Living the Catholic Health Mission - Prudencia Guillaume

Prudencia Guillaume (pictured left) is a Registered Nurse (RN) in the Rehabilitation Unit at St. Charles Hospital. Each day she assists patients with their physical therapy regime, helping them to recover from an injury, illness or body trauma.

"I love to see the progress day by day," says Pru. "We’re helping people get back to living life." 

Her personal journey with Catholic Health started back in 2005, when she began her employment with St. Charles as a Certified Nursing Assistant. "I could see from the start that nursing was my vocation," she says with a lilt of her Haitian/French accent. “I committed myself to take on all the training and schooling required to eventually become an RN.” She reached that personal goal in 2016. Pru has also earned her Bachelor’s degree in nursing and is currently working toward earning her Master’s degree as nurse practitioner. 

Each step of the way Pru has bonded with patients and colleagues alike. "I genuinely like people. I want to help; give them a smile each day,” she says. “It’s just part of me.”

Her supervisor agrees. “Pru’s got a special way about her,” says Laura Hamilton, Director of Nursing Rehabilitation at St. Charles Hospital. “All our nurses are wonderful, yet Prudencia just seems to radiate positive energy. That’s a big help in an environment that depends on teamwork.”

When Pru isn’t carrying out her nursing assignments, she keeps busy with an innovative hobby: making colorful plastic badge holders for her colleagues—out of medicinal bottle caps. “Why throw out all that plastic when we can recycle it and make pretty things out of it?” she asks with a smile. Her badge holder creations are often shaped like flowers or animals.  She recently gave our president, Dr. O’Shaughnessy, himself a licensed pilot, a badge holder shaped like an airplane.

Asked what she likes most about her job, Prudencia is quick to answer, “Just being there for our patients; making sure they’re safe and feel comfortable. We nurse them back to health and along the way, I feel like we make friends.”

It’s good to know Catholic Health has so many employees who embody our spirit of caring.