A healthcare hero is found in the everyday interactions with people at their most vulnerable, "in need of company, compassion and caring."
That's how Heather Floris is described in a nomination package that saw the Vanderhoof nurse honoured at 9th annual BC Health Care Awards last week.
For Floris, the title came as shock.
"It was very flattering and very humbling," she said of reading her nomination, full of community testimonies from the mayor, doctors, educators and nurses who recounted moments where Floris went above and beyond in her role as head nurse.
"I have to say I cried when I read the nomination of all the people that contributed," she said.
More than 15 people spoke of Floris' heroics.
"They put you on a pedestal almost," she said. "They thank you for everything you do. Some of the stuff that you don't think makes a difference - it does. And it's nice to see that. It's nice to hear that what you're doing is making a difference in people's lives."
Floris has managed a team of 35 in acute, emergency and maternity at St. John Hospital since 2006.
She's described as the backbone of acute care.
The nomination asked for specific examples of heroics and April Hughes, the colleague who nominated Floris, had plenty to choose from.
Hughes wrote of Floris leading the triage and care for 18 children and a driver involved in a school bus roll-over; how Floris lead the clinical team that treated some of the Burns Lake mill victims two years ago; and how she sat day after day at meal time with a girl who had an eating disorder.
Floris, too, is the kind of nurse who will drive discharged patients home, buy clothes for those who need it, or make coffee and sit with a grieving family, Hughes said.
"Heather is decisive and persistent, without compromise, when it comes to compassionate and exemplary care."
One night, a newborn baby emerged with a heart condition bad enough that he needed to be airlifted to Vancouver for care. But first, they needed to get him to Prince George.
"He wasn't breathing well," Floris remembered.
Hughes described how Floris, throughout the 100-kilometre ambulance ride from Vanderhoof, manually ventilated the baby all the while comforting the mother.
"I'll never forget that night," said Floris, who knew the mother well. "She was just standing there. She's scared. She was there by herself at that moment but I had to come back in the ambulance. I felt so bad leaving her."
Six years later and the boy still brings her a card and present on his birthday - Valentine's Day.
It's not uncommon for people to recognize her in the street; that's one of the things she loves about her job and about Vanderhoof.
"You go into nursing because you care about people," she said.
Moving to Vanderhoof for work was an adjustment - even for someone used to the rural lifestyle in Nova Scotia.
"You have lots of towns that are close together," said Floris of living in the Atlantic province.
Not so with the small town of a little over 4,500 people.
"It was a huge difference," said Floris of the northern lifestyle. She and her husband, a teacher, drove in one cold February night more than 20 years ago.
"We came up over the hill and I was like 'Oh my god where are you taking me?'" Floris remembered with a laugh - but now she calls it home.
Smaller places have their care advantages too. She often knows people when they arrive at the hospital.
"I think with lots of people I already have a rapport with them."
The biggest thing for her is helping people, but she also takes great pride that her colleagues consider her dependable.
"That's what you want to be as a boss in my mind. I want to be the person that they depend on and the person they know that they can count on," she said. "It was nice to see that what I'm doing is what they from need me."
