If you or a loved one ever have to have surgery or a procedure at a Cleveland Clinic facility, you can thank Mary McNamara and her team that the instruments were safe to use. Mary is a Sterile Processing Technician, and she and her fellow caregivers work every day to clean surgical instruments and make sure they are in proper working order. 

Mary has been with the Cleveland Clinic Sterile Processing Department for 15 years, starting at the Main Campus. In her current role, Mary travels to Cleveland Clinic surgery centers all over Northeast Ohio – Beachwood, Independence, Strongsville, Wooster, Lorain, Twinsburg – as the need dictates.  

“I fill in for technicians who are off, or if we’re busy on a particular day,” she says. “So, I get floated every day, depending on where people might be off or which facility has a high volume.” 

A job with many parts 

Sterile processing is one of those “behind the scenes” jobs that patients may not think about before a procedure, but it is an essential function. As Mary describes her team’s duties, and their attention to detail, you get a sense of just how important this function is to patient safety and to the overall surgical experience. 

“We assemble the surgical sets, and then we decontaminate all of the instruments after the surgeries,” she says in explaining her team’s overall role. 

Instruments are sterilized in an autoclave – a machine that exposes instruments to heat and steam pressure – and decontaminated in washers. Sterile Processing Technicians are also responsible for instrument assembly and distribution and making sure surgical carts are ready at the time of the procedure.

Their duties include checking the instruments for efficacy. “We test to make sure everything’s in working order,” Mary says. “So, for instance, we’re making sure the scissors are sharp enough, or that a screw isn’t missing from an instrument. If so, we pull it out of rotation and get new instruments in the set.” 

In the Independence endoscopy center, Mary focuses on cleaning and reprocessing of scopes, inspecting them for safety. “In that situation, we are cleaning the scopes and troubleshooting, making sure they don’t have leaks in them, and sending damaged scopes out for repair,” she notes.  

Answering a calling 

Like many who choose healthcare as a career, Mary’s experience as a patient led her to her current position. After being diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1997, “I sort of felt a calling, like I wanted to get into the medical field,” she says. 

During this time, Mary was also pregnant with her youngest child, a girl. “So, after my daughter was old enough, I started going to school at Cuyahoga Community College, through its sterile processing program,” Mary says. (Mary’s daughter now works at Cleveland Clinic as an electroencephalography technician.)  

Making a difference 

Having worked on Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus and now in the surgery centers for the past five years, Mary has adapted well in her chosen profession.   

“I enjoy different situations,” she says. “I can handle high-stress environments, as well as low-staff situations. Here in the surgery centers, most of us have been doing this for a few years, and that helps everybody to get along well.” 

What Mary appreciates most is the part she plays in patient care. “I think this is a very important job, and I like that I can impact the outcome of surgeries,” she says. “I’ve had some of these surgeries myself. I always want the best outcome for a patient because I’m a patient. My children have been patients. So, there’s satisfaction on my part that I can make a difference behind the scenes.” 

Mary’s manager, Bobbie Gaskins, is one of her biggest fans. “Mary is the very definition of dependable,” says Bobbie. “Mary brings her wealth of knowledge, calm demeanor, and can-do attitude to every shift. And her willingness to take on new challenges is inspiring.” 

As a long-time caregiver, Mary also serves as an ambassador, helping to spread the word about Cleveland Clinic as an employer. “Cleveland Clinic is a great place to work,” she says. “I’ve encouraged anybody who’s interested in the healthcare field. I’ve told nurse friends, I’ve told family members, including my daughter. And if it’s a young person looking to figure out what they want to do, I would definitely steer them toward what I’m doing.”