For the past seven decades there’s only one thing Elena Griffing could see herself doing, helping make the lives of sick people better at Sutter Health's Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley.“I just can’t imagine me not getting up and going to work,” Griffing said. “Every day is another story, every day is another adventure, and it’s awesome, it’s awesome to have a job like that.”Now 90 years old, Griffing is showing no signs of slowing down.“I feel like I’m 20 so I don’t even know what if feels like being 90,” she said. “I’m just much too happy and very active and sociable.”Griffing first started in 1946 when she was just 19 years old working in the hospital’s laboratory. She later worked as an endocrinologist then spent 22 years in the burn center. She’s spent her past 12 years as a patient relations representative helping patients feel comfortable at the hospital.“My main job is that when people lose things like their dentures or hearing aids or clothes, I go and search and find them, hopefully find them” Griffing said.Griffing is known for her brisk pace and active lifestyle, and of course her high heels.“It makes you stand up straight and you can’t slouch in heels, and it makes you stand up straight and it helps your back and it helps your posture,” she said.Sutter Health honored her longevity Wednesday, 70 years on the job, in front of 1,600 other, newer employees at the Sacramento Convention Center.“I’m just so lucky that they don’t have a mandatory retirement age,” Griffing said.

For the past seven decades there’s only one thing Elena Griffing could see herself doing, helping make the lives of sick people better at Sutter Health's Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley.

“I just can’t imagine me not getting up and going to work,” Griffing said. “Every day is another story, every day is another adventure, and it’s awesome, it’s awesome to have a job like that.”


Now 90 years old, Griffing is showing no signs of slowing down.

“I feel like I’m 20 so I don’t even know what if feels like being 90,” she said. “I’m just much too happy and very active and sociable.”

Griffing first started in 1946 when she was just 19 years old working in the hospital’s laboratory. She later worked as an endocrinologist then spent 22 years in the burn center. She’s spent her past 12 years as a patient relations representative helping patients feel comfortable at the hospital.

“My main job is that when people lose things like their dentures or hearing aids or clothes, I go and search and find them, hopefully find them” Griffing said.

Griffing is known for her brisk pace and active lifestyle, and of course her high heels.

“It makes you stand up straight and you can’t slouch in heels, and it makes you stand up straight and it helps your back and it helps your posture,” she said.

Sutter Health honored her longevity Wednesday, 70 years on the job, in front of 1,600 other, newer employees at the Sacramento Convention Center.

“I’m just so lucky that they don’t have a mandatory retirement age,” Griffing said.