UM Capital Region Medical Center, meet your newest Delegate, RN Tamara Burgess and wish her a happy work anniversary! Tamara has been a nurse at Capital Region since July 2020, and she gives care at the Critical Care Unit (CCU). She explained, “This unit is unique because we take care of patients who are either walking and talking or they can be sedated and on the vent. So, it’s a broad spectrum, so you have to be prepared to do anything where you go.”

Tamara became a nurse at the height of the pandemic and said, at first, “There was so much information coming at you at once and everybody was scared and I was nervous at first because one of my first jobs was in the covid unit. But I did some research and made sure I wore my PPE and prayed before I went to work, and I’ve been ok.” These days, she says, “I’m not as nervous but I am still cautious.”

Tamara became a Delegate because “I saw that there was a need in my unit. I’m a union kid so, one of the first things I did when I got hired was read my union contract. I highlighted it; I took notes.” As a Delegate, she said she’s “happy that I’m able to educate people so that people know their rights. I want people to know that having a union is a great thing and people shouldn’t take it for granted. There are a lot of people out here who don’t have any representation, and it really makes a difference.”

Happy Anniversary, Tamara, and thanks for all you do for our union family!