July 2023
Tammie
Kruse
,
LPN
Mental Health
Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center
Saginaw
,
MI
United States
When put in a difficult situation, she makes the choices that keep our veterans safe. She is such an outstanding nurse.
Tammie always goes above and beyond to make our nation's veterans feel welcome, safe, and at home when they come in for an appointment. She puts the veterans first in every way, all day, 5 days a week in our hospital's busiest clinic. She gets to work early, leaves late, and even has braved snow and ice storms to come to work to provide care to our nation's heroes when many other team members call in. I am a podiatrist in the hospital and one day I had a patient who needed to leave right away after his appointment because his caretaker was "off the clock". The veteran needed antibiotics, and I was told by the pharmacy the best they could do was overnight his medication because he could not stay. Being a Friday, the soonest he would receive the medication was Monday. Tammie called the pharmacy, went down to the window and picked up his medication then ran back to clinic so the veteran would not have to wait 3+ extra days before receiving his much-needed medication. Over and over, she has shown she is an outstanding leader and ALWAYS puts our veterans first. When put in a difficult situation, she makes the choices that keep our veterans safe. She is such an outstanding nurse. I am blessed to have her as a coworker and our veterans are blessed to see her smiling eyes (masks still required) when they come in. I could go on and on with more examples, but hopefully this is enough to recognize the outstanding service of Tammie Kruse!!!