SLV Health OB Nurse Represents SLV at State Nightingale Gala

Lonetree, CO, May 12, 2018.  Vivian Rodriguez was selected by the SLV Nightingale Luminaria committee to represent the best of the best nurses at the 2018 Nightingale Luminaria Awards Gala on May 12 at CU South in Lonetree, Colorado.  Vivian was nominated by Morgan Cummons, Director of SLV Health’s Labor and Delivery department.  “I nominated Vivian because she has a heart of gold and is always committed to going above and beyond with patients and her community.  Vivian has worked to provide childbirth education classes to expectant parents, which up until recently was done on a volunteer basis.  She teaches along with Andrea Griego and Stephanie Posorske, who were both active in Vivian’s nomination process,” said Morgan. Vivian has been working for SLV Health for 19 years and the last nine as PRN (as needed). She worked for seven years as the public school nurse for South Conejos in Antonito, the same community in which she grew up and attended school. She said, “I guess I do both of these jobs because I love kids so much.” She continues to work as the nurse for the Valley’s Migrant and Seasonal Head Start each summer and has been doing that for past six years. Before that, she worked at Valley-Wide as an LPN and loved her time in the First Care Perinatal program where she helped teach birthing and other classes. She worked at the Veterans Center in Homelake while attending TSJC to complete her RN degree. She is married with two children and three grandchildren.
     “I was very impressed at the Gala in Denver.  It was an honor to celebrate among so many awesome nurses who have accomplished so much,” commented Vivian about the Nightingale event.  “There have been so many changes to healthcare over the years.  It’s amazing to see what technology has done to advance the care.  With insurance companies and access to healthcare financing, another change has been how it’s become more of a business model.  We see a lot of high-risk patients.  We’d rather take care of them early on in their pregnancy because then we see better outcomes with healthier babies.”

Related article on the Valley Courier Website: https://www.alamosanews.com/article/three-valley-nurses-honored

Pictured: Morgan Cummons, Left, and Vivian Rodriguez attend the 2018 Nightingale Luminaria Awards Gala at CU South, Lonetree