HONORING THE FRONTLINE PRESENTED BY HONDA | ANN PADDOCK
May 15, 2021
This season, we're recognizing the local healthcare workers and first responders on the frontlines against the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a season-long segment called Honoring the Frontline, presented by Honda.
This week, we honor Ann Paddock, who at 80 years old, just began her remarkable 61st year as a pediatric nurse at Golisano Children’s Hospital.
Paddock has been working as a nurse longer than many of her colleagues have been alive. Her dedication to patients, fellow staff members, and the hospital for the last six decades demonstrates her commitment to her career.
Aided by her sense of humor and love for helping others, paddock has spent 57 of her 60 years working in pediatrics. She said that ever since she was little, she has enjoyed taking care of people. Becoming a nurse seemed like a natural progression as she was a member of the future nurses’ club in high school, which gave her the chance to work in a hospital two or three times each month under the tutelage of a professional nurse.
From there, Paddock, who is also a lifelong Amerks season ticket member and charter member of the Amerks Booster Club, graduated from the now-closed Jamestown school of practical nursing. When she saw an ad for a nursing position at strong memorial hospital back in 1961, she eagerly applied, was hired, and has worked at the medical center ever since.
Her years of experience provide paddock a unique perspective on medicine. One of the things she has enjoyed the most has been witnessing medical advancements that save lives in the face of once-incurable conditions, even in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which she has been at the front and center of since the onset.
While there is no magic formula to being happy at a job, there are a few essential factors that have encouraged paddock to put on her scrubs and persevere. Simply put, it is the opportunity to work with all the amazing people, doctors, nurses and, most importantly, the patients that keeps her going all these years later.
Her advice for future nurses entering the medical field: if you like working with patients and families, go and enjoy it. There’s no better profession.
The Rochester Americans and Upstate Honda Dealers thank the Ann Paddock and all other first responders and frontline workers for their service.
