Among more than 71,000 employees, Iowa hospitals have countless examples of amazing people doing outstanding work.  Each year, IHA honors some of those employees as Iowa Hospital Heroes.  In the coming weeks, IHA will share the stories of our 2009 Iowa Hospital Heroes.  Below is our Hero for this week: 

Sharon Ferguson
Registered Nurse
Mahaska Health Partnership, Oskaloosa 

Sharon Ferguson has been employed at Mahaska Health Partnership (MHP) in Oskaloosa for a little more than a year, but she has already made a tremendous impact.  Sharon has been a nurse for 36 years, working in many different arenas before landing her current position as Diabetes Educator for MHP Community Health.

Sharon spent many hours of her own time learning everything she could about the diabetes disease process. In a short amount of time, she has established great partnerships with many professionals and her relationship building efforts have allowed her to offer free blood glucose screenings at the local Hy-Vee pharmacy on two different occasions, screening more than 150 people and providing valuable information regarding diabetes maintenance and follow-up care.

Sharon started a free monthly diabetes support group in January and already has an average of 20 people attending. She organized and offered Diabetes Wellness in

Self-Management Education (WISE) classes, which currently boasts 39 participates completing the 10-hour classes. Thanks to her leadership and persistence, the Diabetes WISE program recently received certification from the American Diabetes Association.

Many patients and community members have benefited from Sharon’s wealth of knowledge and the compassionate care she gives to every individual, treating each person like family. Sharon has integrity, always placing her patients’ needs first.  Recently, she heard about a co-worker’s elderly neighbor who was traveling 30 miles to receive free diabetes supplies and offered to make a home visit to see how she could assist him.

Sharon whole heartedly deserves this award for exemplifying honesty, integrity, humanity, courage and commitment. She has worked through many obstacles throughout her endeavors and continues to persevere in her personal mission to educate the community about diabetes and help prevent some of the devastating complications it can cause when left unchecked. She has used her talents and expertise to improve our organization and the health and well being of our community. She truly is a living hero.