Melisa has been a figurehead for the forensic department. If it were not for Melisa, our department would not have flourished. In June of 2017, Mount Carmel West received its very own full-time forensic department. This department was the first of its kind and Melisa was just starting out as the coordinator. Melisa fought hard to get the department's name out there to all the unit staff and medical service teams at West. Not only did Melisa have to spread the word of a full-time forensic department, but she also had to keep up with her education. Melisa attended numerous conferences that year to bring back education and tools to the forensic department to better grow our team and services. Melisa has trained various emergency nurses in the art of forensic care when it comes to sexual assault survivors. Melisa has also spread forensic care awareness to EMT staff at a variety of local EMS stations.
After all the work Melisa put in for the forensic department at West, it did not go unnoticed. That first year, the forensic team saw close to three thousand patients. These patients received assistance for sexual assault, human trafficking, domestic violence, elder abuse, child abuse, felonious assault, trauma-related assault, and strangulation. After all the work that went into the West team, Melisa had to do her work all over again as the forensic department transitioned to Mount Carmel East in October of 2018. Mount Carmel would be lost without a forensic coordinator like her.