Sarah Kutz: Putting patients first is second nature for hard-working nurse

WATERLOO — Sarah Kutz sees and helps dozens of patients every day and has wanted to do so since she was a child.

Kutz is an ambulatory nurse at UnityPoint Health-Allen Hospital. Her responsibility as a registered nurse is to get patients prepared for surgery in the hospital’s 13-bed unit.

Kutz has been named one of the Courier’s Top Cedar Valley Nurses for 2023. She received five nominations.

“(She’s) one of the best around, hard working, caring and always putting patients first,” a supporter wrote in a recommendation. “(She’s) able to greet every patient with an upbeat attitude and a smile on her face. Always willing to fill in anywhere needed and be the first one in and last one out.”

She said she was honored to receive the nominations.

“I’m super-excited and honored that it’s me, but I feel like it may be because of my coworkers and my leaders. I feel like a lot of them could get the same thing,” Kutz said. “It’s one of those things you feel like you’re just doing your job, you know, that’s what I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to be caring and giving and all the things, you know, so I feel like I’m just getting recognized for doing what I do every day.”

As a child, she knew she wanted to do something within the medical field, although no one in her family was in health care.

She originally wanted to work in physical therapy but changed her mind after graduating and having her first child, Cayden. She wanted to be a nurse in obstetrics, a field in which women and their babies are cared for during pregnancy and childbirth.

“I loved all the staff that came in and helped me,” she said. “It seemed like they loved their job. It just seemed like it was exciting and fun and something cool. It just sparked my interest by how good of care I got.”

She received a biology degree from the University of Northern Iowa around the same time as she had her first child in 2006. Then she went on to Allen College where she received her degree in nursing, as well as becoming a registered nurse through the program.

She’s been at UnityPoint Health-Allen Hospital since 2009 and on her current surgical floor since 2011.

Throughout school and a portion of her nursing career, Kutz waitressed at the Brown Bottle for 10 years. Although different professions, she sees some similarities.

“I love being around people,” she said. “People might think my personality just works, but waiting tables is totally different than being a nurse. But I just think that helping people is part of your personality.”

She enjoys getting to know her patients but she especially likes to see them leave.

“It’s a lot of patients that we get, some of them have a chronic condition, or you know, they come back and they have these multiple things,” she said. “To see them leave finally in the end, healed, is always a super cool and rewarding thing.”

Most important to her, though, is ensuring patients leave after having a positive experience.

“I want them to be able to go out and tell other people in the community how great their experience was at UnityPoint because word of mouth is the biggest thing,” she said. “We love to have our patients come back and say they had an awesome experience. I like to be a part of that – to know that last time they were here they had a great experience and we are who took care of them.”

Kutz stays busy with her family – husband, Ben, and sons, Cayden and Kellen – when she is not at work. She attends and volunteers at her sons’ sports activities.