Northwest Health - La Porte and Northwest Health - Starke Honor Exceptional Team Members

2/16/2022

Northwest Health – La Porte and Northwest Health - Starke have announced their Team Members of the Year, honoring individuals who were nominated by their peers for their outstanding performance and exemplary service. Keith Nichols, Chief Executive Officer for Northwest Health - La Porte and Northwest Health – Starke, said this annual process has become a special tradition and a component of its efforts to celebrate caregivers and reinforce their top priority: delivering quality care and a great experience for each patient.

“Every year we gather input from team members throughout the organization to select the Team Members of the Year. Our team is the heart of our hospitals; it is because of their dedication and expertise that our hospitals are known for our compassionate, quality care.” said Nichols. “Each of these honorees stand out in a special way. We’re fortunate to have them in the Northwest Health family.”

The outstanding team members are:

Charlotte Schrader, RN – Team Member of the Year, Northwest Health - La Porte
Schrader, is a nurse in the Case Management department at Northwest Health - La Porte. She is widely known for treating patients as if they were her own family. She is involved with assessing patients upon admission, helping to coordinate their care while they are patients and then helping them and their family members with discharge planning. Other nurses and physicians on the medical staff describe her as extremely attentive to detail and patients who have been under her care in the past have been known to request Schrader as their case manager.

Sandy Howard, RN – Team Member of the Year, Northwest Health - Starke
Howard is a nurse on the Medical/Surgical unit where she cares for hospitalized patients and also cares for patients in the Infusion Center Northwest Health – Starke. She’s served at the hospital for 24 years, consistently providing exceptional, personalized care for her patients. Known as an effective patient advocate, she respectfully and professionally ensures her patient’s needs are met. Patients are often grateful for the special touches she provides such as helping patients shave, comb their hair, and taking extra time to listen and explain their plan of care. Just as impressive, Sandy advocates for her teammates. This past year in particular Sandy, normally a day shift nurse, has come in and picked up on all shifts, even nights, to ensure her teammates are supported.

Shannon Trusty, Facilities Manager, Non-Clinical Manager of the Year, Northwest Health – La Porte
Trusty has served as a manager in the Plant Operations and Maintenance department for twelve years. Described as “the type of manager that you want to learn from” he is always glad to share his knowledge, dedication to the organization, and problem solving skills with team members. Trusty was also lauded for quickly learning all engineering facets of the new hospital while also continuing to maintain the original hospital. In short, Trusty’s dedication to maintaining a highly functional hospital facility to support patient care is exceptional.

Josh Morrow, Facilities Manager, Non-Clinical Manager of the Year, Northwest Health - Starke
Morrow has served as the Facilities Manager at Northwest Health – Starke for seven years where he leads the team who maintain the hospital and neighboring physician offices. Nominations described Morrow as “available to respond regardless of time of day” to ensure the facilities are functioning optimally and as having “an uncanny ability to prioritize projects, making sure the needs and safety of all are met.” He is always a phone call away ready to be of serivce to his team and other hospital staff.

Patti Solano, B.S., RRT, AE-C, Manager of Respiratory Therapy, Sleep Lab, and Neurodiagnostics, Northwest Health La Porte and Northwest Health – Starke, Clinical Manager of the Year
Solano joined the Northwest Health family in 2017 and has been an outstanding leader since day one. She and her team at both hospitals have had a difficult 18 months with the very high level of respiratory therapy required when caring for COVID-19 patients. Additionally, her team at Northwest Health – La Porte has been caring for more non-COVID patients since the new hospital opened in late 2020. Solano consistently celebrates her team and finds new ways to assist her staff – both of which have helped maintain morale during the pandemic. Her leadership is an inspiration to others.

To review career opportunities at Northwest Health visit: https://www.NWHealthIN.com/career-opportunities.

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