It’s been a little bit of everything through the years, including the hospital cafeteria and pediatrics. But for the past 20 years this unit, on the second floor of CAMC Memorial Hospital, has been the surgical intensive care unit (SICU).

The unit had been located where the coronary care unit is now, and mostly treated patients recovering from open-heart surgery. Administrators decided to create a separate ICU devoted to surgery patients and opened it Jan. 29, 1989.

“I’d worked in different units with Ron (Moore) and Shannon (Davis),” said Connie Critchfield, a HUC on SICU for 20 years. “So when the unit was opening, I applied for it. I love the unit, my schedule and my managers. I don’t want to work anywhere else.”

“The patient flow is interesting,” said Ellen Pittman, RN, who also has worked on the unit for 20 years. “There’s always a variety of cases; including major surgeries.”
SICU has 12 beds and 53 employees.

“I love my coworkers,” said Stacey Fischer, RN, another 20 year SICU employee. “We’re a family. And that’s why I’ve worked on this one unit for so long.”

Linda Coll, RN, agreed. “All of us are close. We come together in good times and bad.”
Consistent leadership may play a role in the unit’s success. In the 20 years SICU has been in its current location, there have been only three managers: Ron Moore, Shannon Davis and Craig Riley.