Page 20 - BusinessWest 2023 Healthcare Heroes

HEALTHCARE HEROES OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Emerging Leader
Ellen
Ingraham-
Shaw
Pediatric Emergency Nurse, Baystate Medical Center
Her Passion for Behavioral Health Has Enhanced Care Across an Entire ER
By Joseph Bednar
[email protected]
llen Ingraham-Shaw just couldn’t get away from chil- dren — even when she thought she wanted to.
And thanks to her leadership and innovative
thinking, a lot of kids are better for it today.
“I actually started my career as a kindergarten
teacher,” she said, before jumping back in time a little to when her interest in working with children really began.
“Growing up, I was a horseback rider, and I got into teaching
“Especially during the pandemic, the behavioral-health population just kind exploded in our ER. And I just got really passionate about it.”
younger kids how to horseback ride; that’s how I started working with children and adolescents, including working summer camps when I was in college,” she recalled.
Then she studied early childhood education and psychology at Mount Holyoke College before spending the first five years of her career as a kindergarten teacher.
There, Ingraham-Shaw saw needs that can’t always be addressed in the classroom.
“I worked in Chicopee, and in my classroom, I had a lot of homeless students,” she said.
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