Pasadena Nurse Honored By Dunkin Donuts

As Brooke Rathell of Pasadena took her daily trip to Dunkin Donuts in Annapolis each morning, she had no way of knowing it would someday lead to professional and personal recognition and a well-deserved prize. Her husband, Doug, though, noticed a sign requesting nominees for a Hero Award and knew his wife, an Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) nurse, would be a perfect choice. Their friends at the West Street Dunkin Donuts agreed, presenting Rathell with a Hero Award – created to honor people who give back to their communities – at an October ceremony in Hanover.

Rathell and her husband visit the West Street Dunkin Donuts location so often that the employees there are like family. They have watched her three children (5-year-old Huxley, 4-year-old Sanger and 2-year-old Truitt) as they have grown, and Dunkin Donuts employees also know nurse Brooke and EMT Doug.

Rathell has been a nurse for more than seven years. She began studying nursing with the goal of working in labor and delivery. But after taking a practicum in the emergency department while a student at the University of Maryland, she was hooked on the adrenaline and on experiencing the wide variety of cases a nurse encounters in emergency, an environment in which she thrives.

“I’m a patient advocate,” Rathell said. “I treat each patient as the last, and I took care of the governor! They all get special treatment, and I have a passion for helping others, in and out of the [emergency room].”

While Rathell owes this recognition from Dunkin Donuts to her husband, it is her mom and her grandma to whom she owes her career. The funny thing, Rathell said, is that she didn’t originally intend on becoming a nurse. She believes she was lucky to be accepted into the University of Maryland when she applied, but she was simultaneously accepted into the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), having always been interested in fashion merchandizing. Fate intervened when Rathell’s grandmother became ill and Rathell began to take shifts caring for her grandma, realizing she had a gift for caring for someone with health issues.

“It completely changed my course,” Rathell acknowledged. “It was completely different, and that decision was the hardest one I ever had.”

Rathell chose the University of Maryland over FIT and found herself fascinated by the science aspect of nursing, always seeking to know more about what was going on inside the human body. Though it was vastly different from fashion, nursing wasn’t completely out of left field. Rathell’s mom is also a nurse and today works a few floors away from Rathell at AAMC.

“She’s a great nurse and a better daughter,” said Rathell’s mom, Gail Proctor. “She’s a great mom, too, especially when you have three kids. It’s hard!”

Rathell can also credit working at AAMC with meeting her husband, now a lieutenant with the Annapolis Fire Department. Doug is her biggest fan and was at her side at the Dunkin Donuts awards ceremony as Rathell won the Hero Award, along with other winners from counties throughout Maryland. Last year, Rathell was a runner-up for the honor, winning a year’s worth of free coffee. This year, the $500 top prize was awarded to Rathell, who used the money on a family vacation to Fenwick Island, Delaware.