Growing up, Liam Taylor never had a specific answer when people asked him what he wanted to do when he was older.

“It was always, ‘I just want to help people,’” Liam says.

As he grew older, he realized he had a passion for helping people with drug and alcohol addiction, mental health struggles, and other burdens. He’s brought that passion into his work as a discharge planning associate in the UPMC Passavant emergency department.

Diane Antonella is getting used to retired life.

After 38 years working as a UPMC nurse, primarily in ophthalmology and ear, nose, and throat (ENT), Diane recently retired from her position at the UPMC Vision Institute at UPMC Mercy.

“I’ve just been catching up with a lot of my friends that have been retired,” Diane says. “I wasn’t able to do that because I had to get up at 4:45 in the morning to go to work, so a lot of evenings, I would say, ‘Oh, I can’t go.’”

For her 38 years of dedicated service to patients and staff members, Diane is this month’s UPMC Pittsburgh Penguins Healthcare Hero.

Paula Lear first joined the UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital staff in January 1994 as a 19-year-old surgical assistant.

Over 30 years later, she’s still there — helping to coordinate surgeries as the clinical surgery scheduling manager.

“Obviously, I love it here, or I wouldn't have stayed for 32 years,” Paula says. “It is very much like a family. The people who work here are amazing.