Sandra Velasco consistently shows compassion for all the patients she cares for as well as her teammates. Sandra has dealt with difficult patient situations in a way like no other I have seen. She takes the time to ensure her patients learn the necessary tools to care for themselves and she empowers them to overcome their traumatic events.

One of the most important things that Sandra does is to advocate for non-English speaking patients, and she does that beyond her home unit. She takes the time to challenge and educate her teammates on the importance of using an interpreter with every patient interaction as she knows this is often a major barrier to the patient's overall well-being.

Sandra recently spent time outside of her normal working hours to track down and communicate with a patient's family from a very small town in another country. When this patient left her home unit, she continued to help other members of the care team continue communication with family and even government officials to ensure proper care would be continued for this patient beyond his stay here at Atrium Health.

On any given day, Sandra is showing compassion for her teammates as well. If she knows a teammate is having a rough day, she tries to make it better. If she knows they have life challenges outside of work, she communicates with them to see how she can help. Recently, she coordinated a PTO donation drive for a fellow teammate and has helped secure other financial donations when needed. I can't summarize all the ways Sandra positively impacts her patients and teammates, but I see it almost daily. When I think of Atrium Health's mission to improve health, elevate hope, and advance healing - FOR ALL, Sandra truly lives this. She truly believes and shows through her actions that ALL deserve the best compassion and care from our team!