Brenna Manchester - Miami Valley Hospital

Brenna Manchester comes by her love of nursing honestly: “My grandma is the one who inspired me,” she says. “She was an ER nurse at Children’s for 20 years. She loved it, and she got to be like the grandma nurse of the neighborhood.” She advises new nurses, “Remember why you became a nurse. We do this because we were meant to do this!” Brenna finds a way to relate to her patients. Once when a 16-year-old young man wrecked his car and his passenger died at the scene, Brenna sensed his situation was nearly too much for him to bear. Calm, confident, and extremely compassionate, Brenna entered the room, called him by name, and leaned over and said, “I know you’re scared. I’m going to take care of you.” To further bond with him, she asked if he liked football. “Oh gosh, I’m die-hard football. I love the Steelers,” he said, eyes widening. She pointed at her Steelers earrings and said “Me, too!” For a moment, he forgot about his situation and enjoyed his bond with a caring nurse.