MANSFIELD — OhioHealth Mansfield has felt like home for Patti Kastelic over the past 47 years.
But Kastelic closed the door to her office for the final time on Friday — after decades of treating patients and facilitating much of the growth the hospital has undergone over the years.
Kastelic’s history at OhioHealth Mansfield began the day she was born in one of the many rooms along the facility’s long hallways. Truly a hometown girl, Kastelic grew up here and graduated from Mansfield Senior High School – which is when she first started working at the hospital.
Retiring as the director of cancer services, infusion and imaging, for both the Mansfield and Shelby hospitals, Kastelic laughed as she reminisced on her years peeling potatoes as a teenager in the dietary department.
That job was no problem. Her parents instilled a strong work ethic into her and her siblings, so she never minded her humble beginning in the hospital.
While still working in the dietary department, Kastelic started nursing school through the Mansfield General Hospital School of Nursing. She then completed the three-year nursing program at Ohio University where she received her bachelor’s degree.
Kastelic oversaw healthcare for a research project in British Honduras for a year. Upon her return, she was invited to join the faculty of the nursing school – where she taught for several years.
Kastelic was later introduced to working with cancer patients after being invited to give chemotherapy at a Mansfield father-and-son practice that was just getting started.
What began as a way to “earn some extra money” soon grew to become a passion for Kastelic. The program blossomed so rapidly that a designated cancer unit was established.
“We had the ability to develop that program from the ground level, and what a great opportunity that was, because that’s when I took my true first leadership job as the manager of the unit,” Kastelic said.
“We were doing chemotherapy, radiation implants, providing all kinds of support services that we really knew that we needed, but we just had no coordinated effort to do it before … So it was just a really neat opportunity to be able to lay down the foundation for the cancer program here, ”
Kastelic was part of the group that launched “tumor board” – a collaborative team of physician specialists that meets once a week to discuss individualized plans for patients. Kastelic also became involved with various certification models and clinical trials to offer patients multiple options for care.
Kastelic was eventually asked to oversee the critical care unit which involved opening up a brand new open heart program in 1986.
In 2015 Kastelic accepted the role of director of cancer services after serving as the nursing director for 23 years. She also took over imaging, which is part of the position she is retiring from now.
“Through the years, oncology did become my passion,” Kastelic said. “It’s something that I’ve always stayed extremely connected to, not only working at it operationally, but also with my volunteer work and anything philanthropically that I have stayed connected to.”
That passion has only grown stronger since Kastelic lost both her mom and brother to cancer. Kastelic’s mom, Isabel Stuht, passed away about 15 years ago from metastatic breast cancer. More recently, her brother died from lung cancer five years ago.
Kastelic was able to play a role in both of their treatments at the hospital.
“It went more from a working passion to then a much more personal passion because my mother was diagnosed at the age of 82, and my brother was diagnosed at the age of 51, and died within a year or so,” Kastelic said. “He didn’t respond to anything we did for him. His cancer was just that aggressive.
“In some regards, it just makes you work just a little bit harder.”
Her hard work throughout the years has been recognized with countless awards – the American Cancer Society Nurse of Hope in 1985 and the ATHENA award in 2018.
Kastelic said while she appreciates the awards, her career has never been about gaining recognition. Everything she has done revolved around the patients and providing the best care possible.
“My mantra has always been ‘where is the patient?’ ” Kastelic explained. “Whatever we’re doing, it’s not about your preference, it’s not about the physician’s preference, but how does this fit for the patient?
“You know, if it’s a little bit of inconvenience to us, as providers or the physician, that should not be what’s driving us – it’s to never lose sight of how the patient is at the forefront of anything that we do.”
In between caring for patients at the hospital, Kastelic met her husband, John, the former chief financial officer at OhioHealthMansfield, almost 40 years ago.
Kastelic gave a presentation to the senior leadership team and received a note from John afterwards that said “great presentation, look forward to seeing where this project goes.”
