Top Nurses 2020: Rachel Ruhland helped transform the ICU by finding home again
Rachel Ruhland of William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital is a recipient of the practice award.
December 17, 2020 8:06 AM Maggie Ginsberg
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Photo by Paulius Musteikis
Just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning, Rachel Ruhland lost her father to Parkinson’s disease. Then came the statewide shutdown, pushing the funeral to July. But Ruhland had been gifted two weeks off with him in his final days on hospice, a luxury soon denied to many due to visitor restrictions. Back at work at William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, she asked to be transferred to the intensive care unit. They were preparing for a surge, and she wanted to bring bedside comfort to the ICU setting. “After my dad passed, I felt even a stronger calling. I guess I was looking for home again,” says Ruhland, who began her career in the VA’s ICU 14 years ago but became a nurse pract