Bio
From a young age, Paula Evans always knew she wanted to be a nurse. Ms. Evans began her career by serving as a medic nurse for the Guyanese National Service, fulfilling her country’s mandatory military service requirement. Four years later, Ms. Evans transitioned to working as a civilian nurse at Georgetown Hospital in Guyana for two years, before immigrating to the United States in 1981. Determined to continue the nursing career she started in Guyana, Paula worked as a full-time caregiver, while completing the nursing program at Borough of Manhattan Community College. After graduating in 1992, she began working as an NICU nurse at Metropolitan Hospital, and was promoted to Manager of the NICU within a year. After serving in that capacity for nine years, Paula moved to the Utilization Management Department as a Clinical Review Nurse. There, Ms. Evans became Head Nurse and Director of the Department after two short years, and remained in the role for thirteen more.
In 2017, the Director of the Admitting Department suddenly left Metropolitan and the leadership of the hospital asked for Ms. Evans to step into the role on an interim basis – that role became permanent and Ms. Evans has remained there ever since. Metropolitan Hospital currently has 338 staffed beds to serve the surrounding communities of Harlem, East Harlem, and Yorkville, and caters to over 390,000 total outpatient annual visits. A colleague from her medical staff remarks, “I cannot think of a person more dedicated to their work than Ms. Paula Evans. She is a creative innovator and a person who embodies every characteristic you would want to have in your emergency room and hospital.”
