Community
Medical Center Nurses Bring Skill and Compassion to Volunteer Work, Locally and Abroad
Medical Center nurses bring a passion for helping and healing to work with them every day. But many of our nurses also bring those qualities along with their clinical skills into their communities, both locally and abroad, to help those in need. It is with great pride that we acknowledge some of the volunteer activities in which so many of our nurses participate every year:
- Jo Allen, RN, staff nurse, 3N, volunteers as a camp nurse.
- LaTonya Anderson, RN, Comer Operating Rooms, volunteers at a local community health fair.
- Sandra Armstrong, RN, nurse manager, 4SE/4SW, organizes and participates in her church's health fair and participates in an outreach program for young women called "Precious Rubies."
- Evelyn Banzon, RN, staff nurse, GOR Pre-Op/PACU, has gone on medical missions to the Philippines.
- Mariana Bole, RN, clinical nurse educator in Comer OR, chrochets and knits baby blankets and other items for cancer patients. She also volunteers in a soup kitchen.
- Laura Curatolo, RN, staff nurse, NICU/CTCU/MTCU, participated in a medical mission to Costa Rica.
- Manelita Dayon, RN, staff nurse, Comer Pre-Op/PACU, has gone on medical missions to the Philippines and volunteered in a local health fair.
- Laura Deniston, CRNA, nurse anesthetist, is a member of Operation Smile, a charity that helps repair cleft palates in children of third world countries.
- Sharon Feehan, NP, Sickle Cell Team, volunteers with Little By Little, a Chicago-based not-for-profit that delivers primary care in Haiti.
- Kathryn Fleckenstein, RN, staff nurse in the Pediatric ED, has been on numerous medical missions to Bolivia and Kenya.
- Mary Ann Flynn, RN, staff nurse, 6NE, is a volunteer with the American Diabetes Association and volunteers as a nurse in a children's day camp.
- Monica Gonzalez, RN, staff nurse, PICU/CICU, is preparing to provide sexual education talks to children in Catholic schools.
- Jamie Harrison, RN, nurse manager, Pediatric Sedation, is on the nursing team at her local church, is a member of the critical care team "Baby Hearts," and has been on a medical mission in the Dominican Republic.
- Judie Holleman, NP, Neurosurgery, volunteers as a school nurse.
- Alyssa Kirk, RN, staff nurse, Comer 6, co-lead a medical mission in Oaxaca, Mexico, and helps lead the medical fellowship at her church.
- Kathleen McDaniel, RN, staff nurse, PICU/CICU, is a girl scout leader, a boy scout adult volunteer and serves as a nurse at a girl scout camp.
- Julia Nebe, RN, staff nurse, PICU/CICU, participates in Operation Smile as a volunteer nurse.
- Anne Pohlman, CNS, clinical nurse specialist, is an emergency drug distribution coordinator for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
- Megan Preedin, RN, staff nurse, Comer 6, volunteers in health clinics in Mexico through Joni and Friends, an international disability center.
- Deborah Rousseau, RN, staff nurse, NICU/CTCU/MTCU, volunteers at the Will County Health Department.
- Alice Sarnowski, RN, staff nurse, Comer 6, is an adult hospice volunteer, a medical volunteer at the Chicago Marathon and provides local disaster assistance relief.
- Vanessa Sierra, CRNA, nurse anesthetist, volunteers for Catholic Charities and for Healing, Health and Hope.
- Josephine Silvestre, RN, nurse clinical trials, volunteers on the Illinois Nurse Volunteer Emergency Needs Team (INVENT).
- Colleen Tumino, RN, staff nurse, PICU/CICU, has been on medical missions to Ecuador with Project Perfect World.
- Maria Vasquez, RN, staff nurse, 6NE, participated in a medical mission to Guatemala through Latin American Medical Providers (LAMP).
- Mary Vavrek, RN, staff nurse, 5NE, volunteers in a high-needs school with low graduation and high teen pregnancy rates.
- Alesha Young, RN, staff nurse, 5SW, volunteers at West Cook YMCA.