All in the family

PALMER — The Mat-Su Regional Medical Center named its clinical and nonclinical employees of the year recently, and for the second time in seven years, the honor belongs to a member of the Nelson family.

Ron Nelson, a CNA (Certified Nursing Attendant) on the hospital’s second floor, won the award back in 2009, and his daughter, Hailey followed in that tradition by earning the 2016 honor.

“I thought I was in trouble at first because I never get talked to by HR,” Hailey, an ICU (Intensive Care Unit) tech said. “Cathy (Babuscio) pulled me into her office and when she told me, I was just numb. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to drive home I was in such shock. But after a couple of days, it finally sunk in and I was really honored to be recommended by people in my department and in other areas of the hospital.”

As an ICU tech, part of Hailey’s job is watching cardiac rhythms of patients in the ICU, and Babuscio said one of the reasons she stood out for the honor was an episode in which her alertness helped saved the life of a patient.

“Hailey is an exceptional performer, always to work on time and she always goes the extra mile,” Babuscio said. “At one point, she saved the life of a patient. She watches monitors and noticed something funny in one patient’s heartbeat. That patient ended up coding, but they got him down to ICU very quickly.”

Ron Nelson began his career in the nursing field after spending considerable time in his younger days caring for an ailing loved one.

“I spent lots of time in hospital and seeing how people there worked,” Ron said. “And I enjoyed taking care of people.”

Ron tried to encourage his daughter to enter the field, but early on, she resisted.

“He was trying to push me into it my freshman and sophomore year, but I wanted nothing to do with it, but by the end of my junior year, I wanted to find out what I was going to do with my life,” Hailey said.

“I took a CAN class at tech school, fell in love with it, had a chance to go up to the ICU and that was it.”

Hayley said working in the hospital, in general, and the ICU, in particular, is rich with rewards.

“In the ICU you see people at their worst. It’s touch-and-go whether they’re going to make it or not,” she said. “But a couple weeks later you see them walk up stairs or be discharged from the hospital and it’s really rewarding to see all the time and effort everyone put in.”

It’s that reward that’s keeps Ron coming back year after year.

“They look at you, thank you and shake your hand,” Ron said. “I’ve told so many people, of all the jobs I had before, they were just jobs. This is my career, my calling, what I’m here for.”

As employee of the year, Hailey earns an all-expense paid trip to Nashville, Tennessee for a Community Health Systems conference where she’ll be joined by other employees of the year from the nationwide group.

She, and her guest — her sister Megan, who also works in at the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center as a unit secretary with the obstetrics department — will stay at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and will get to tour the Grand Old Opry.