Pam Baumgartner is 43, divorced, with two kids—Kimberly, “Kimmy,” 24, a public relations assistant in Washington, DC, and Matt, 22, a senior biology major attending Penn State on an academic scholarship. Her friends call her Pam, but she wants everyone at work to call her Pamela because she likes to separate her work and personal lives. She’s smart, organized, efficient, and thorough but has little sense of humor and no sense of fashion.
Pam has lived in the area her whole life, just like her parents and their parents. She wanted to be a nurse, but instead she got married and had children right after high school. She and her husband divorced when their kids were young, and he’s left most of the child-rearing to Pam. After Rick left, Pam moved back in with her parents and, working as a waitress during the day and earning an associate’s degree in business at night. She took a job as a practice administrator because she figured it was as close to nursing as she was going to get.
Pam’s first job was with Dr. Henry Swanger, a GP and old family friend. Dr. Swanger was like a father to Pam and encouraged her to get her bachelor’s degree at his expense. She was the first person in her family to earn a bachelor’s. A few years before he retired, Dr. Swanger sold his practice to VMG. They saw how efficiently she was running his office and moved her to Dr. McCready’s office.
Pam liked Dr. M right away. He has old-fashioned values, just like Dr. Swanger, and always puts his patients first. Even though she likes him, Dr. M doesn’t run the most efficient office, and sometimes Pam disagrees with him about the best way to do things. She has started to see the benefit of having VMG around. When Dr. M questions procedures, she can just pass it off to VMG and avoid any confrontation.
Pam doesn’t know what to make of Dr. Andy. In some ways, he’s a lot like her son, Matt—bright, funny, and friendly. The rest of the office staff seem to like him, but he can make hurtful comments, and she doesn’t have a thick skin.
Pam feels like the mother to the rest of the office staff. They don’t stay long, and she feels like she’s constantly training. She would love to be able to hire office staff that stays, but VMG just doesn’t offer the salary and benefits to keep them. She eats alone and does Sudokos on her lunch break.
Some more notes about Pam:
- She struggles to pay her children’s school bills. She’s had to take out a few loans to put them through school.
- She drives a 1996 Honda Civic with 167,000 miles on it and a dent from a shopping cart in the driver’s side door.
- She lives on the same street as her parents and her two sisters and their families.