The Suffolk Health Department has the incredible honor of being the workplace of Yvonne Creech.

During her 38 years as a nurse, Creech has worked as a school nurse, worked in a doctor’s office and worked at a nursing home.

But it’s her current employment, running the nursing home screening program for the Suffolk Health Department in the Western Tidewater Health District, that earned her quite an honor.

She recently was named the Virginia Department of Health’s 2019 Public Health Nurse of the Year award — a statewide honor that was bestowed during National Nurses Week.

The health department noted her dedication and passion for improving her community’s health in honoring her with the award.

Creech told a reporter that she knew in high school that she wanted to be a nurse. She was a candy striper before becoming a licensed practical nurse and became a registered nurse in her 50s.

True to form, Creech was humbled by the honor and appreciated that her co-workers thought enough of her to nominated her.

Anyone who has had more than the most superficial experience with the health care profession will tell you that nurses are what make the world go ‘round in hospitals, doctors’ offices, nursing homes, skilled care facilities, health departments and more. Ask anyone who has suffered a long illness, a serious acute sickness or a traumatic injury, or watched a family member do so, and they will tell you that nurses are the most important people in any health care setting. Nurses are most directly involved in patient care, stand up for the rights of patients and their families, see and do things most of us could never imagine, catch doctors’ mistakes, and somehow still manage to keep their emotions in check and treat every patient with the compassion and dignity they deserve.

Public Health Nurse of the Year is quite an honor for Creech, for Suffolk and for Western Tidewater. We appreciate Creech’s long service in the health care profession and extend a gracious “thank you” to all the nurses out there.