I have worked in the Emergency Department for seven years. Heather is a beacon of positivity for her colleagues and patients. Heather’s father is a Veteran who receives his care here, and she always says her goal is to ‘care for patients like I want my father cared for.’ We recently took care of an elderly gentleman with dementia. The patient was very confused and would become easily agitated. While drawing labs and performing care, Heather put on old songs on her phone until she discovered a tune that this severely confused Veteran recognized. The two of them sang along as the patient happily and calmly received care. This story is just one small example of the things Heather does daily to maintain a happy workplace for her coworkers and patients.

Heather is the first nurse to dive into a complicated or difficult situation with compassion and over 20 years of expertise. She is the ‘go to’ person for hard IV starts, I think she can find a vein in the dark. Heather says she is the ‘head of the morale committee.’ She regularly plans events and celebrations for the department, not because she has to, but because she loves making people happy. Over the past year, Heather arranged for lunch and gifts for our managers, a ‘tropical theme day’ for an employee whose vacation was canceled due to COVID, and an ER ‘Fun Run” and an ER relay race at the Pettit Center. I wish I could provide statistics and metrics to quantify the difference Heather makes.