Biggest hearts belong to healthcare heroes

by DaWayne Cleckley for Community Health Net

Community Health Net Community Health Net, Erie’s largest federally quali ed health center is home to three people who de ne the word “heart.” They embody community, stand for dignity and respect, genuinely love people, and have given their lives to and immersed themselves in caring for individuals and families of all walks of life and socio-economic status.

Alison Davis, L.P.N., Stephanie Scha -Turri, R.N., and Toni Gromacki, L.P.N., are nurses with 59 combined years of service to Erie County. They are proven, battlehardened healthcare heroes.

“My mother was my role model. She was a pediatric nurse,” said Davis, a 16-year veteran L.P.N. “She would always talk about her patients and how much she loved them.” When she told her mother about her plans to become a nurse, she replied: “If you can love people, be concerned about them, and put them ahead of yourself, then you can.”

Davis has lived by those words. She is a transplant to Erie, leaving her roots in Havana, Florida, over 15 years ago, working for Community Health Net for most of her career, assisting the organization’s Healthcare for the Homeless program.

“CHN does not turn anyone away from good, adequate care,” she said as she expressed why she works for the organization. Davis sees many clients that remind her of her brother, who could not care for himself a er su ering a stroke and dementia. “Many of the patients in the program do not have family members who will support them. They need someone who isn’t going to judge them when they come in the door. They still deserve to be seen and cared for with respect. We need to have compassion for people.”

Stephanie Scha -Turri feels the same, having spent 19 years with Community Health Net and 12 years as an R.N. She is an Erie native with a background in Health Science and Community Health. “We care for one patient at a time. Individualized, patient-centered care signi cantly impacts families and, by extension, the community,” said Scha -Turri.

Initially, she worked to build and ensure adherence to quali ed healthcare processes and procedures at CHN before becoming a nurse. “I became an R.N. because I felt that I would be a greater bene t to the organization by helping people.” Scha -Turri o en stays a er work to help her patients. She also volunteers at outreach events. “I’m not in healthcare for the money. I could be a traveling nurse and make big bucks,” she noted.

“What I have is a sense of accomplishment. People who you care for appreciate you years later. They will never forget you. There is a real sense of community as I help patients.”

Toni Gromacki, a 29-year veteran L.P.N., has the same sense of duty, volunteerism, and love for people. Her family roots run deep in the Erie community. “My whole family is in nursing, social work, and community shelter services. Helping people is in my blood. So, being a nurse is a comfortable t for me,” she said.

Gromacki started her career at Community Health Net in Pediatrics. She feels as if her patients are her second family. She loves her job and works to break down barriers to health care and ensure that everyone can access care. “Patients do not come in a box. You have to listen and read between the lines to understand their needs,” she said. “Community Health Net o ers services that they [patients] would not be able to get anywhere else. Health equity and access. That is why I get up every morning to come to work.”