VONCEA BRUSHA RECOGNIZED AS “FACE” OF UF HEALTH SHANDS
Meet this year’s 50-year milestone honoree
Voncea Brusha, A.S.N., R.N., accepted her long-term service award as if she was accepting an Oscar, and rightfully so after 50 years as a UF Health Shands Hospital Mother/Baby Unit nurse. She captivated the crowd at the annual Milestone Service Awards banquet with words of wisdom, expressing her love and gratitude to her coworkers and friends at UF Health Shands.
“In spite of the challenges inherent to this career, there burns an incredible flame of satisfaction that doesn’t die … The key was finding the right fit, a job I loved that has enabled me to continue to serve for so many years,” Brusha said.
Voncea Brusha, A.S.N., R.N., celebrated 50 years of service and received special
recognition by UF and UF Health leaders at the Milestone Service Awards banquet.
(L-R) Kent Fuchs, Ph.D., UF president; James J. Kelly Jr., UF Health Shands senior
vice president and chief financial officer; Irene Alexaitis, D.N.P., R.N., NEA-BC, UF
Health Shands chief nursing officer and Nursing and Patient Services vice president;
Janet Christie, UF Health Shands Human Resources senior vice president; Joseph A.
Tyndall, M.D., M.P.H., UF College of Medicine interim dean; Voncea Brusha; and Ed
Jimenez, UF Health Shands CEO.
Brusha has spent her entire career in the Mother/Baby Unit. She said some of her most endearing moments occur when she meets patients she took care of years before. Brusha now has helped deliver three generations of babies born at UF Health Shands.
“Voncea is like a monument to UF Health nursing,” said Irene Alexaitis, D.N.P, R.N., NEA-BC, UF Health Shands chief nursing officer and Nursing and Patient Services vice president. “She is the most dedicated nurse that I know.”
Her colleagues not only appreciate her vivacious energy, but her incredible dedication to her work.
The community Brusha has built and the people she continues to motivate at UF Health Shands remain a hallmark of her ongoing service. She is a source of inspiration and knowledge for nurses young and old as well as physicians and staff.
Brusha said, “My childhood dream of being a nurse has been fulfilled throughout my 50 years of continued learning, gaining as well as sharing knowledge, and enhancing my skills in caring for others.”
