When Jessica Hege learned that she was a nominee finalist for this year’s Heroes & Champions Award, her first response was so typical of the way she works, collaborates and serves: with humility and passion.
“We all deserve the credit,” Hege says. “So much of what I do is a direct reflection, not of just me, but … of the wonderful teams that provide support to the clients that I also get to serve.”
This, along with her central role in the lives of hundreds of clients, is one of the many reasons why Hege, a psychiatric nurse located at our Northgate office was selected as this year’s winner of the Heroes & Champions Award in the Medical category.
Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that Hege is extremely team-oriented, fiercely client-focused and deeply committed to serving the community.
“She connects with people of different backgrounds and she is much loved by everyone she works with,” one team member has said about her. “I have never seen anyone who builds rapport like she does.”
Yet, Hege refuses to take credit for the things she has accomplished here in her nearly seven years and continues to emphasize how her team members, and not her, are the true heroes impacting the lives of clients.
“’Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much,’” she says, quoting Helen Keller. “I truly believe that Sound has that ability to bring together the resources and people into the community, into this area, and start doing some much needed work. That’s why I’m still here.”
Though she left her native South Carolina years ago, where she practiced nursing in a number of fields ranging from domestic violence and residential to psychiatric and oncology care, she now feels completely at home at Sound and in the work she does.
“Sound is more than a building,” she says. “Sound has hired some wonderful people, so I love coming into this team of people who are passionate about serving the people that I am passionate about. Together we use the best of what we have to work through all kinds of situations.”
“Being nominated for the Heroes & Champion Award to me means that something that I did was positive” she says, reluctantly, adding, “But nothing that I do can be done unless I have the full support of my team.”