XENIA — One Cedarville graduate has proven that safety is about more than protecting the physical body — it’s about caring for people’s hearts.

June Adams, staff nurse for the Cleveland Clinic Akron General Medical Center and 2017 Cedarville University Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) graduate, was named a “Safety Champion” by the Cleveland Clinic in an awards ceremony in April.

​The Cleveland Clinic recognized 111 individuals out of more than 50,000 caregivers in the hospital network as “Safety Champions.” The award went to caregivers who exhibited “Safety Through the Lens of High Reliability.” The recipients were individuals who spoke up for safety, improved patient safety and practiced leadership to sustain safety goals.

Adams has worked for Akron General for nearly 30 years. She currently works in the operating room (OR) and serves on the OR Education Council committee at Akron General.

Adams has made safety a priority by leading seminars on workplace conflict and bullying to educate her co-workers. She encourages them to communicate with one another and observe regulations for patient and staff safety.

“No one person can see everything, and the more eyes you have that are safety-minded, the more likely concerns are to be brought to light before they become a problematic situation,” Adams said. “That’s where communication is key because if caregivers don’t feel they can speak up and be heard, you will find that most people will remain silent, potentially to the detriment of the patient or other caregivers.”

Adams received her Bachelor of Science in nursing at the University of Akron and sought a way to further her education in a Christian environment. She began her M.S.N. global health ministries degree at Cedarville after reading a postcard.

“I was trying to find a way to combine my Christian beliefs with my nursing practice,” Adams said. “I had never heard of Cedarville before, and then I got a postcard in the mail about their master’s in global health. I went to an information session and decided that Cedarville was the right school.”

The opportunity to learn from a Christian university encouraged Adams to minister to the needs of her patients and co-workers.

“I appreciate how Cedarville focused on incorporating biblical principles in every class,” Adams said. “What I’ve learned from my degree at Cedarville is to focus more intentional care on a person’s spirit. In health care, we are dealing with the physical and the mental, but when I hear the stuff going on in people’s personal lives, I have found that every single person is dealing with something.”