As seasoned as nurses come, Worrell’s ability to bring fresh perspective into her work has earned her substantial recognition among her peers. She spent most of her career in La Crosse before working as a rotating nurse in Sparta.

Since moving to Sparta, Worrell said her experience guided her to implement new ways of thinking at the clinic. Worrell pointed out the need for more specializations and cemented nurses.

“I came in with a fresh set of eyes and a broader skill set having had experience in management and I’ve been in the OR forever. I went from circulating to being a charged person out here because we needed one.” Worrell said. “We got another eye surgeon, Dr. (Shawn) Sell, who now does corneal transplants and that just brought things to a whole other level because that was our opportunity to shine.”

Worrell said the autonomy of her job allowed her to succeed in organizing Sparta’s clinic to a point where the whole team would feel comfortable with change in the workplace. Now, Sparta offers the only corneal transplants in the Mayo Health Clinic System.

“We’re going to continue to give the patient that homey feel of a Sparta hospital, you know, but have all the technology and services so that actually, we do things that La Crosse can’t do,” Worrell said.

Worrell has two parents who both went through cataract surgery, so offering ophthalmic operations inspires her to connect with patients above and beyond the expected amount. She said owning the coordination of an operating schedule lets her comfort patients and helps them understand their care is appropriately managed.

For the uninitiated, surgery and operations can be intimidating. Looking inside of bodies is only a task suited for those with raw interest in seeing such intense procedures. For Worrell, it has been fascinating from the beginning of her career with Mayo.

“Char, who was the manager back then, she was like, ‘We don’t hire new grads. Everybody needs to get their floor experience for time management skills and et cetera,’” Worrell said. “I was like all right, well I’m going to be back then.”

Her capstone project at Viterbo University was in the operating room, her first move after general health was to the operating room and after a stint in administration she ended up back in operating again.

Worrell’s eyes light up when asked what she enjoys so much about working with surgeries. The only word that comes to mind for her is “fascinating,” and her face sells that word to the moon.

The vision for Sparta is strong with Worrell. While she says it’s all logistics and planning, it is undeniable that Worrell sees much more than organization in her love for her work.