LIBERTYVILLE – Sheila Roggemann always wanted to work in health care because she wanted to bring hope and positive energy to her patients. As a registered nurse specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, she does exactly this for birthing parents, their families and her tiniest patients.
Because of her exemplary demonstration of Advocate Health Care’s core nursing values and unwavering delivery of best-in-class care, she was selected a 2023 Nurse of the Year.
“I am very honored to have been selected. It’s nice to have the work you’re doing be recognized,” Roggemann said in a news release. “There are so many nurses in the hospital who I think are also very deserving and I feel very lucky to work with them.”
Roggemann has a passion for maternal and pediatric care, serving as a leader across the organization and educating other nurses on C-sections. She spearheaded the Rainbow Baby Program at Advocate Condell, which gives families who have endured the loss of a baby the opportunity to move forward and bring in a new life with empathy and care.
“A rainbow baby can be different for everyone, but we want to dignify each piece of their journey and mark that their baby is the rainbow after the storm, that the happiness is here,” Roggemann said.
More than 750 nominations for the premier award were received on behalf of nurses from a variety of specialties across the patient care continuum. These frontline nurses represent diversity in their backgrounds and experiences, including honorees with decades of experience and others new to the profession yet already making an impact on their patients, colleagues and communities.
“Advocate Health nurses deliver exceptional, evidence-based and equitable care to help all patients live fully. However, it’s their ability to bring their most authentic selves to work each day that lets us bear witness to the compassionate and driven individuals they are. It is a true honor to celebrate this excellence in action,” Jane Dus, chief nursing officer of Advocate Health – Midwest Region said.
“Our patients and their families are fortunate to have Sheila’s compassionate heart and skilled hands caring for them during one of life’s biggest moments.”
Nominations were submitted by clinicians and teammates and reviewed by peer committees for blinded judging according to each nominee’s passion for patient care, commitment to service, solution-oriented abilities and evidence-based practice.
Advocate Health Care is part of Advocate Health, which employs more than 42,000 nurses across the nation, including 27 acute care facilities and more than 500 sites of care in the Midwest.