Values in Action Spirit Award Recipient for August – Melanie Wilt

An employee since 1976, Melanie was selected as the Western Maryland Health System's Values in Action Spirit Award recipient for the month of August. Melanie is a nurse in Perioperative Services on the Braddock campus. She began her career at Memorial as a nurse on a Med/Surg unit for two years and then moved to the Delivery Room, where she spent eight years. In 1986, Melanie began working in the Operating Room at Memorial and she joined Perioperative Services on the Braddock campus four years ago.

As a nurse for the Heart Institute, Melanie is assigned to work in the open heart operating rooms. She rotates between being a scrub nurse and a circulating nurse for open heart surgeries. Melanie also works throughout the operating rooms at Braddock and has worked with almost every surgeon on the medical staff. She also assists with continuing education issues for the surgery department.

Melanie is an outstanding employee with excellent clinical nursing skills and a great, positive attitude. She is a team player who is very supportive and a strong patient advocate, providing empathy towards her patients and their families. She is more than willing to help out when and where she is needed and no matter what the situation might be. Melanie follows the highest nursing standards and is a skillful mentor for new personnel in the operating room. She is very well-respected and co-workers describe her as dependable, thoughtful, gentle and conscientious.

Melanie says she likes being a part of the team in surgery at WMHS. "I really enjoy working in the operating room and I think we have great groups of employees in both OR's," says Melanie. "We are very fortunate to have a first-class open heart surgery program and it is truly a team effort that requires everyone working together." She says they all get along very well and collectively pool their efforts to give their patients the best care available anywhere.

Melanie and her husband, Mitchell, live in Wiley Ford and have been married for 23 years. They are the proud parents of two sons who are currently serving in the military and they have two grandchildren. Karl, 23, is stationed at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where he and wife Shayna, along with their 15-month-old son, Rhys, reside. Derek, 20, is stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. He and wife Eleanor have a two-month old baby boy named Aden.

Away from work, the Wilts enjoy riding motorcycles and often take to the road on their Harley whenever they get a chance. Melanie especially enjoys crocheting and she likes to travel. She recently went to Germany for two weeks to visit her new grandson and she went to Mexico and the Dominican Republic with her husband. She is a member of the Enunciation of Our Lord Catholic Parish in Fort Ashby. Melanie also volunteers her time, along with other WMHS nurses, to help staff the first-aid station at local events like last year's "Thomas the Tank" weekend at Canal Place.

Congratulations, Melanie!