Marshall, Ridge Point advance in playoffs - Page 6
Tornado Taco in Missouri City had our taste buds dancing during a recent visit. Read our review inside today's edition on Page 8. (Photo by Stefan Modrich)
WEDNESDAY • DECEMBER 30, 2020
Visit www.FortBendStar.com
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 44 • No. 19
Stars of the Year
Healthcare heroes
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Dalyn Hoegemeyer, AAMS Financial Advisor 4502 Riverstone Blvd. #904 Missouri City, TX. 77459 Bus. 281-494-3737 Fax 888-849-8932 dalyn.hoegemeyer@edwardjones.com www.edwardjones.com
City of Sugar Land picks top employee By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
The city of Sugar Land named application developer Tahamidur Rahman as its 2020 employee of the year. According to a Monday news release from the city, the employee of the year is selected annually from a group nominated by their peers “based on Sugar Land’s values that include open and honest communications, accountability, multicultural, people first and superior service.” The city said Rahman has been essential in operations such as helping streamline Sugar Land’s Information Central SharePoint application. He was also on a panel of city employees who participated in live broadcasts of race relations discussions called diverCITY, a Discussion of Race in America. The sessions, led by City Manager Michael Goodrum, focused on race relations in America, systemic racism/bias and what the city can or should do, according to a news release. “Taha shows superior service through all of his work,” said his nominators, which included Human Resources Manager Sharon Maddings, Information Technology Manager Imelda Balane, Operations Manager Rob Bowman and Executive Assistant Dee Callaway. “He is supportive of other staff and always goes the extra mile.”
Application developer Tahamidur Rahman, right, was recently selected as the City of Sugar Land's top employee in 2020. (Photo from City of Sugar Land)
Pictured masked up and socially distant outside Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital are: (front row, L to R) Angela Ybarra, Tabitha Wilson, Autumn Norsworthy and Joanna Olvera with (back row, L to R) Trevor Fisher, Danielle Damian, Janelle Ante and Donabel Perez. (Contributed photo)
Local nurses sacrifice on front line of pandemic By Stefan Modrich SMODRICH@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
They work long, grueling hours, looking death in the eye, out of sight and perhaps even out of mind during a pandemic that has gripped the globe for most of the last year. Unpredictability is the norm, and 4½ hours is a good night’s sleep. Gym shoes are worn in the event that a sudden sprint down a hallway is necessary. At Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital, a group of dedicated registered nurses (RNs) have bonded and become a close-knit family as COVID-19 continues to affect Fort Bend County and Greater Houston.
Carolyn Sullivan, left, and Mallory Hearn stand inside Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital. (Contributed photo)
Their names are Janelle Ante, Trevor Fisher, Autumn Norsworthy, Yolanda Russell, Tabitha Wilson and Angela Ybarra. And for their spirited efforts to help keep
our communities healthier and safer, they are the Fort Bend Star’s 2020 Stars of the Year. “We don’t really know what we’re getting day to
day, minute to minute,” Ybarra said. “The ER is about being on your toes and thinking quick on your feet, being ready for the worst, because it’s probably coming.” Ybarra said the most difficult thing about working in the emergency room is having to overcome the loss of a patient, recalling a particularly hard day when multiple patients died both of COVID-19 and other causes. She relied heavily on her co-workers to help her after being beset with grief and consoling the family of the lost patient. “You have more patients, and even if you lose one, you have three others that still need you,” Ybarra said. “So in a sense you have to
suck in that emotion so that you can give care to those other patients that need you. The family-oriented environment helps you lift your spirits for a minute so you can change your hat from this sorrow to focus on the others that you have to maintain health with or improve health with.” Wilson said she had a similar experience and was moved by an ER doctor who took the time to share a patient’s final moments virtually with an out-of-state family. “ER doctors are busy, and the fact that he sat there and took that time, it showed a lot of him,” Wilson said.
SEE STARS PAGE 7
COVID-19 dominates headlines, but spirit triumphs in 2020 By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
For most of us, 2020 has been different than other years. We had become accustomed to waking up in the morning, grabbing a cup of coffee and heading to work – though for the last nine months, that may have simply meant heading back to the bedroom or kitchen table or home office. And wearing a mask in public has become as commonplace as brushing our teeth or putting on shoes when we leave home. That’s the reality of 2020 and living in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. How we’ve coped with the coronavirus has been a major storyline that has dominated the Star’s headlines, but it’s not the only one. Below are the top stories, as selected by our staff, that
Kristian Smith holds up a sign during a Black Lives Matter sitin at Sugar Land City Hall June 8. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
defined an unprecedented year that brought tragedy, triumph and everything in between. Pandemic pummels, everyday heroes provide light Few stories about 2020 can be told without mentioning the profound impact the
COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted around the globe, including our slice of it here in Fort Bend County. Fort Bend had the Houston region’s first confirmed case of COVID-19 in early March, and there had been more than 30,000 cases in the county as of Monday. At
David Lineman, left, helps his son with an online search. Both Fort Bend ISD and Stafford MSD went to virtual learning during COVID-19. (Contributed photo)
least 344 county residents have died from the virus, including 19 as the result of an outbreak at a Missouri City nursing home in August. More than 23,500 patients have recovered. But the disease’s local impact goes way beyond the
Late Stafford Mayor Leonard Scarcella with Stafford Economic Development Corporation director Pattie Worfe. (Photo by Mary Favre)
case numbers. It has forced us to change how we live our lives and do our jobs, driving many businesses to alter the way they operate and causing some to close because of the pro-
SEE 2020 PAGE 7
JERRY FLOWERS
Real Estate Agent, MBA, CNE, ABE Army Veteran (RET) • 832-702-5241 Jerry@dreamhomesbyjerry.com
4500 Highway 6, Sugar Land, TX 77478