Samir Sleiman| IT - Solutions Technician
36 Years with Confluence Health
Samir knows a thing or two about change. Resilient, adaptable, and constantly
progressing, Samir always took things in stride, be it political upheaval,
international moves, or the computer revolution.
Having grown up in Lebanon, Samir learned this adaptability early on as
he and his fellow elementary school classmates would let each other know
the daily changes to their walking route to avoid car bombs due to political
unrest. When the Lebanese Civil War broke out when he was 16, he made
plans to leave his home in the coastal city of Tripoli. As a young man
of 18, he moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and eventually
found himself adapting to a unique blending of cultures working far from
home as a native speaker of Arabic in a hospital specializing in western
medicine staffed mostly by Americans. Despite the culture shock, Samir
soon found his place working in admitting and, while there, met his wife
Debbie. After getting married, Samir again placed himself on a path of
change when he and Debbie decided to start again in her home country:
the United States.
After bouncing around – spending three months in Virginia, another
three in Phoenix – they found themselves in the Pacific Northwest,
close to Debbie’s family. Pregnant with their first child, their
daughter arrived while they were living in Wenatchee and was delivered
at Central Washington Hospital. Having an excellent experience while there,
and having both previously worked in healthcare, Samir and Debbie found
themselves applying, a decision that would lead them both to serve for
nearly four decades at the hospital that brought their daughter into the world.
But this wasn’t an end to the change in Samir’s life. After
first starting in admitting, he later transferred to outpatient ambulatory
care and then finally to information technology (IT). Previously only
a hobby, Samir took his love of tinkering with computers and transformed
it into a multi-decade career. Starting out with primitive machines running
MS-DOS, Samir witnessed the computing revolution, helping keep healthcare
delivery on the cutting edge of technology as it grew and expanded.
Adapting to yet another culture, integrating into new work norms in a new
language, and strengthening an international marriage were challenges.
At times, he struggled with his accent, the newness of it all, and a few
people who were less than welcoming to someone from a different background,
yet he nevertheless always had those who encouraged him to take the next
step, to keep speaking, to keep growing. And through it all, Samir kept
leaning into the change, adapting to each, as a network of friends, family,
and coworkers uplifted and made him feel welcome and a part of the team.
Now a father of two who proudly watches as his two daughters find their
own paths, he is still happy to play a role each day in providing top-quality
care in an ever-changing world, because he’s never been afraid to adapt.