4 · SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2017 Victor Fagan, a licensed practical nurse at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System in Oakland, is one of three nurses and three doctors to be named finalists for the Schwartz Center’s Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award, a national award from the Boston-based nonprofit. PASSION FOR COMPASSION VA nurse from Brackenridge finalist for national caregiver award There are days when Victor Fagan might have 25 veterans pass through his tiny office tucked back on the first floor of the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System hospital in Oakland. Some will be there for a routine checkup and will move quickly on to see the primary care doctor. Others might need to go directly to the emergency department. Some might want to talk about their home life or their time in the service. Still others might need to vent their anger and frustration, even against the VA itself. The 58-year-old licensed practical nurse, or LPN, will listen to them all. No matter what they say or how they feel at that moment, his goal is to see that they feel a little bit better by the time they leave. His extraordinary empathy and compassion are two of the biggest reasons why Fagan was chosen as a finalist for the Schwartz Center’s Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award, a national award from the Boston-based nonprofit that seeks to promote compassion and collaboration between patients and health care providers. “I don’t tell anybody we can fix them, because sometimes people aren’t fixable,” Fagan said. “We can’t fix everybody. We can’t save everybody, but we can uplift everybody, and we can make them know that they matter. You matter, and your time has mattered. We value that time, and we want to honor that time by giving you the best health care and the best experience that we can give you when you walk in the door.” Fagan, who is originally from Rochester, N.Y., resides in Brackenridge. He has worked at his current position for three years and is the first VA employee ever to be named a finalist for the award. Out of more than 150 nominees, Fagan is one of three nurses and three doctors to be named finalists, including a pediatrician at the Cleveland Clinic and the chair of the department of pediatric newborn medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “It’s amazing, is what it is,” said RN and nurse manager Christin Durham, who nominated Fagan. PROFESSIONAL CAREGIVER FOCUS BY KAREN PRICE NATE SMALLWOOD | TRIB TOTAL MEDIA
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