John invited Kastelic to join the hospital bowling league and asked her to dinner after the season ended. Years later the couple held a baby shower for their daughter, Olivia, at the same bowling alley where their love story began.
Olivia is getting married July 16 – something Kastelic is looking forward to in her retirement.
Beyond her husband, who still volunteers in the hospital, Kastelic’s older sister, Liz DeHaan, is a senior infection prevention consultant for both the OhioHealth Mansfield and Shelby hospitals.
Kastelic said DeHaan is not following her into retirement any time soon and looks forward to continuing her career.
With so much history at the hospital, tears filled Kastelic’s eyes as she talked about how much she will miss the lifelong friends she has made over the years.
One of those friends is manager of nursing excellence Marsha Hoover. Hoover, who is also getting ready to retire, said she will miss Kastelic’s positivity and contagious laugh as both of them transition into a new chapter of life.
“I’ve worked with Patti for 40-plus years,” Hoover said.
“Her energy, her enthusiasm – it’s just her passion for her patients in healthcare … always wanting to put the patient first.”
While Kastelic might not be physically present in the hospital after Friday, she is leaving behind a legacy of inclusion, philanthropy and continued innovation.
Kastelic saw through the complete funding of a mobile mammography unit that will be used to serve the region soon, along with installing new CT and PET scanners.
“That was sort of my final hurrah,” Kastelic said.
“This mobile mammography unit will have the ability to just travel everywhere to take mammography screening to folks that need it, those who either can’t find the time to do it or have funding to do it.”
Kastelic is leaving behind a diversity and inclusion council that she started three years ago. Each month a topic is shared with the hospital staff to help foster an environment of learning and understanding.
The program includes trying the food from cultural holidays, having speakers come for Black History Month, increasing disability awareness through Project SEARCH or Pride Month. Kastelic said it has been rewarding to see the program grow.
“I am first generation from my parents here,” Kastelic said.
“My father was German, my mother was Mexican, so they came here to the United States with very little. When my sister and I actually started school, neither of us could speak English. Spanish is our first language.
“So that cultural sort of diversity thing, that’s always been, it’s been an interest of mine … and then several years ago, diversity and inclusion was on the radar for OhioHealth, and I was asked to join a team down in Columbus, where we were looking at what does that look like for Ohio Health. So I really had the honor and the privilege of being part of the team that created inclusion as part of our value system.”
Kastelic has also been active in the community as a volunteer. For the past 15 years Patti and John have gone into Richland Correctional Institution as ministry volunteers through Diocese Toledo.
Kastelic also serves as president of the Mansfield Cancer Foundation, a board member for the Pat Cracker Breast Cancer Fund and a voluntary guardian through probate court.
Gavin Baumgardner, the vice president of clinical affairs for both the Mansfield and Shelby hospitals, has worked with Kastelic for the last five years. Baumgardner said he looks forward to seeing what Kastelic will do to continue impacting the community.
“I guarantee she will do a lot of volunteering in the community,” Baumgardner said. “She won’t be a stranger, we’ll just see her in a different capacity.”
Many times Kastelic has felt overwhelmed in her multiple roles, but has always persevered – something she hopes inspires the next generation of healthcare providers.
Her inspiration, however, has come from her patients. As she looked over to an overflowing basket of letters from patients, friends and family, Kastelic said she feels so grateful to everyone who has played a role in her career.
Kastelic said she has worked to “see the face of God in all her patients” as a fellow nurse taught Kastelic when her career began.
No matter what the circumstances, Kastelic has never lost sight of her patients, because in the end, “nothing else matters.”
That perspective is something that has rubbed off on Baumgardner, who said he will miss Kastelic’s leadership and enduring positivity.
“She had a way of working through really difficult situations, making sure everybody was involved and engaged,” Baumgardner said.
“She was a go-to person for me for some really difficult projects and situations, so I’ll just miss seeing somebody who’s that positive and has that much of an impact on staff. But I’m also so happy for her to move onto her next phase.”
