Maria Sullivan honored as recipient of Vail Health Elevate Award

Vail Health recently issued the following press release on Maria Sullivan being named the 10th recipient of the Vail Health Elevate Award:

Maria Sullivan, a post-op registered nurse at Vail Health, has been named the 10th recipient of the Vail Health Elevate Award. Vail Health created the Elevate Award in June 2022 to give patients and their families an opportunity to nominate and thank employees who have touched their lives in some way.

Sullivan likes to ski, snowboard, hike, read and go to concerts, and she moved to the Vail Valley from Boston because of her love of the mountains and Vail Health’s appeal as a community hospital.

“I really enjoy being able to take care of my neighbors and locals in our community,” said Sullivan. “I greatly appreciate the relationships I am able to form with patients and co-workers. Vail Health, as a community hospital, allows me this opportunity. A city hospital has more of a clinical feel, and here is more community.”

Sullivan has been with Vail Health for eight months and has already made a tremendous impact on her patients, including on Terry Giasson’s father. Giasson, from San Antonio, Texas, nominated Sullivan following her father’s hip replacement surgery.

“While my dad was in surgery, his wife, who had been in hospice, passed away,” said Giasson. “When Maria called me back to sit with him, I told her what had happened, and she was very compassionate and supportive. Once I relayed the news, Maria was so supportive, allowing him to go on and on with stories, and she was able to make him laugh as they reminisced.”

Giasson raved about Sullivan’s attentiveness to her father’s needs, including bringing him warm blankets and making him cocoa when he was cold, providing a phone charger when a cell phone battery was low, and even offering Giasson a mini flashlight to walk back to the hotel alone after dark.

“This all goes beyond her nursing duties, where she also provided phenomenal support,” said Giasson. “We wanted you to know how much we appreciated Maria’s support, service, compassion, and professionalism.”

The Elevate Award directly aligns with Vail Health’s mission of elevating health across our mountain communities. Past Elevate Award winners include: Erin Perejda, the supportive care services manager and licensed clinical social worker at Vail Health Shaw Cancer Center, June 2022; Susan Vickerman, MD, a family medicine physician at Colorado Mountain Medical, August 2022; Meghan Gallegos, Howard Head Sports Physical Therapist, December 2022; Allie Morgan, Patient Care Unit Registered Nurse, April 2023; Christi Sewell, RN, OCN in the Patient Care Unit, June 2023; Jacey Hagen, a labor and delivery nurse in the Family Birth Center, September 2023; Joe Drew, a nurse practitioner at Vail Health Behavioral Health, December 2023; Scott McCorvey, MD, a doctor in the Vail Health Emergency Department doctor, March 2024; and Elie Sabins, a physical therapist with Howard Head Sports Medicine, May 2024.

Patients and family members are encouraged to nominate staff who made a meaningful difference in their health care experience. Nominees can work in any area of the Vail Health healthcare system—including admissions, laboratory, surgery centers, Howard Head Sports Medicine, Shaw Cancer Center, Colorado Mountain Medical, Eagle Valley Behavioral Health and more.

To nominate Vail Health, Colorado Mountain Medical, Eagle Valley Behavioral Health, Howard Head Sports Medicine and Shaw Cancer Center staff, visit www.VailHealth.org/ElevateAward<http://www.vailhealth.org/ElevateAward>

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail

David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.

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