Heather is an experienced nurse trained in ED Medicine who accomplishes quality, safe, and compassionate care of emergent patient conditions with calmness and competence. She helped launch and helps oversee two federal grant-funded clinical services in refugee and immigrant care. She coordinates care for newly-arrived refugees referred by the state and outside agencies, and triages complex cases to be seen in the clinic. She additionally serves the medical needs of survivors of torture, who have suffered unimaginable pain, both physically and mentally. She is a master multi-tasker both clinically and with her refugee projects, making a difference every day in clinic and in the Puget Sound region.

Central to the Medical Home is the idea that the nursing staff know the patient, their social and familial context, and how this is relevant to their care. Heather is the queen of the back-story. Whenever a patient is mentioned who has a clinical issue, it is Heather who provides the context. Work is toil if it cannot be done with a light heart as often as possible; kindness and humor are central to this. Heather brings to her work a general affability, positivity, and an ability to see the absurd, the ironic, or the humorous contradictions in day-to-day clinic life.