When John Quinn’s U.S. Navy Reserve unit got called up in January for duty in Guam, it was his second deployment in two years.

Lt. Cmdr. Quinn is a critical care nurse. That’s also his civilian role at the UConn Health Center.

“On behalf of the entire nursing department, we are very proud of John’s service to our country,” says Chief Nursing Officer Ellen Leone. “We have prayed for his safe return and for his family and for his deployments, most recently during the nursing vigil as part of Nurses Week.”

He did return safely, in late May, and has been back to work since June. Thursday, he showed up for work not in scrubs but in full military dress for an impromptu award ceremony. With his fiancé, Dawn Beaudoin, and Bill Vernile from the Connecticut office of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Department of Defense agency, he presented the ESGR’s Patriot Award to Debra Abromaitis.

Abromaitis, formerly the UConn Health Center’s float pool nurse manager and now director of patient relations, was Quinn’s boss when his unit was activated. She was visibly shaken when she learned what was happening.

“John felt very touched that you supported him while he was gone,” Vernile read from Quinn’s nomination. “There were gift packages that were sent. You stayed in touch with his fiancée. When he returned to work you made the transition to civilian life very easy for him. And some service members find difficulty doing that; you made that transition very easy. And then after he came back, he had to go away again. And during that time you gave him that same support.”

Abromaitis says she was not prepared for that kind of recognition.

“When I saw them today I thought either John was getting recognized for something, or they were getting married.” she says. “Never, never in my wildest dreams did I expect anything. He’s not good at keeping secrets. So I can’t believe he did this. I really am so honored and shocked.”

When Quinn learned the Department of Defense had agreed to name Abromaitis a Patriot Award winner, he started scheming with Leone.

“Deb’s caring and support of John during and after his deployments are representative of what makes our UConn family so special, and I felt that it was important to share this story with the entire community,” Leone says.

What they came up with was a surprise presentation during safety huddle, a regular meeting of representatives from several dozen UConn Health Center areas. The roughly 30 attendees in the Onyiuke Dining Room stood and applauded when Abromaitis announced, “I really don’t deserve this. It’s truly John for his service to our country.”

Quinn has been a reservist for 26 years. His previous deployment was July 2011 through March 2012 Afghanistan, where his unit provided care for combat troops that came under more than 100 rocket attacks.

“Critical care nurses are vital obviously in the military, but also in the hospital as well, so losing a critical care nurse is a void here and that’s hard to fill,” Abromaitis says. “But understanding that he’s going to support our country, it’s just an honor to have him on my staff.”

Quinn says he started the nomination process while in Guam.

“It’s actually UConn as well as Deb, but Deb went above and beyond,” Quinn says. “UConn’s [military leave] policies make it really nice, to not have to worry about having a job when you come back, and besides that I got 30 days of pay while deployed each year, which is nice.”

“It’s one less thing to worry about,” says Beaudoin, also a UConn Health Center nurse, in the medical-surgery float pool.

“And knowing that your employer is also communicating with your spouse or fiancée, it takes a lot of the pressure and stress away,” Quinn says. “Even coming back, the transition was made easy.”

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