I am writing this nomination for Josh Weil, RN, who has served as a MAT RN since May 2023. Josh came to the Memphis VA with a wealth of information about substance use treatment as the prior Overdose Prevention Coordinator for Shelby County. Since being here, he has demonstrated a wealth of knowledge not only of the pathophysiology, genetics, and neurobiology of addiction, which he shared with staff during a Grand Rounds Presentation but in my opinion, more importantly, Josh has demonstrated extraordinary compassion for our patients.

These patients are often stigmatized and treated as "less than" due to their disease of addiction. Josh sees every patient as a valuable human being and a member of society. This is evident in how he compassionately will reach out to veterans who may benefit from our services in a non-accusatory, non-confrontational way. In the past, I was nervous to have staff other than myself contact and interact so much with patients since their struggles with addiction can come with challenges. However, Josh has been able to connect with each and every veteran in our program to the point that now, veterans regularly call his extension for support and advice, not just to reschedule their appointments.

Josh does it all for the MAT clinic, from helping organize the schedule and patient flow, checking in patients, getting vitals, and collecting a witnessed urine drug screen, which can make any patient uncomfortable, yet Josh puts our patients at ease. Not only that, but recently, Josh acted as my right hand during an in-hospital buprenorphine induction for a patient with opioid withdrawal. Josh was able to use the Clinical Opioid Withdrawal Scale to assess that the patient was in severe opioid withdrawal from heroin. With Josh's expertise and ability to put the patient at ease, I was able to successfully order a protocol to start the patient on treatment for opioid use disorder. Not only that, but despite a scheduling error, the patient showed up to the clinic for follow-up after hospital discharge, and I am confident it was because he was treated with respect and dignity by Josh. While I am personally grateful to Josh daily for making the MAT clinic run smoothly, more importantly, I can trust that the patients are well taken care of and that Josh is reinforcing messages supportive of recovery with every patient interaction.