“I care about, when you lay your head down at night, that you've accomplished something."
Sarah has a simple goal in life.
"I want to save the world," she says. "That's all I want to do."
If it sounds like an unattainable goal, Sarah would disagree. Every day, she puts the needs of others at the top of her priority list.
"My passion is really just being with people and helping them out," Sarah says. "If any little bit of what I do every day makes a difference in someone's life, that's what I want to do."
A nurse for 28 years and a UPMC Hamot employee since 2003, Sarah has held many different roles. Today, she is in a leadership position as the clinical manager for the UPMC Hamot Physician Network. Her job entails visiting over 60 offices within the network to oversee them from a regulatory and compliance standpoint.
But that's not all she does.
"My leadership team realizes I get a little bit bored with things," she jokes. "So, I get to do project work."
Sarah is a major figure in UPMC Hamot's community projects. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked at the hospital's vaccine clinic and also helped to organize vaccination clinics in the community.
Helping people in need is a passion for Sarah. Whether it's collecting pads and tampons for girls and women in need through the Period Project, or raising money for cancer research through Relay for Life, Sarah works to help other people.
"There's a lot of social disparity in the community," she says. "That is something that on a personal level is really important to me, to make sure people have all their needs met. Basic safety and security are important, and a lot of people don't even have that. So, when you can provide that to people, that makes a huge difference."
Sarah says her passion for helping others comes from her family and her faith. Her mother was a nurse and made it an expectation for Sarah to help others.
She's passing down the passion for helping others to her children, too; her two oldest sons worked in the vaccine clinics with her.
Sarah doesn't see the work she does as going above and beyond. She believes it's what people should do. She's thankful for her colleagues for helping her and supporting her in her work.
"I care about, when you lay your head down at night, that you've accomplished something."
At UPMC, Life Changing Medicine means making a difference for others.
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