I am nominating Scarlet O'Heran for the Caregiver award. I have served at two hospice locations, and while I have had the privilege to meet the most outstanding people in this field, I have never met anyone with such a giving spirit and loving heart as Scarlet. She shines through the amount of care she gives to those around her; whether it is her volunteer team, her co-workers, her family or the patients in hospice, Scarlet approaches everyone in her life with a smile. I have been enriched by knowing her, and she is such an inspiration to me both personally and as a volunteer in hospice. I am on the front lines in my interactions with patients, and I sometimes wonder how we will get resources for them. Scarlet never complains, and I often find out later that it was through her efforts that people received what they needed, even though it fell outside of her duties to do so. Scarlet regularly works long hours, even once leaving a family gathering in a different state and driving for hours to make sure a patient had a friendly visit when another volunteer fell through. This kind of commitment to patient care is so rare, but Scarlet does this without resentment and with a genuine heart for the wellbeing of her patients. I am continually in awe of her and inspired by her energy and the love she pours into her job, which is clearly a calling for her. I am honored to know her, and I try to model myself after her. I can only imagine that when this award was created, it was with the sole purpose to give it to someone with her exact qualities. I humbly submit that you can do no better for a recipient, and I ask you to please bestow it upon this very deserving woman for all that she does for her community with the innumerable thanks of those whose lives she has enriched.

-Catherine Foster