San Juan Regional Health

San Juan Regional Medical Center’s Sonja Crum, the Nurse Manager of the Childbirth Unit, was recognized with the Patriot Award for supporting one of her unit’s caregivers, a registered nurse in the Army National Guard. The Patriot Award is awarded by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense Program that develops and promotes supportive work environments for service members in the National Guard and Reserve. 

“Thank you for all that you do not only for your employed service members, but the country as a whole. Without you and all our other employers who support our National Guard and Reserve components, we would not be able to sustain our present military strength,” said Mike Kakuska, Chairman for the New Mexico ESGR Committee.

Today, about half of our military forces reside in the National Guard and Reserve, but they are also civilian employees. The Patriot Award honors employers who contribute to national security and protect liberty and freedom by supporting employee participation in America’s National Guard and Reserve Force.

“I’m a veteran of active duty as well as the Guard. It’s really meaningful to us to know that we are being supported by our employer whenever we get deployed,” said Dr. Robert Underwood, Chief Medical Officer at San Juan Regional Medical Center.  

Crum said she is honored to be able to support caregivers who are also in the military. The nurse/National Guard member who nominated her for the Patriot Award is especially grateful for Crum checking in to see how she’s doing during times of deployment. Now, with military caregivers deployed to San Juan Regional Medical Center, Crum sees a different side to these deployments.

“Having the military come in here and help us with COVID, it’s really brought it full circle,” Crum said. “I can see firsthand now what they are doing when they are called up to serve. We were able to benefit from those reservists being called up, and I am honored to have an employee who works for us who is a reservist.” 

Chief Nursing Officer Suzanne Smith, who is a past recipient of the Patriot Award, echoed that sentiment as she recalled San Juan Regional Medical Center’s long history of supporting our nation’s reserve component.

“We take a very proud stance in supporting our reservists and guard. It is an important component that we acknowledge and recognize and support them in the work that they do both here at home and when they are deployed,” Smith said.

Thank you to our service members and veterans and thank you to all the employers and leaders like Sonja and Suzanne for their continued support so our National Guard and Reserve can fulfill their duty to serve in the military forces.