PITTSBURGH – Nurse Amelia Hemminger ‘18 knows that showing compassion for others can have a positive impact—in a big way.
She received The DAISY Award in 2019 after a year on the job at UPMC Presbyterian. After seeing Hemminger interact kindly with patients, her former unit director sent a nomination packet to The DAISY Foundation, which recognizes nurses nationally “to honor the super-human work nurses do for patients and families every day.”
One notable experience in her nomination was to accompany a patient with Down Syndrome to a prom for people with special needs, called Night to Shine, sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation.
Amelia has since moved to a position in UPMC Presbyterian’s cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) – a position she loves.
“In the ICU, patients have so many complex needs. It keeps you busy,” she said.
Amelia is not only making a difference in the lives of others, she inspires her younger sister, Lydia, to set high goals. She led her on a job shadowing for a 12-hour nursing shift and encouraged her interests in human biology.
Dorothy (Dot) A. Davis, JD ’78, chair of Carlow University’s Board of Trustees, views the sisters’ ambitions as extensions of the University’s mission to provide transformational education for future leaders. The Hemminger sisters are the nieces of Davis’s brother-in-law.
“They are intelligent and creative young women who possess the same strong strength of character and devotion to their work, family and faith exemplified by their mother and grandmother, who are, and were centers of their large family of achievers, hard workers and caregivers,” Davis said.
Lydia Hemminger will begin at Carlow in the fall to major in Biology. Her goal is to go to medical school some day.
“I can’t wait to further my education at Carlow in a field that I love and gain more experience in it,” Lydia said.
An avid twirler and former captain of her West Middlesex High School majorette team, Lydia auditioned in the spring for the University of Pittsburgh Marching Band’s Golden Girls majorette team. She secured her spot as one of four first-year students on the competitive 15-person team. As a Carlow student, she will be able to enroll in and receive college credit for Pitt’s band course.
Amelia looks forward to having her sister in Pittsburgh and at Carlow.
“With Carlow’s small class size, everyone gets to know everybody else, and you make some really good friends,” Amelia said.
Davis said, “Both sisters fit perfectly into, and will admirably carry on, the legacy of Carlow’s Mercy mission and their own family’s virtues of service, compassion and strength.
“I could not be more proud of them, thankful to the family who raised them and excited for them as they become ambassadors of our Mercy mission and excellent examples of the kind of empathetic leaders it is our goal to educate.”