levels of her organization, the better to unify its vision. When she had grown comfortable doing that, she set her sights on institutional leadership within professional organizations like the Association of periOperative Nurses (AORN), American Association for Nursing Leadership (AONL), Laser Institute of America, AORN Specialty Assemblies, and the American Society for Lasers in Medicine and Surgery.
In addition to her work with those organizations, Dennis is an independent consultant and international lecturer on lasers and nursing practice. She also serves on the board of directors for Gwinnett Technical School, and as a committee representative for the American National Standards Institute.
“As an educator, I may have reached out to a couple of people; now in management, I reach out to 300-plus,” she said. “I believe that at this level, you become the barrier-buster to your team, and make them successful by being their voice.”
“I was really reluctant to put my toe in the water to run for national office at AORN, but I joined the leadership development committee, became the chair, and from there, got elected to the board of directors, and then treasurer,” Dennis said. “Today, I’m a recent past president, which was quite an honor. The journey has taken me all over the place, and it’s something I’ll never regret.”
In addition to helping shape initiatives around professional education, including forging institutional and curricular partnerships, AORN also turned its focus to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts during Dennis’ tenure as president. Her message to other nursing professionals, whether pursuing leadership roles or not, is to embrace lifelong learning and clear communication strategies.
“I think you have to have a passion to want to do this; it is a highly technical skill,” she said. “Don’t think you’re going to get into a routine, because it’ll never happen here. The transition of technology from robotics to orthopedics or general surgery is overwhelming. Have a passion for learning and don’t put it down.”
“For leadership, you have to have a love of people,” Dennis said. “With five generations in the workforce, we all think and act differently. Accountability with a heart is important as you try to understand what the individual is going through. Take a look at what’s going on, because what you think is somebody’s poison is somebody’s wine somewhere else. You have to have true love for helping them grow.”
When she’s not working, Dennis and her husband enjoy sailing on Lake Hartwell in their tritoon boat, and spending time with their three poodles. Their children are grown and married; the couple also perform community work, and travel when they can. She credits her current team of “nine excellent leaders” at AnMed with supporting her in the workplace so that she can enjoy her off-hours to the fullest.
