Bethany Thiede

From cities like Harrisburg, the state capital of Pennsylvania, to Cumberland, a small town in the mountains of Maryland, UPMC is uniquely positioned to get to know our communities both big and small. Our role as a health care provider fosters a special relationship with the areas we serve, allowing us to discover the strengths, challenges, and unique experiences of our communities, as well as to create connections and bridge the gap between the people of a region and the institutions that suppo...

Alvine T. learned from a very young age just how much health care matters. Born and raised in Kenya, she regularly observed how the people in her community suffered from a lack of access to health care and a lack of health education. Often, Alvine’s neighbors would wait until the last minute to get to the nearest hospital, which was almost an hour and half away from her village.
Alvine remembers one day, when a young boy in her village fell ill and needed serious medical care. His mother didn’t...

Meet Kendra P., Registered Nurse on 2 Main at UPMC Muncy. Kendra spent 16 years working as a nursing assistant, and for many years she was completely content in that role. “I was totally comfortable, and I loved what I was doing, because I was frontline with the patients,” she said.
A lot of the responsibilities of a nursing assistant, like bathing, feeding, and dressing patients, are the tasks that people are eager to leave behind as they move on to other nursing roles, but that couldn’t be fur...