Cheryl Livingston of Veterans Memorial Hospital honored with 2011 Iowa Hospital Hero Award

Cheryl Livingston, Paramedic at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon, was awarded the Iowa Hospital Hero Award Thursday, October 6 in Des Moines during the Iowa Hospital Association annual meeting. Any Iowa hospital employee or physician who has performed a heroic deed or tirelessly given of their time, talent and expertise to improve their organization and the world around them is eligible for the Iowa Hospital Heroes Award. These leaders exemplify honesty, integrity, humility, courage and commitment.
Livingston has been an EMT with Veterans Memorial Hospital for the past 10 years, but her service to the community began long before that.  While working at Citizens State Bank in Waukon, she became very active in the local Chamber of Commerce, even serving as President at a very young age. She then tirelessly gave of her time and talent to the local Chamber in many roles, even donating her time to automate the Chamber office.
Livingston then became employed full-time at the hospital, and earned her paramedic license. With her technology talent, she has assisted the ER Department in computerizing many projects, making the work easier for staff and more patient friendly.
She also looks out for children of all ages. Each year, Livingston coordinates a special “Reality 101” program for all graduating high school seniors in the hospital’s service area, giving them a real life scenario of what life will be like as they learn to balance their own budgets on a fixed income. She donates many hours preparing for this very detailed financial program each year. This is not a requirement of her job at the hospital, it is just another way she has stepped up to offer a needed program no one else in the community was fulfilling. As a paramedic, she sees the hard core issues youth are dealing with, and does everything she can to steer the young people in the community in the right direction.
This past year, the program grew to over 250 students.  Livingston was quoted in the local papers as saying, “We were all impressed by how seriously the students took this opportunity, and how polite and friendly they were to all of the 80 volunteers working at the event. Even the most apprehensive students finished Reality 101 having learned many life lessons, unintentionally. This alone is an awesome sense of accomplishment for all the dedicated volunteers willing to facilitate Reality 101.”
In 2007, while Livingston was working at the hospital, her three-month-old son and only child was rushed into the ER from his daycare, unresponsive, and passed away, a victim of SIDS. Remarkably, one of the first things Livingston did following that devastating event was to go and talk to the police officer who first responded to that emergency to be sure he was alright. Thus started Livingston’s crusade of SIDS awareness. She immediately joined the Iowa SIDS Foundation, first seeking help for herself and her husband, and then doing what she does best... getting involved and making a difference. She joined their fundraising efforts and raised many dollars for their annual SIDS walks, and now sits on the Iowa Board of Directors for the SIDS Society.
On a local level, she formed an Infant Loss Support Group in the community inviting anyone who has ever been touched by an infant loss of any kind, whether it happened recently or years ago, and welcomes all members of their families. This support group has grown and is now offering an annual Memory Walk each fall and is currently constructing a memorial in the Waukon City Park which will include the names of infants who have been lost.
Veterans Memorial Hospital has also benefitted from Livingston’s drive and determination to assist others who lose an infant. Each year, she and her family make a monetary donation in memory of her son, Ethan, to Veterans Memorial Hospital for a service or piece of equipment to help make pediatric patients more comfortable and safe at the hospital. Clay molds are now given to families to make a mold of their deceased child’s hands and feet, and many more support materials and groups are available for these families.
Livingston also worked with the Maternity Services Department as well as Halo International company to use their trademarked SleepSacks (wearable blankets) in the maternity ward instead of baby blankets. The SleepSacks are proven to help reduce the risk of SIDS. Donations in Ethan's memory purchased enough of these SleepSacks for all babies born at the hospital to wear during their stay, plus each family is sent home with a complimentary SleepSack to keep their child safe after leaving the hospital. The hospital Auxiliary Gift Case also offers these SleepSacks in all colors and sizes for the public to purchase.
Livingston also contracted with a local artist to paint a spectacular rain forest mural in one of the hospital’s ER/Clinic exam rooms, and also found cloud light covers to intrigue all young patients of the hospital whether as an ER patient or weekend clinic patient. She has also used donations in Ethan’s memory to purchase DVD players in both ambulances to help comfort pediatric patients during transfers.
“What is most outstanding about Cheryl is her ability to instruct Emergency Medical Service departments all across the state on how to respond to SIDS and other pediatric emergencies, and how to comfort those families,” states Mike Myers, Administrator of Veterans Memorial Hospital.  “Cheryl can speak so professionally and so comfortably about SIDS, not even telling her own personal story until the very end of her presentations. She also speaks each year to many local high school health classes about SIDS, and answers all the tough, personal questions they ask her."
“I very much appreciate being considered to be worthy of such an award, not to mention being selected to receive it,” states Livingston. “I don’t really consider any of these ‘extra’ tasks as anything ‘extra.’ Each and every encounter and/or project I think of from a personal perspective, asking myself, ‘If this was my family member in this situation, how would I hope they are treated?’  That really makes the course of actions pretty simple. Everyone deserves someone to care.
“Truly, it is my work in healthcare that inspired the projects that have happened so far with regards to infant loss and SIDS awareness. Shortly after Ethan’s death, I had a patient encounter that gave me perspective. I had dealt with this patient many times before and knew that they were a very unhappy person. I later learned that years ago, this patient’s child had committed suicide. This made me understand that I was now at one of those crossroads in my life. The way I chose to deal with the loss of Ethan was going to impact the rest of my life, so evident in this patient. So I made the commitment to making something positive out of the devastation our family had gone through.”
“Since Cheryl was informed she had been chosen to receive this award, she has continued to go above and beyond for our patients and community,” states Jeff Mitchell, Paramedic Specialist and EMS Coordinator at Veterans Memorial Hospital. “From teaching another SIDS class to a neighboring community, to spending an entire day finding a next of kin for a deceased patient and working on much of that project from home, to getting a new prescription for a VA patient for his insulin, she just keeps on giving of herself for others.”
“Cheryl’s integrity is unbelievable. She has taken something that could have been very negative in her life and turned it into such a positive thing for so many people,” adds Mike Myers. “And each year she continues to do even more, with the help of her adorable, almost two-year-old twin daughters! She is a marvel and highly deserving of the Iowa Hospital Association Hero Award!”