{"id":19653,"date":"2024-05-03T15:12:12","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T19:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/?p=19653"},"modified":"2024-05-03T15:13:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T19:13:04","slug":"central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Virginia Nurse of the Year: Nicole McCurrach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nicole McCurrach receives her RHHD Nurse of the Year award.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Nicole McCurrach and her husband were at the Bryan Park playground with their two daughters\u2014aged five and seven\u2014on a Saturday morning when she told him she wanted to become a nurse. She had worked corporate jobs and spent time at home with the girls. She was 39 and ready for a change.<\/p>\n

On her younger daughter\u2019s eighteenth birthday, Nicole learned she\u2019d been named both the 2024 RHHD Nurse of the Year and the VDH Central Region Nurse of the Year. The recognition is a testament to a career that\u2019s been full of learning, rising to meet unexpected challenges, and a deep commitment to others.<\/p>\n

Nicole chose nursing after watching people in the profession go above and beyond for their patients. Nicole\u2019s mom spent a lot of time in the hospital, and she watched nurses carve out extra hours to keep her company. As an adult, she experienced that care firsthand during a difficult pregnancy. \u201cI knew they were busy, but most of these nurses were just very selfless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shuryl Thompson, Nicole\u2019s supervisor at RHHD\u2019s Henrico East location, says this commitment to patients is now a hallmark of Nicole\u2019s own nursing work: \u201cShe is one of the most loyal and conscientious nurses I have ever met. She is detail-oriented and especially patient-oriented at all times.\u201d Shuryl recalls a moment where a client needed some extra emotional support during an injection\u2014Nicole jumped right in to distract and uplift the patient, who asks for Nicole anytime she returns to the clinic now!<\/p>\n

With an estimated 12,000 to 13,000 vaccinations under her belt, Nicole says she\u2019s learned how to be in the moment with patients who might be anxious or concerned about a shot: \u201cI try to acknowledge that they might be scared and it\u2019s normal to be scared. And I make sure they\u2019re know they\u2019re receiving protection\u2014sometimes lifelong\u2014today!\u201d She\u2019s immunized infants during an early role at a newborn nursery, and as a home healthcare worker, she provided vaccines to folks over 100.<\/p>\n

This wide range of experience made Nicole an especially vital RHHD team member during COVID-19 vaccination. Her communication skills made patients feel at ease and helped her teach organizations about the importance of vaccination. During one clinic, a woman who\u2019d received her first dose with Nicole asked to return to her table: \u201cThey routed her to me\u2014she gave me this big hug and a pair of earrings that I still wear. After that second vaccine did its thing, she was planning on visiting her twin sister in North Carolina who was immunocompromised, and they hadn’t been able to see each other at all during COVID.\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Public Health Nurse Supervisor Joanna Cirillo says that Nicole\u2019s ability to make clients feel comfortable goes hand-in-hand with her willingness to serve in different areas of the health department: \u201cNicole exemplifies the versatility, dedication and flexibility of a public health nurse. Recently I’ve watched Nicole embrace the role of following children with elevated blood lead levels and making sure they get the appropriate follow up and nutritional guidance. She embraces new challenges with dedication and passion!\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicole\u2019s work with lead cases and, previously, with rabies cases, have her hitting the books. In both areas, Nicole has to communicate complex and precise health information to patients. Rabies exposure, for example, has to be managed with immediate immunoglobulin and then a cycle of vaccines that have to take place in a precise order. Whatever field she\u2019s working in, Nicole keeps her focus on relationship-building: \u201cIt\u2019s really amazing that for years now, nursing is\u00a0the number one trusted profession<\/a>. I try to live by that every day so that when people come to me, they feel like they\u2019re in good hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of National Nurses Week, Nicole encourages those thinking about a career in nursing to make sure they\u2019re prepared for the emotional and professional demands of the job: \u201cYou really have to love people, and your first response needs to be to jump in and help whenever and wherever needed.\u201d She sees this spirit of service in the commitment of her RHHD Nursing team: \u201cwe could not do what we do without each other!\u201d<\/p>\n

Congratulations to Nicole on this well-deserved honor!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nicole McCurrach receives her RHHD Nurse of the Year award. Nicole McCurrach and her husband were at the Bryan Park playground with their two daughters\u2014aged five and seven\u2014on a Saturday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":383,"featured_media":19655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"modified_by":null,"yoast_head":"\nCentral Virginia Nurse of the Year: Nicole McCurrach - Richmond City Health Department<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Central Virginia Nurse of the Year: Nicole McCurrach - Richmond City Health Department\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nicole McCurrach receives her RHHD Nurse of the Year award. Nicole McCurrach and her husband were at the Bryan Park playground with their two daughters\u2014aged five and seven\u2014on a Saturday […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Richmond City Health Department\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-03T19:12:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-03T19:13:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/2024\/05\/nicole-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Central Virginia Nurse of the Year: Nicole McCurrach\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-03T19:12:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-03T19:13:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":733,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/119\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/nicole-scaled.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/\",\"name\":\"Central Virginia Nurse of the Year: Nicole McCurrach - Richmond City Health Department\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/119\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/nicole-scaled.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-03T19:12:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-03T19:13:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/119\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/nicole-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/119\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/nicole-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"Nicole\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/03\\\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Central Virginia Nurse of the Year: Nicole McCurrach\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/\",\"name\":\"Richmond City Health Department\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/richmond-city\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Central Virginia Nurse of the Year: Nicole McCurrach - Richmond City Health Department","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Central Virginia Nurse of the Year: Nicole McCurrach - Richmond City Health Department","og_description":"Nicole McCurrach receives her RHHD Nurse of the Year award. Nicole McCurrach and her husband were at the Bryan Park playground with their two daughters\u2014aged five and seven\u2014on a Saturday […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/","og_site_name":"Richmond City Health Department","article_published_time":"2024-05-03T19:12:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-03T19:13:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/2024\/05\/nicole-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Central Virginia Nurse of the Year: Nicole McCurrach","datePublished":"2024-05-03T19:12:12+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-03T19:13:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/"},"wordCount":733,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/2024\/05\/nicole-scaled.jpeg","articleSection":["blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/","name":"Central Virginia Nurse of the Year: Nicole McCurrach - Richmond City Health Department","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/2024\/05\/nicole-scaled.jpeg","datePublished":"2024-05-03T19:12:12+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-03T19:13:04+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/2024\/05\/nicole-scaled.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/2024\/05\/nicole-scaled.jpeg","width":2560,"height":1920,"caption":"Nicole"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2024\/05\/03\/central-virginia-nurse-of-the-year-nicole-mccurrach\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Central Virginia Nurse of the Year: Nicole McCurrach"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/","name":"Richmond City Health Department","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/383"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19653"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19654,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19653\/revisions\/19654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}