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.

For his dedication to helping patients in need, Liam is the recipient of this month’s UPMC Pittsburgh Penguins Healthcare Hero Spotlight.

In his role, Liam works with patients and their families to coordinate care that they may need upon leaving the hospital.

Before he began working in the emergency department in October, he worked for nearly three years on a medical-surgical floor. There, his days could include anything from helping connect people with housing resources or Medicare to helping with dialysis treatments.

In the emergency department, Liam’s work focuses more on helping people with drug and alcohol addictions and mental health burdens. Drug- and alcohol-related emergency department visits have increased significantly in recent years across the United States.

“It's hard to watch, especially when people don't want help,” Liam says. “But you're there if they need you, and when they're ready, they're ready. So, hopefully, for a lot of people, they're able to come back, and I can help them.”

The work aligns with Liam’s passions. Before coming to UPMC, he did community work in helping people with drug and alcohol problems and mental health issues. He is also pursuing a master’s degree in social work.

In addition to helping people get connected to resources such as detox programs, Liam also spends time with patients and listens.

“A lot of times, there's still a lot of stigma, and there's still a lot of judgment,” Liam says. “And I want to try to be the person who talks to them without that judgment and try to get people the help they need.”

Liam’s ability to connect with patients earned him a UPMC Above and Beyond Award for exemplary care.

“Liam thinks of the whole person,” says Pamela Kusserow, director of Clinical Care Coordination and Discharge Planning at UPMC Passavant. “He takes time to listen to his patients and involve them in the planning process.

“Liam is very approachable,” she adds. “He is calm in a crisis and usually able to build rapport with any patient.”

In addition to talking and listening to patients, Liam also connects them with community resources. He says he creates custom packets of resources based on an individual’s needs.

“In my experience, people tend not to want to look through a booklet of stuff for one page that might apply to them,” Liam says. “So, I try to do that, and then I sit there and I go through them all with them.

“But also, if they'll let me, I usually try to make people appointments before they leave. So, get them therapy appointments or get them an appointment at a clinic if they need it.”

Liam says he also hopes to educate people about the underlying causes of drug and alcohol addiction to reduce stigma.

Although Liam says his work can be difficult and discouraging sometimes, it makes him happy when a patient gets the help they need.

“(Cases) where I’m actually able to make some kind of difference, it helps keep me coming back for the days that don’t go so well,” Liam says. “That kind of stuff is what brings me back.”

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.

Diane says she came to ophthalmology almost by accident. She applied for a job in the operating room at the former Eye & Ear Institute in Oakland.

“I fell in love with it,” she says.

Over her nearly four decades at UPMC, Diane helped to manage five ophthalmology operating room transitions, starting at the Eye & Ear Institute and concluding with the opening of the UPMC Mercy Pavilion in May 2023.

Diane’s “unmatched organizational skills and institutional knowledge” helped each move go smoothly, says Julie Hecker, vice president, Operations, UPMC Mercy.

“It’s very stressful while it’s in progress, but once the move actually happens — and they’ve all been successful — it’s a really nice feeling to bring all the surgeons to these newer facilities without any hitches,” Diane says. “It was nice to be able to help them make the transition.”

Diane assumed a nurse leadership role early in her career. For much of her career, she was involved in direct patient care and assisting surgeons in the operating room. After the move to the UPMC Mercy Pavilion, Diane’s focus shifted to managing the flow of the eight UPMC Vision Institute operating rooms.

Julie says that no matter who Diane interacted with, she treated them with dignity and respect.

“Diane is both caring and hardworking,” Julie says. “Her compassion is evident in the way she speaks to others, and she has the ability to calm patients and staff with humor and positivity. Many days she stayed late to support her team and ensure that patients were well cared for.”

That compassion for physicians, patients, and staff is what made Diane a health care hero, Julie adds.

“She always puts the patients first and ensures they get the care they need as soon as they need it,” she says.

During Diane’s tenure, UPMC physicians and scientists have significantly advanced ophthalmology care and research. The move to the UPMC Vision Institute at UPMC Mercy Pavilion has helped quicken these advances.

“Most recently, I think (I’ve enjoyed) all the innovative research they’re doing since we’ve come to the Vision Institute, and a lot of the gene therapies for different types of blindness out there,” she says. “That’s just been really appealing to me towards the end of my career, and I’m thankful that I was able to play a small role in the research of that.

“It’s very fulfilling. It’s really great to know that you are making a difference in some people’s lives.”

Since retiring, Diane is occupying herself with preparing for the holidays and catching up with friends. She says while she won’t miss the early-morning wakeups, she will miss all of the people at UPMC.

“I’ll miss the surgeons because a lot of them grew up with me,” Diane says. “They were residents, and then they became attendings. A lot of them I’ve known for a long time, so I think I’ll miss them probably the most. And I’ll miss a lot of the staff; I had a lot of good staff members working for me that were great.”

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.

“I definitely would never hesitate to refer any of my friends, family, or anyone here. I think that there is no better care out there than what's offered here. The staff is amazing.”

For her 32 years of dedication to UPMC Magee, Paula is this month’s UPMC Pittsburgh Penguins Healthcare Hero.

Paula began her current role about two and a half years ago. Previously, she scrubbed in to surgery full-time as a surgical assistant.

Her current role involves coordinating surgeries at UPMC Magee. Beyond scheduling the procedures, Paula ensures that each surgery has enough staff, equipment, supplies, and more.

With 15 operating rooms and 65 to 80 procedures performed each day, it requires a lot of organization.

“I think that I do a really good job of getting patients onto our OR schedule, especially emergent patients (and) complicated cases,” Paula says.

She adds that her previous experience as a surgical assistant helps her now.

“Because I know how all of the surgeries work, how to do them, what they need, I use that to figure out how long to schedule every case for and make sure we have everything,” she says. “It all sort of plays back on each other.”

Paula still scrubs in to surgery, too — though not as often as she once did.

A lot has changed in surgery at UPMC Magee-Womens since Paula first started. The hospital has added specialties like bariatric surgery. Technical advances like robotic-assisted surgery have helped to improve care.

“It's really interesting to see all of the technology that has come in and all the advancements we've made in medicine,” Paula says. “I've done a lot of the firsts on certain cases here. We do so many more minimally invasive (procedures) now instead of just opening someone up all the way. We do these laparoscopic robotic procedures where, before, they would be in the hospital for a week, and now they're going home the same day.

“It's quite a difference, that's for sure.”

One thing that remains the same is UPMC Magee’s commitment to patients. The hospital is nationally recognized for providing expert care to women. That commitment is a major reason why Paula continues to come to work each day.

“I really do feel like we help so many women, so many people every day just in getting them access and getting them the care that they need,” Paula says. “Whether it's someone having a miscarriage, someone having cancer, or someone having a life-changing operation like bariatric surgery. We make a difference in people's lives every day.”