Melissa Sandgren

This person has been involved with COVID, from the very, very beginning, as much as anyone could possibly want to be. She slinks around the building in the early morning hours and haunts the halls in the late evenings into the night. She has even been known to prowl the building in the wee hours of the morning listening for sounds that go ‘beep’ in the night.
This person began working at the County in March of 2015 as a time limited nurse. It wasn’t long before she was hired full time and has been the nurse supervisor in the immunization clinic for the last 3 ½ years.

Melissa is a Provo gal. She and her husband, Ian, have 4 children and 2 granddaughters. She has many talents and interests, but one that you might not be aware of is that Melissa is a very good archer. She has won several competitions and wishes she had more time to shoot her bow.

Vaccines could not be in better hands than Melissa’s. She frets, worries, and hovers over them like a momma duck watching over her little ducklings. Because of her diligence we are always in compliance with state and federal regulations and the money that the county spends on vaccines is never wasted. Oh, and speaking of money, her credit card allowance is in the millions.

Melissa supervises 28 nurses that either work in the immunization clinic or the COVID clinics. Everyone had nice things to say about her, so I have picked a few that sum up what most had to say.

Co-worker: She is an amazing woman who I feel is currently married to this job. She has a difficult time asking others to do what she does on a daily basis because she feels ultimately responsible for the vaccine in the clinic. I'm lucky to work with such an amazing supervisor, who has such great attention to detail. The behind the scenes is where she is amazing and that is the place that other staff and the general public have no idea how much time and attention goes into the vaccine clinics and how much has to be done so they run smoothly on a daily basis.

Larry Evans: One of the advantages of coming to work early is that I get to see the employees arrive each day for work, and I have noticed that most of us are creatures of habit. That applies to where we park each day, and those that arrive early have their favorite parking spots, even become a little possessive and territorial. Melissa falls into that later category. About two weeks ago while make my first morning sweep of the parking terrace I noticed a large, white, extended cab truck parked in the spot where Melissa usually parks. People do get new vehicles, but this truck did not fit Melissa's profile. Sure enough, later that morning, Melissa approached me about someone parking in her spot. She jokingly suggested I go arrest them, then graciously admitted it was not actually her personal parking stall. I was able to locate the owner of the vehicle and explained that he would be wise not to mess with Melissa! He was more than willing to relocate his vehicle and the parking universe is once again in its proper order.

Several co-workers had this to say: She has been under extreme stress the last two years, juggling her normal responsibilities as well as those of Covid, but she is always positive and has a smile for everyone around her. I appreciate that I can go to her with any questions or problems, and she is always willing to help. She is the best boss, and we love her!

And this comment to sum it all up: I would have to say that Melissa is hands down the best Supervisor I have ever worked for. She is always pleasant and even tempered. I have never heard her raise her voice in frustration, even with all the changes in the immunization clinic, and the addition of several Covid clinics at various locations throughout the county these past couple years. I appreciate the balance and professionalism that Melissa brings to the immunization clinic every single day and am so glad she is receiving this recognition today. You're a great example to all of us, and I'm glad to be part of your team!