SHELTON, WA – Sally Petersen, RN, has a special skill of drawing people in and putting them at ease with her wit, charm and warmth. These qualities, plus her steadfast dedication to patients and persistent attention to detail, make her an exemplary employee. Mason General Hospital & Family of Clinics is proud to name Petersen as the August Employee of the Month.

Petersen, a nurse in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, has been comforting patients at their bedside for 29 years this September. Her nominator called out Petersen’s skills as a nurse and her wide breadth of knowledge, as well as her immense care for patients: “Sally hardly leaves the patient’s room. She’s there to … (put) them at ease with her wit, charm and warmth.”

Petersen has been married to her husband, Jim, for 31 years, and they live in the Kamilche area of Mason County. She’s stayed in the Intensive Care Unit all these years because she loves what she does.

“I like the one-on-one with patients and families,” she said. “I like getting them through a crisis. I also like getting them through to the end of life. I’m their tour director on the worst tour that they don’t want to take. I also like being a liaison between home and the strange environment of the hospital.”

She especially isn’t afraid of offering care during intense times.

“I do enjoy the end of life care,” she said. “Families just need help getting through that time. Death is swept under the rug in our culture and people are just lost.”

The ICU team is an open learning environment, which Petersen enjoys.

“I really value my coworkers’ knowledge,” she said. “It’s not territorial. We work together as a team. I don’t think I would have stayed this long if it wasn’t like that. Mason General is a great little hospital.”

Petersen and her husband have two adult children, including Elliot, a pilot for SkyWest Airlines, and Hannah Wynne, an educator in Chehalis, as well as a son-in-law, Landon Wynne, a teacher at Hood Canal School. She and her husband like to bike (they just biked through the Dolomites in northern Italy), garden and travel.

MGH&FC is certified by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and is a licensed and accredited acute care hospital with a level four emergency trauma designation. There are more than 100 physicians on staff in 19 specialties. MGH&FC now offers 3D Mammography Services and Virtual Care 24/7.  For more information on 3D mammograms, Virtual Care or to find a health care provider, visit www.MasonGeneral.com.