Good Vibes Only: From serving her country to her community
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)-- This Fourth of July, we are celebrating the great things of the U.S.A., including the people!
Emily Howard is a former U.S. Army signal intelligence analyst, but she traded her military gear for a medical uniform.
Today, Howard is the Medical ICU Director at Las Palmas Medical Center in El Paso. She continues to use many lessons she learned in the Army.
"My time and my service taught me that, to be a lot more confident in what I know. I was a lot younger then, and being around older and more respectable people, you sometimes doubt and what you are capable of and what you do know,” Howard said.
She was stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, where she made critical decisions during the war in Afghanistan.
Howard decided to make the switch to a career in healthcare. She said her mission remains the same-helping others during a critical time.
“It makes me a lot more confident, again, in being able to say, this is what I need, this is what my people need. Being in the medical field, especially in critical care, things can change from moment to moment, and it can be very dangerous for my staff and for my patients," she told ABC-7.
As she leads the ICU team, she continues to make an impact inside the hospital.
“When people come to see us, it's usually on the worst day of their entire lives. And being that person that can help them, even if it's just a littlest bit, make it a little bit better, make them feel a little bit more comfortable. It's really everything to me,” she said.
She said she knows she is making a difference in the lives of many patients.
"It's really fulfilling. At the end of the day, that's what fills my cup. Being able to help the patients and their family members understand what's going on, make good decisions about their health and their health care."
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