VCU Health System Nurse Named Employee of the Year

By Makeda Saggau-Sackey
University News Services

A 25-year nursing veteran has been named the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System’s Employee of the Year.

Regina Smithey, R.N., was selected from the employee-of-the-month honorees for 2004.

Smithey began working with VCUHS in 1980 and has served in a variety of roles, most recently as an operating room nurse and a special team manager in vascular and transplant surgery.

"The VCU Health System has so much to offer that other competitors in the community cannot,” Smithey said. “It is always on the cutting edge with new technologies and excellent centers, including the transplant center and the Massey Cancer Center.

“I am proud to be a VCU nurse," said Smithey. “I consider this to be a great recognition for nursing in general and the important role we play in health care."

Over the years, Smithey has served as a unit coordinator and as a clinical coordinator for the health system.

"Nursing requires a compassionate, responsible and team-oriented person,” said Maria Curran, vice president of VCUHS Human Resources. “Operating room nurses in particular are unique in that they must have special skills, including the ability to juggle multiple roles and demands and be able to adapt to any emergency.”

Sheldon Retchin, M.D., VCU Health System CEO and VCU vice president for Health Sciences, said Smithey is clearly a leader in her area.

"Regina is a critical member of the transplant team and is a role model for professionalism and caring in nursing,” he said.

Smithey is part of a group of health care professionals that travels each year to Guatemala as part of Operation Kids to perform plastic surgery on pediatric patients. Smithey has gone for the past three years.

"It’s a rewarding experience to be in another country and provide care to patients who cannot afford it,” she said. “The reward of seeing a child who finally has a perfect smile is priceless."

Operation Kids is a non-profit organization founded in 1985 by Dr. Austin Mehrhof, chairman of plastic surgery at the VCU School of Medicine. Each year, the team performs more than 50 reconstructive procedures on pediatric patients.