The Opelika-Auburn News is honoring a nurse at the Tuskegee, Ala. VA for providing "outstanding" care to veterans for the past thirty years.

The Opelika-Auburn News's Heart of Health Care initiative selected Satoris Goode for her "compassionate service which has touched the lives of so many in the community," the Department of Veterans Affairs reported in a June 17 online article. Goode has worked at the Tuskegee VA since 1994, according to the article, and is currently serving in Long Term Care, which she calls "her passion."

Goode said that even as an elementary-school student, she always answered "a nurse" whenever she was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said in the article that she has always been "compassionate about the safety of others," and that as a child she "didn’t go along with the crowd when they made fun of those who were physically or mentally challenged or the elderly," and "loved spending time with some of the older people in the neighborhood and would spend time talking and walking with them." Goode said her behavior earned her the nickname of "granny" because she acted older than her years and was "old-fashioned."

Despite the teasing, Goode said there has never been a time when she considered doing anything else as her career. 

"Nursing is truly who I am,” she said.

However, despite her conviction, Goode didn't initially go into nursing. 

She first attended business school then worked for a decade as a medical secretary, according to the article. She did eventually attend St. Elizabeth's School of Nursing in Youngstown, Ohio, graduating in 1992. She spent the next two years at a nursing facility before joining the Tuskegee VA in 1994, according to the article. 

Goode said she was drawn to Tuskegee's historical past and figures, including Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver and the Tuskegee Airmen. She said she has spent 30 years serving veterans at the Tuskegee VA because she believes in the sacrifices made by every veteran to protect the freedoms enjoyed by her and "every other citizen" in America.

“Every veteran who walks through the doors or that I talk to on the phone, I consider them to be my veteran," Goode said in the article. "Whether I am managing a patient over the phone, in my office, or walking a veteran to their desired location, I strive to help them and meet their needs.”