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Myrtue Medical Center’s Public Health Director Named One of the 100 Great Iowa Nurses

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Myrtue Medical Center’s Public Health Director Named One of the 100 Great Iowa Nurses

Myrtue Medical Center congratulates Lori Hoch, RN, Director of Myrtue Medical Center’s Public Health Department, for being selected as one of the 100 Great Iowa Nurses for 2021.

Patients, colleagues, and nurse leaders nominated more than 300 nurses across the state for this prestigious award. After a review process, 100 Great Nurses are honored each year at a ceremony for the state of Iowa.

100 Great Iowa Nurse Chairwoman, Dr. Julie Zerwic, PhD, RN, FAAN, says, “These extraordinary nurses exemplify compassion, dedication and leadership. They are role models for anyone striving for excellence in the nursing field. We are fortunate to have Iowa nurses who go above and beyond every day.”

Lori has dedicated service to the Public Health field for more than 14 years, overseeing Public Health at Myrtue for the last five years. Under her leadership as Public Health Director, Myrtue has navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic. “Lori has been the rock solid, central core of our counties response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lori has worked nonstop since the arrival of COVID-19 in February 2020. She has been preparing, monitoring, surveying, identifying, intervening, evaluating and implementing our COVID-19 response,” said Karen Buman, Chief Nursing Officer. “She is always on top of what is new or changing with COVID-19 and providing education to the county. She has worked closely with the local nursing homes to prevent outbreaks, healthcare to provide safe and effective care to COVID-19 patients, essential personnel to keep businesses operational, and most importantly, she has worked with the public to prevent the spread of this deadly virus.”

“Lori has demonstrated incredible character in showing accountability, integrity and advocating for improving quality of life for residents of Shelby County,” said Phil Markham, Board of Health Chairman. “She never misses an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of her patients, families and our community, and there is no one with more time and effort invested in our county’s response to the SARS COVID-19 pandemic.”

Nurses selected for this honor represent many sectors of healthcare, including hospitals, long-term care facilities, and school and office nurses.

About Public Health: Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. This work is achieved by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases.

Overall, public health is concerned with protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire country or region of the world. Public health professionals try to prevent problems from happening or recurring through implementing educational programs, recommending policies, administering services and conducting research. A large part of public health is promoting healthcare equity, quality and accessibility.