In her current role, Natalie Sherry is the trauma program manager and registrar for the Emergency Department at Greene Memorial Hospital, a level III trauma facility. Her peers consider her a “lifelong learner” as a result of the various degrees and certifications she has earned in nursing. Her dedication to education combined with her 27 years of experience in various areas of nursing are what make Natalie such an admired health care worker. She extends her passion for education and preparedness to the community around her, always stepping up to ensure everyone is prepared for any situation.
When it comes to responsibilities in the Emergency Department, Natalie has a lot on her plate. She is in charge of reviewing any trauma case that comes through the doors and determining the proper way to handle it. Though she has a lot to manage, Natalie always makes the time to identify any opportunities within her team and improve or support them in any way she can. She makes the difficult task of juggling her own work while guiding others to be the best they can look effortless. As an accountable leader, it’s no surprise that Natalie is involved in so many organizations in which she believes. She is an active member of the Society of Trauma Nursing, the Ohio Society of Trauma Nurse Leaders, the Emergency Nurses Association, and the Association of Ohio Trauma Registrars, a testament to her competence and dedication as a nurse.
Natalie’s team and role are important to her, and she doesn’t let the quality of her performance suffer while dedicating herself to extra activities. Natalie is committed to furthering the education of not only her team, but also the community at large. She elected to be a Stop the Bleed instructor to teach basic bleeding control techniques to civilians in the event of emergent bleeding. Beyond that, she took it upon herself to work with the Greene Medical Foundation to secure a grant to fund the installation of Stop the Bleed kits in all Greene county schools to use in the event of a bleed. To make sure her team is always prepared, Natalie goes a step further than education and coordinates mock traumas between EMS and the Emergency Department so they can practice handling traumatic situations. Natalie also lends her time to network community events including first aid stations at county fairs, neighborhood night outs and health fairs, and the Circle of Victory so that first aid and trauma education is always available to the community.
As a health care professional, Natalie believes you need to know the community for which you serve so you can deliver the best holistic and patient-centered care. She implements that health-care-to-community relationship during her hours of volunteering where she can assess community needs and make sure they are addressed. In that way, Natalie’s strength is collaboration. She is always willing to find a way to use the network’s resources to protect her community through education. In Natalie’s profession, prevention is vital, and education is the way to achieve it. She provides that education to the community to make an effort toward caring for people not only after they’ve become sick or injured, but before anything could happen to them. Natalie also works to collaborate with EMS services to make sure they don’t have any questions or concerns, further strengthening the relationship her department has with them and making their combined efforts more effective.
Because of how much Natalie cares for her community, it shouldn’t be a surprise that she volunteers to give back outside of network-wide efforts. As a resident of Springfield, Natalie visits churches in her area to provide preventative safety education. She also works for the Safe Communities Coalition for Clark and Greene counties, which is an action group that works to address safety issues to decrease traffic-related injuries and increase prevention awareness. Natalie’s membership to the Ohio Injury Prevention Partnership allows her to further her prevention efforts and work to avoid older adult falls, drug overdose, and child injuries. While safety is one of Natalie’s favorite interests, she still makes time for her other passion: theater. Natalie has been an active volunteer in community theater for the last eleven years crafting costumes for their plays.
