AdventHealth New Smyrna Beach recently recognized Anna Gurske, one of the facility’s transporters, with the Starfish Award, which recognizes team members who provide impactful, compassionate patient care. Anna was chosen for this award after a patient submitted a personal story about his encounter with her.
“I was having trouble walking and stabilizing my balance from several seizures and a traumatic situation,” the patient said. “I was just dealing with the difficulty of coping with the realization that I couldn’t walk as well as I used to for the first time and it was just settling in.”
Seeing this patient’s struggle, Anna opened up about her personal story to help put him at ease.
Anna was once paralyzed from the waist down and could only move a toe. She shared that she finally found some determination and started working toward her recovery. She used a pool to assist her in restoring her ability to walk, which took her six years to accomplish.
“It is one of my greatest accomplishments in life,” Anna said.
Anna recently joined the AdventHealth New Smyrna Beach team after finally gaining her ability to walk again.
“I thank God for giving me back the ability to walk again and to help others who are sick get well,” she shared. “Outside of work, I can now walk six miles a day and I try to dance as much as I can.”
“Meeting Anna and hearing her story was a reminder from God,” the patient said. “Her story healed me and encouraged me, that if she was doing His work every day to help move and inspire me to walk every day serving Him, I could do the same and heal and get well, too.”
