In honor of Veterans Day 2024, we are highlighting some of our veteran treasures – our staff! Welcome to this special edition of “Honoring FHW Veterans.”
Meet Zach Varley, a Registered Nurse (RN), from the FHW Emergency Department.
He was on the backside of his committed time to the United States Army when the calendar read September 11, 2001. His duty station that day was the DMZ in South Korea (the demilitarized zone created as a buffer between North and South Korea in 1953). Zach said he woke up to sirens and turned on the news to find out what was going on.
“On guard duty (that day) we had real bullets,” he said. And being in South Korea for 14 months was “a real culture shock.”
Joining the military was a thing to do after high school “to get out and see the world,” he said. “The military seemed like a good opportunity to get out of the valley and do something cool.”
The valley for Zach was the Carbondale-Basalt area where on a trip back home in the winter, following boot camp, he broke his collarbone snowboarding. Instead of getting sent to Germany as originally planned, that injury got him diverted to Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs. This was the first opportunity to have direct experience with anything related to the medical field. He was on a temporary desk assignment in a radiology department and it piqued his interest.
Eventually, he left the US Army as an E-4 Specialist having served as a 63B Light Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic in the 1/506th Infantry Division “Currahee.” He returned home and started working construction jobs until the market fell apart in 2008. He then took some CNA (certified nurse assistant) classes at the local community college. After a few years as a CNA, he had grown to love the industry and decided to use his GI Benefits through the Veterans Administration and went to nursing school.
Today, Zach can be found in the FHW Emergency Department caring for patients. When a self-described ‘old timer’ came in with some back pain, Zach connected him about also being a veteran. Despite any pain, the patient and his nurse were smiling and reminiscing about their shared military experiences.
We are so proud Zach found his way to Family Health West and thank you for your service!
