Congratulations to our August to November 2023 Starfish Award Winner, Tonya Fowler!

Here is the story:

Tonya has made so many of our family’s experiences amazing at Riverside. She has drawn blood for not only myself but both of my children for the past few years. Each time her care and compassion has gone above and beyond our expectations. It is very clear just how much Tonya really cares for her patients and strives to make their experience a positive and comfortable one. I personally am very happy when I see that Tonya is the one coming out to call me back for my blood draws. Tonya has also done a great job when our 5 year old, Amilee, has needed her blood drawn. She doesn’t need it as frequently as her sister, but the few times she has needed it, it was for very important tests that absolutely needed to be done correctly, so we possibly would need another draw if it wasn’t done right. Tonya was able to make sure everything was done perfectly and no additional draws were necessary. And as always she made each experience as comfortable and stress free as possible for a young girl. Amilee also has some sensory issues and Autism, so it is extremely important for us to have someone we trust to make her experiences positive. Amilee has been seeing Tonya for blood draws since she was 18 months old. Even more importantly though, Tonya is fantastic with our almost 3 year old, Anneliese. Anneliese has some medical issues that require her to have frequent blood work, at least every 12 weeks, but more often more frequently. Each time we go, we request that Tonya draw her blood because her skills and care for Anneliese go so far beyond what is required for the job. She always makes sure Anneliese is comfortable and tries to make the experience as stress free and trauma free as possible. Her skills for drawing blood out of tiny, hard to find veins is also unmatched in our experience. Others who have tried to draw blood on Anneliese usually need multiple attempts and often times are unable to draw any blood. Tonya’s skills and patient care have been invaluable when you have a kiddo who needs frequent medical experiences, especially at such a young age. We cannot thank Tonya enough for putting in the time and effort to make this such a positive experience for Anneliese. Tonya is one of the main reasons we choose to keep our medical care, especially blood work, at Riverside and we cannot say enough good things about her. She is someone who truly deserves to be recognized for her work and patient care.

Nominate a Riverside employee for an award here:

https://www.riversidehealthcare.org/patients-and-visitors/recognize-a-riverside-employee