Sharon Johnston, RN, was on the elevator one Saturday at Vanderbilt University Hospital when she overheard a couple having a conversation about their mother, who was about to be discharged.
“They were unhappy about how things were progressing, and I told them that maybe I could help them,” said Johnston, a case manager who does discharge planning with patients at VUH.
Help them, she did. Johnston got the patient’s name and date of birth, checked to see if someone was following the case, and reached out to the doctor to arrange for the patient to have a physical/occupational therapy evaluation and potentially go to rehabilitation before going home. It was part of a typical day’s work for Johnston, who approaches each patient and family — even those she meets on elevators — with sensitivity and kindness.
For her compassionate care, Johnston was selected for a 2025 Patient and Family Choice Award.
The award honors employees from across Vanderbilt Health who act with compassion and excellence to provide an exceptional experience for patients and their families. Nominations are submitted by patients and families. This year the patient and family advisory councils honored seven individuals from Vanderbilt University Hospital, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt Behavioral Health, Vanderbilt Adult Ambulatory Clinics, Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital and Vanderbilt Tullahoma-Harton Hospital.
“By the grace of God, Sharon was on the elevator,” wrote the patient’s daughter-in-law in her letter nominating Johnston for the award. “She immediately (contacted the doctor to request) a PT/OT evaluation and stated she would help arrange home health, short-term care, etc., whatever was deemed needed by my mother-in-law. Sharon displayed the beauty, care and compassion of a noble and honorable profession — nursing.”
Johnston gets a little teary thinking about being nominated for and receiving the award.
“I can’t believe somebody would give it to me,” she said. “Why me? Other people do so many good things for patients. Nurses save patients’ lives every day. I didn’t save someone’s life.”
What made her speak up in that elevator?
“My friends would say, ‘It’s just Sharon being Sharon.’ Somebody had a problem, and I knew I could fix it,” Johnston said. “It doesn’t have to be just about case management; if I have a friend who’s got a problem, I’m going to try to help them fix it.”
Johnston joined VUH as a case manager in October 2024 as the final act — she says — in her four-decade nursing career.
Johnston came to nursing after a tumble down the stairs with her 6-month-old son, now 43, broke his leg in three places and landed him in the hospital for several weeks. Johnston never left his side, and during those weeks, she decided she would go to nursing school.
She worked part-time as a hospital aide while she was in nursing school in Rochester, New York, then worked as an inpatient nurse, a home health nurse for patients with infusion devices, and a traveling bedside nurse all over the country. She settled in Yuma, Arizona, and worked for 12 years as a case manager before doing travel nursing again and moving to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where her older son and only grandchild lived (they recently moved to Texas, Johnston said). Her younger son lives in Florida.
Johnston splits her time between Chattanooga and Nashville, working Thursday through Sunday at VUH. On Thursdays and Fridays, she works with a team to make discharge plans with patients in every unit at VUH. The plans depend on the patients’ needs, and Johnston points out that giving patients the opportunity to make their own choices about the plans is an important part of her role.
On the weekends, she works on special tasks as assigned — and rides the elevators, where her case management and problem-solving skills sometimes come in handy.
