MARYVILLE – While balancing a career and family may seem stressful enough for most of us, imagine those who balance career, military career and family. Anderson Hospital is proud to employ many of those men and women doing just that — staff like Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Nurse, Sonja Opolka. To her fellow Anderson employees, patients and visitors, Sonja is an amazing critical care nurse whose passion for nursing is evident in the care she provides. To her husband, Gary, and twin daughters, Grace and Madelyn, she is a dedicated and loving wife and mother. To her Country, she is Lt Col Opolka, a commissioned officer whose military career began 23 years ago.
“My military service began in 1993 with North Dakota Army National Guard. I was trained as a radio operator with a UH-1 helicopter unit, and took my officer commission in 1995 after graduating from nursing school,” explained Sonja. She joined the Active Duty USAF in 1998 as a Critical Care Nurse and had two ICU nursing assignments. Her first duty station was at Andrews AFB MD and the second assignment was at Travis AFB CA. “During that time I was trained as a Critical Care Air Transport (CCATT) nurse and transported non-contingency/humanitarian critical care patients,” said Sonja. “I was deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2003 prior to the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom and was in Kuwait when the war began. I deployed again in 2005 to Bagram Afghanistan as a CCATT nurse.”
In 2004 I Sonja came to the 375 Medical Group at Scott AFB IL and worked at the hospital in Same Day Surgery and the Cardiology Clinic. In 2007 she transferred to the 932 Air Reserve Wing at Scott and became a Flight Nurse. In 2008, she came to work at Anderson Hospital in the ICU bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to our staff and patients. 
In January 2015, she was deployed to Al Udeid AB Qatar as the OIC of the Aeromedical Operations Team. This deployment news came right before Christmas, a day she had planned to work in Anderson’s ICU. With a dangerous deployment on the horizon, she asked for a schedule change to be able to enjoy this holiday with her husband, five-year old twins and other family. Without hesitation, ICU Director, Toni Lipe, RN, saw to it that Sonja had whatever time off she needed prior to deployment, including the Christmas holiday.
This gesture was so profound for Sonja, that upon her return, she nominated Toni for the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Patriot Award. The Patriot Award reflects the efforts made to support Citizen Warriors through a wide-range of measures including flexible schedules, time off prior to and after deployment, caring for families and granting leaves of absence if needed. In addition, Sonja honored Toni and her fellow ICU staff by having an American flag flown in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel on board a C-130H during a combat support mission over the skies of Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait..
“My nursing career in the military has been the most challenging, humbling, yet rewarding job of my life,” said Sonja. “I am honored to bring/transport the wounded warrior home, to their families and to the land of the free.”
In 2016, Anderson Hospital had the privilege of being honored with two awards from the ESGR. First, ICU Director, Toni Lipe, was awarded the Patriot Award, followed by the hospital being awarded the Above and Beyond Award. The Above and Beyond Award recognizes employers at the local level who have gone above and beyond the legal requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by providing their Guard and Reserve employees additional, non-mandated benefits. Anderson Hospital is proud to support our men and women of service and is honored to have received this esteemed recognition.
Toni Lipe was presented the Patriot Award earlier this year.
Anderson Hospital was proud to include some of our staff who are veterans as Administrative Director of Quality and Performance Improvement, Michelle Ward, accepted the Above and Beyond Award on behalf of Anderson Hospital.
