Black River Memorial Hospital Employee Earns Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative Ambassador Award

Sunday, June 13th, 2021 -- 8:01 AM

Julia Smith, Black River Memorial Hospital infection prevention nurse, earned the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative Ambassador Award for her role as an outstanding employee and nurse.

Smith began working at BRMH in 2020, in a new town, in the middle of a pandemic, and exceeded everyone’s expectations. She jumped in and not only learned the infection prevention nurse role but also helped guide BRMH through a pandemic.

Mary Beth White-Jacobs, BRMH chief executive officer, nominated Julia for the award. “Julia’s organizational and critical-thinking skills, experience as a nursing instructor, critical-care nurse, and hospice nurse proved to be a significant asset to the hospital, community, and other rural facilities,” White-Jacobs said.

“She quickly earned the respect of the BRMH Incident Command Team, employees, and community with her leadership, teamwork, and positive attitude.”

Julia also developed processes for staffing, COVID-19 testing, isolation practices, and vaccinations that have become best practices shared with other organizations.

The Ambassador Award recognizes employees at member hospitals who have gone "above the call of duty"; in promoting their respective organizations, and made significant contributions to rural health care in general, according to the RWHC website.

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