Recruiter added staff to hospital in Sandusky

5/2/2002

HURON, Ohio - Sarajane Bartlett, a physician recruiter for the former Providence Hospital in Sandusky before it became part of Firelands Regional Medical Center, died of cancer Saturday in her home here. She was 43.

As the person in charge of physician recruiting and retention, Mrs. Bartlett was credited with bringing several previously unavailable medical specialties - including rheumatology, and open-heart and plastic surgery - to the Sandusky area, according to Mary Majoy, a former colleague who is Firelands' community outreach coordinator.

“She brought a lot of physicians into the area and worked hard to keep them here. She had great communications and people skills,” Mrs. Majoy said.

Mrs. Bartlett graduated as a licensed practical nurse from Providence's nursing school in 1979 and became a nurse in the 270-bed hospital's emergency room, her husband Derrick said.

At the same time, she attended night classes in Cleveland offered by Capital University, earning a bachelor's degree in communications in 1990.

“She really wanted to get her education. It was a busy time; she had two daughters to raise as well,” Mr. Bartlett said.

Mrs. Bartlett was Providence's education outreach coordinator, a position that involved a lot of public speaking and teaching classes in such subjects as baby sitting and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. She held the recruitment position for more than 10 years.

A Sandusky native, Mrs. Bartlett moved with her family to Connecticut when she was an infant. She was 7 when her family returned to Erie County and settled in Huron.

Her failing health forced her to quit her job in October, a month after the hospital merger.

Mrs. Bartlett was a co-founder and president of the Ohio Hospital Association Society for Physician Services.

Her memberships included the Hospital Services Representative Network, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and Firelands Positive People.

Surviving are her husband, Derrick, to whom she was married for 21 years; daughters, Jessica and Jamie; mother, Helen Link; twin sister, Val Jean Thaxton and sister, Julie Sanchez, and brothers, Joel and Mark Link.

Services will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow in St. Peter Catholic Church. The body will be at Foster Funeral Home after 2 p.m. today.

The family requests tributes to a nursing scholarship fund in Mrs. Bartlett's name at Huron High School, 710 West Cleveland Rd., Huron, Ohio, 44839.