They both represent the best of Cheshire nursing and are role models for consistently raising the bar for clinical excellence and professional practice.
Chief Nursing Officer Anne Tyrol, MHA, CENP, FACHEPamela Switzer and Chastity Hodgson, both registered nurses at Cheshire Medical Center, were recently honored for their service with an Excellence in Nursing award.
The annual award from New Hampshire Magazine and the New Hampshire Nurses Association honors outstanding members of the state’s nursing community, recognizing those who go above and beyond to comfort, heal and educate.
Switzer, RN, BS, MSN, and Hodgson, RN, BSN, TCRN, were one of 17 nurses honored this year, including 5 others from the Dartmouth Health system.
“I am so thrilled to see Chastity and Pam recognized at the state level,” said Chief Nursing Officer Anne Tyrol, MHA, CENP, FACHE. “They both represent the best of Cheshire nursing and are role models for consistently raising the bar for clinical excellence and professional practice.”
Switzer, nurse manager for Cheshire’s Pre-Operative and Post-Anesthesia Care Units, has been part of Cheshire’s staff for almost 25 years. When she first started her career, she thought she would become a flight nurse, but her love for bedside care led Switzer to the hospital setting.
“I want to be able to help people,” Switzer said. “I want to be able to support my team, be the voice of the patient and my team, and really just be present in helping people get well.”
Switzer added that overseeing and working with her staff is the best part of her job.
“They’re the reason I come to work every day. It’s incredible to watch the extraordinary things they do with the patients. They make my job easy,” she said.
Ashley Copeland, RN, MS, Cheshire’s director of surgical services, said Switzer leads by example and creates a “supportive and positive work environment” for her staff.
“Pam is deeply knowledgeable and always has her staff’s back, offering guidance and support whenever needed ... ,” Copeland said. “Her leadership style instills trust and confidence, making her a valued and respected manager.”
Hodgson initially joined Cheshire’s Emergency Department staff in 2017 as a technician while she was in a cooperative nursing education program at Northeastern University in Boston. The program required she alternate between six months of class and six months of working full time to gain experience.
“I did my first one in an ED in Boston, and then wanted to do my second one closer to home [in Jaffrey] so that I could … create connections for a potential job after I graduated,” Hodgson said.
Following her graduation, Hodgson joined Cheshire’s Emergency Department in 2018 as a charge nurse, where she has remained ever since.
“It is truly an honor to be able to be a part of patients’ hardest days,” Hodgson said. “As a charge nurse, I end up spending a lot of time with families of critical patients, and I love being able to do small things to make their situations even just a little bit better.”
Justin Lyons, RN, nurse manager for Cheshire’s Emergency Department, said Hodgson’s passion and skill for emergency nursing is palpable to staff and patients alike.
“Chastity is frequently the calm voice of reason during the most critical of situations and always sets a positive, professional tone in the department, no matter the atmosphere and workload,” Lyons said.
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