When Gloria Lathan walks into a patient’s room at Sentara Obici Hospital, she’s usually the last person they want to see.

They aren’t so much afraid of Lathan, the team leader for phlebotomy and central testing at Obici, as they are of what she is there to do — take a blood sample.

She said when a needle is in the equation, most patients well up with fear. But Lathan isn’t there to frighten them; in fact, she tries to ease their concerns.

“I tell them, ‘Don’t be afraid,’” she said. “I let them know we’re going to do it together.”

If she needs to, she’ll take the patient’s hand and hold it to comfort him or her before she sticks the needle in to draw blood.

“You want to be there for the patients,” Lathan said. “The priority is (them).”

Recently, Sentara Healthcare Systems recognized Lathan, who lives in Suffolk, for exhibiting tremendous service to her patients, colleagues and employees.

Lathan was one of 17 Sentara employees honored in the company’s Always Committed to Excellence Awards.

David Rice, the lab manager at Obici who nominated Lathan for the honor, said Lathan stands out among all the people he has worked with a lot of people over the years.

“Gloria always takes that extra step,” he said. “Her enthusiasm and her desire to do the right thing to take care of the patients stood out.”

While Lathan said she appreciates the award and is humbled by Rice’s compliments, she feels like she is just doing what she is supposed to do.

“It’s just part of my job,” she said. “I enjoy what I’m doing, and I love the people I work with.”

Lathan joined the Sentara team in 1999. It wasn’t until recently that Lathan took on her current leadership role at Obici, but she feels like it’s a natural fit.

“I took it on myself to be a leader,” she said, adding that she likes when people can rely of her to be there for them.

In fact, her commitment to the staff members she supervises was another quality Sentara recognized.

Just like with her patients, Lathan said, she wants to guide her employees through their jobs and instill confidence in them.

“If you exhibit that you know what you are doing, I think that eases (patients’) fears,” she said.

The employees in the departments she oversees deal with very different issues, she said, because in phlebotomy the staff members are going to patients in the hospital and central testing is mostly an out-patient service.

But in both cases, Lathan said she works with each of her employees in phlebotomy and central testing to make sure they are self-assured.

“I work with them side-by-side,” she said, adding that safety is always her No.-1 concern.

Rice said he thinks both the patients and employees appreciate Lathan’s job-well-done.

“She sees quality as her job,” he said. “I feel she has special bonds with the patients and has good relationships with the staff.”

Lathan said the Always Committed to Excellence Award means a lot to her, but she couldn’t do it without a good team around her.

“We have a great team, and I think that makes us all good at what we do,” she said. “I have good leaders, and I know they have my back.”