In the four years that I have been with Mercy, I have had the wonderful opportunity to get to know Deborah Truster in the Family Birthing Center. She is truly the matriarch of the department, with three decades of experience, leading our initiatives and taking on many different roles in her tenure including team leader, manager, and unit educator. She is a knowledgeable instructor and is always the first to step up in precepting and mentoring new nurses. She is well-known and well-respected in her field. Her smile and soft voice can calm the most fearful and anxious patients and she can make even the most negative situations positive.

With all of that said from the professional side, I have had the fortunate opportunity to call her my own nurse this past year. What I already knew about the care she provides her patients, I got to experience firsthand. She helped me get through my stay with the energy, compassion, and expertise that I have always valued in her as an employee. Never once did she ever waver or make me feel that she was troubled about taking care of me.

Deborah truly is a shining star in the nursing profession and role models what a nurse should be, at all times. She has been a wonderful resource for me and others in our department and in the perinatal field.