Erica Messenger (left) always wanted to be a nurse. “Ever since I was a little girl,
I’ve wanted to help people and make a difference in their lives,” she says. And every day she walks into the Operating Room (OR) at UPMC Western Maryland and does just that.
As a professional staff nurse expert in the OR, Erica works as a circulator, which requires that she remain keenly aware of all aspects of the case at hand – equipment, surgeon’s needs, charting, and most importantly, the patient. She is the patient’s advocate. As she talks with each one before surgery, her compassion, knowledge and years of experience show. She clarifies expectations, answers questions, and – perhaps most importantly – reassures the patient she will remain with them throughout the procedure. “I always make that promise – we are going to take the best care of you that we can.” Erica is the kind of nurse you want on your side.
As a WMHS Foundation scholar from 2006–2008, Erica received a $4,000 per semester Employee Family Scholarship to pursue her RN at Allegany College of Maryland. Upon graduation, she came to work at UPMC Western Maryland to fulfill her two-year scholarship commitment, and she’s been here ever since. Ever improving, Erica recently attained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) as well.
Erica’s team performs four to five surgeries a day, in one of 14 operating suites keeping similar schedules. She’s also on call to the Emergency Room and – one of her favorite assignments – Labor and Delivery. Erica genuinely enjoys being a nurse and working with the OR staff. “I love my nurses,” she says. “When you need people to be
there for you, we come together.”
“We make a difference every day,” says Erica. And though most of her patients will not remember her after surgery and anesthesia, Erica says that she doesn’t need a pat on the back. It’s enough to know she and her team have fulfilled their promise.
Erica Messenger truly loves what she does. “I simply did not have the money to attend college,” she said. Because of your investment, Erica did not incur student loans for her schooling.
In 2006, Chris Cline (center) was a unit secretary at the hospital, married, with a young son. She had deliberately not chosen a nursing career, even though that was the path of her mother – Pam Kline served 50 years at UPMC Western Maryland. But as Chris worked closely with the hospital staff, her interest in the profession grew. Her coworkers recognized traits in her which would lead to excellence in caregiving. They encouraged her to consider nursing school, and she was selected to receive the coveted Nursing Excellence Scholarship, which covers all educational expenses plus two days educational leave per week. Those days off were key, she says. “I had a young family and was trying to make ends meet. Having the Foundation pay for my school
and cover my hours so I could cut back my time to study was a tremendous relief.”
In the intervening fifteen years, Chris has achieved her bachelor’s degree in nursing, added two sons to the family, and worked in several nursing leadership roles at UPMC WMD. For the last two years, she has been in the ICU, and quick math will tell you she was in that challenging arena during the COVID pandemic. Chris has earned the respect of her colleagues and enjoys her role as one of the senior nurses on her shift. She mentors the newer nurses (“the babies”) with care and pride. “We’re family,” she says. “We’re not only taking care of our patients – we’re taking care of each other.”
“You build relationships – you make an impact on people’s lives,” she added. There are
plenty of times they’ve all cried over the loss of a patient. But as much as she would
have liked a different outcome, she reminds her fellow nurses that there is nothing
they should have done differently. “As nurses, we love our patients and are there
for them and their families,” she says.
Pam Jenkins is a nurse leader in one of the most challenging and publicly scrutinized
areas of the hospital: the Emergency Department. Her calm, pleasant demeanor
reflects the heart of a woman whose mission is to serve those who come to us in crisis.
She is respectful, yet resilient and strong, with 28 years of experience in addressing
one challenge after another, frequently multiples at once.
Like Chris and Erica, Pam has experienced a variety of shifts and departments, grateful
for the flexibility a hospital nursing career provides. While her children were young,
she worked weekends as a critical care float nurse across the hospital. That experience
proved invaluable, while fitting her family’s needs perfectly.
In 2015, with 19 years as an RN, Pam also received the Foundation’s Nursing Excellence
Scholarship, to pursue her BSN. “I would not have gone back to school if the Foundation
had not helped me,” she says. “I was raising two kids and had a house payment and a
car payment. If I had needed to pay for it on my own, I wouldn’t have gone back, I can
pretty much guarantee it.”
Recently, Pam accepted the unit director position – not a route she had planned on, but
rather an opportunity where she felt she could contribute. Her goal now is “to make
things better so that the public feels secure coming here.” While striving to improve
the ED experience for patients and their families, she is not naïve to the challenges of
serving over 100 patients a day and supervising a 24/7 operation with 85 staff
members.
Recent improvements include an ED card checklist, to help patients navigate expectations and progress during their visit. Four new hospitality associates round within the department, answering questions and connecting with patients. Vertical care is another recent success – a process to help expedite assessment and treatment during peak patient arrival times. Although there is more work to be done, these new protocols have cut down significantly on patients who have left without being seen. “We’re going in the right direction,” Pam says.
“Sometimes it’s hard to understand why we take patients in the order we do, or why we have delays.” She recognizes that people may be fearful when coming to the ER, and that it can feel like “hurry up and wait.” But she reassures us that she and her team are working to provide a safe, healing experience.
“I want people to understand that the ER staff are people from your community. They live next to you and shop at the same grocery store. Their kids go to school here.” She pauses. “We are people just like you, who choose to do this to help those who are hurting.”
Erica, Chris and Pam are just three of the 600+ nurses at UPMC Western Maryland.
Together, the trio represents nearly 60 years’ experience and the care of over 750,000
patients. Erica’s patients may not remember her, but you can be grateful she was in
the room, advocating at the side of nearly 20,000 of them. Chris has taken care of
hundreds of the most critical patients in the hospital – working mostly at night, no less –
and will leave her mark in the legacy of the nurses she mentors every shift. And Pam has
accepted one of the biggest challenges in healthcare – here and everywhere – running
a timely, safe Emergency Department.
These are our heroes, and this is their legacy and ours. Truly, something to feel
good about!
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