Honoring Paula Green, RN
Anchorage-Based Clinical Informaticist Paula Green, RN, who supports the Alaska region acute team, has given her time and energy to Food Bank of Alaska for 13 years. Not only is she a longtime volunteer, but is a site leader with them, managing their mobile food pantry program.
She assists with logistics, making sure that this food bank on wheels operates, rain or shine. Despite COVD-19 shutting down many community services, the mobile food pantry has continued to be a lifeline to those in need in the Anchorage area.
In addition to her food bank work, as a nurse, Paula has taken part in a Guatemala surgical service trip with Faith in Practice, as well as an American Red Cross disaster relief mission to Miami, Florida, following Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Paula says her Mission and community service complement her choice of a caring profession at Providence Alaska Medical Center.
“I am in a profession that helps people; it’s at my core to see a need and desire to help.”
We celebrate Paula for her work in her community and for representing the spirit of Providence’s Mission and Values. She would be happy to field any questions from caregivers looking to get involved at paula.green@providence.org.
Check out Paula’s profile on the Volunteers in Partnership website.
Offering a Hand-Up with Toiletries
Deanna Lunsford, program director in Strategic Technology Enablement, shared how she and her daughters reach out directly to those without housing near her home in Issaquah, Washington.
When driving in the community, if they see these at-risk individuals along the street or freeway interchange, they say “hello” and offer them a “dignity bag,” consisting of a mesh bag packed with soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a comb. The mesh bag doubles as a quick-drying washcloth.
“Not only is it a confidence-builder for my daughters to introduce themselves and offer these bags, I hope it’s also a confidence-builder for the individuals who need them, when we can take a moment to look into their eyes and let them know they are seen and matter,” Deanna shares.