Security officer at St. Jude creates community by learning names
A round glass plaque sits on Dennis Farmer’s nightstand to remind him of how he got to this point.
There is no list, study guide or flashcards.
“I don’t really know how I do it,” Farmer said as he scanned the lobby of the ALSAC building on the campus of St. Jude. “I just do my best to remember whenever they tell me what it is.”
He can’t believe how far the names – nearly 1,000 of them – have taken him.
A little more than four years ago, the security coordinator was driving a shuttle bus, transporting mental health patients from their home to the place where they could receive care. When that company went out of business, Farmer was in search of a job.
He was hired as a security officer by Allied Universal and was contracted to work in the ALSAC building at St. Jude, where the hospital’s fundraising and awareness organization operates.
There, Farmer understood the importance of learning someone’s name.
It was that understanding that made Farmer the first-ever non-employee to receive of the Spirit of ALSAC Award in 2016. That is the plaque that sits on his nightstand.
It was that accomplishment that later landed the former bus driver-turnedsecurity guard a full time job with St. Jude.
“I figured when I came here if I tried to do the best job I could do, that somewhere down the line something good would happen,” Farmer said. “I didn’t expect this much good to happen.”
As a security officer, Farmer said he was constantly being peppered with questions from ALSAC employees and fellow security officers. They wanted to know how he ended up working on the campus of St. Jude. Farmer saw it as fortunate, and perhaps fate.
“They said it was unusual for me to be here right away,” Farmer said. “Most people start in other places, but I guess for whatever reason they put me here right from the start.”
The questions were part of the reason Farmer began studying the ALSAC employees’ names. After all, it would be hard for anyone to miss Farmer between his trips up and down the elevator and multiple security rounds of the building during the day.
As he learned, people started to take notice of the deep voice from the tall security guard that greeted them every day as they entered the office.
“It’s about personal relationships,” Farmer said. “If I call Kelly by her name or Joe by his name, it shows that I care … It keeps everyone connected on more than a talking level, it makes people comfortable with each other.”
“Some of the employees are so focused that they don’t even notice that I’ve walked by,” Farmer said. “That’s telling me they are great employees, but it takes a connection to be successful.”
Now, each morning as ALSAC employees enter, Farmer greets them by name, with a smile. Not only because he is checking their badges – but because he wants to get their day off to a positive start.
“It is the extra effort it takes to learn someone’s name – several hundred names – that has endeared Dennis to all of us at ALSAC. Everyone who has the pleasure of meeting him, whether it’s at the elevator when they arrive for their shifts or during his daily security rounds, can attest that he is the living embodiment of the intangible St. Jude spirit,” said Richard Shadyac Jr., president and CEO of ALSAC.
If his voice plays any unifying role in helping the employees fundraise for St. Jude, he said he is satisfied. It doesn’t matter if he’s working security and not the phones.
Every one of his conversations begins the same way, with a name.
“I tell everyone here they are too good to me,” Farmer said. “To even be thought of in that manner. I’ve built the right relationships, where people can love and respect me, and I can love them right back.”