For more information contact:

Mary Kay Grasmick
608-274-1820 (office)
608-575-7516 (Cell)

Wisconsin Hospital Association, Madison

John Hofer 715-735-4200, ext. 3116
Bay Area Medical Center

MADISON (May 1, 2005)------ Kate LaPierre, RN in the Intensive Care Unit at Bay Area Medical Center, has workdays filled with severe stress, heartbreak and triumph. She is honored to be a nurse because of those moments that co-workers, patients and their families share with her.

LaPierre joined 68 other hospital employees from across the state that were honored at the 2005 Wisconsin Health Care Employee Pride Program recognition dinner at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells.

The program, sponsored by the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA), is designed to celebrate the health care workforce and recognize their “truly amazing” contributions to the health of their communities, according to Wisconsin Hospital Association President Steve Brenton.

“People who work in hospitals are among Wisconsin’s most dedicated and valuable employees. It takes special people to care for others and our communities are richer, safer, and healthier places to live because of these professionals,” Brenton added. “We hope that by sharing their stories, others will be encouraged to choose a health occupation and career.”

Employees were asked to describe what led them to choose an occupation in health, and why they decided to work in a hospital. Hundreds of health care employees submitted essays. A committee at each health care facility selected the winning essay, and that person was honored at the recognition banquet on April 28.

The recognition program is co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Society of Healthcare Human Resources Administration, the Wisconsin Organization of Nurse Executives, and the Wisconsin Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society.

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Kate LaPierre’s Essay Follows:

For all the reasons someone may become a health care professional there is one reason I believe people stay in the profession. It is not what you may think; it is not to help people and to touch their lives. It is because as a health care professional people touch my life everyday.

My days at work are filled with moments of severe stress, heartbreak and triumph. It is in the sharing of these moments with my co-workers that gives me the professional satisfaction I have. We are a team in everything we do at our jobs but we have become more like a family in the sharing of these moments. We support each other through deaths of patients. We laugh together over the oddities we encounter throughout our day-to-day tasks.

Patients and families also share the moments of triumph as well as failure with us. It is not how I make a patient or family member feel or how I am able to ease their suffering and help them live a better life that keeps me in the health profession. It is the long lasting affect that the patients and families have on me that stays with me. As I care for my patients everyday, a connection occurs with each of them. Patients and families share their lives with me, they confide in me and they tell me wonderful stories. They also find laughter and humor in the most stressful of times. As I watch families go through grieving processes I am amazed and honored to be able to share in these moments. I have witnessed the amounts of compassion and love that we are capable of.

In health care the true reward is in the sharing of someone else’s life, which enriches your own.

Kate LaPierre, RN
Bay Area Medical Center, Marinette