Winget’s mother also had been removed from her mother’s care as a child. But rather than continue the cycle, Winget went to college and began a career in child welfare before transitioning to medical social work.

“The biggest part of social work for me is empowerment and advocacy,” she said. “I like being able to empower patients and their families to be educated about their healthcare, to advocate for their healthcare, to be knowledgeable about their discharge plan and what’s happening to them.”

Winget, who was recently elected chair of the Texoma Branch of the National Association of Social Workers/Texas, works with people of all ages and enjoys hearing their stories.

“I work on a medical floor, but two days a week I cover the mother-baby unit,” she said. “So, I get the whole lifespan. I also love advocating for our patients in daily rounds with doctors and the medical team: what they want for their discharge plan, where they want to go, how to give them a safer discharge. I provide a voice for our patients.”

Winget’s devotion to her patients is clear, said Lisa Benton, LCSW, director of Care Transitions at Texas Health Denton.

“Sarah is an amazing team member and patient advocate,” Benton said. “She is the kind of person who doesn’t settle for just getting the job done; she wants to make a difference in the lives of her patients and the people she works with. She is a problem-solver and is not daunted by having to go the extra mile.”

Winget recently helped a patient who had been discharged to a local homeless shelter after being found in an altered mental state.

“He was not originally my patient, but while getting someone else discharged, I found out that this man’s personal items – his wallet and truck keys – had been left behind,” she said. “I contacted the shelter to arrange for him to get his stuff. About a week after he got there, they had him arrested for trespassing and the police brought him to us because he was mentally altered again. At that point, he became my patient.”

Winget looked through the man’s history and was able to contact a cousin, who explained that the man had been employed and living in a group home until recently. The cousin said the man was normally alert, oriented and communicative but would go off his medications a couple of times a year. The group home said he had been missing for a month, and Winget was able to send him back.

The whole team was thankful for Winget’s dogged determination, Benton said.

“Our team felt like we had exhausted every avenue, and we were all unsatisfied with the realization that if we couldn’t find a family or support for him, he would end up back on the streets,” Benton said. “We were so relieved and grateful that Sarah made the effort to locate the family member. The group home staff were so pleased to have their resident back. It was such a happy ending for a patient who had a fairly bleak-looking outcome otherwise.”

Winget wants other caregivers to remember that they’re often seeing people at their worst.

“Just because we see patients in a crisis situation, that doesn’t mean it’s their baseline and it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t dig deeper into their history,” she said. “Yes, he was altered, but we can’t assume that’s his baseline. I try to look at things with a little more insight, so we can leave people in a better situation than they were when they came in.”