“My education from La Roche pushed my boundaries beyond nursing. It helped to prepare me for a leadership role."
- Lydia Kleinschnitz ’94
As senior director of imaging services at UPMC Presbyterian and Shadyside Hospitals, alumna Lydia Kleinschnitz has ensured quality patient care throughout the COVID-19 crisis in Pittsburgh.
Her responsibilities include overseeing budgets, managing staffing levels, and ensuring that supplies and imaging equipment such as CTs and MRIs are operating at high-quality levels.
“Initially the biggest challenge we faced was making staff and patients feel safe. We did this with a lot of communication, rounding, answering questions and frequent cleaning. We shared updates about COVID-19 as we received them—at one point, we had updates twice per day.”
While the pandemic has forced Ms. Kleinschnitz to conduct most meetings virtually, she said she continues to find her work rewarding.
“It’s rewarding to know that patients are still getting care safely and timely, and that our staff is happy. Seeing how our health care team at UPMC provided top-notch, innovative care makes me so proud.”
Ms. Kleinschnitz earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from La Roche in 1994. She later returned to college and earned her master’s degree in health care administration from Grantham University in 2012.
“My education from La Roche pushed my boundaries beyond nursing—it helped to prepare me for a leadership role,” she said.