In four short years of employment at UT Health East Texas EMS, Juliana has consistently shown exceptional patient care and bedside manner. She came to our company with previous EMS experience and immediately found her place at home.

Juliana is currently training with our CISM team, after immediately expressing her interest in the team when it was created. Before our CISM team, Juliana would personally reach out to employees that she knew had a rough call and check on them. Since being a part of our team, she continues to reach out to crews and management when she knows of anyone that may need the services. Juliana has also taken over the EMS Bike Team. Since taking on the responsibility, she has shown that she is very thorough and pays attention to detail. She has taken over this team with pride and is running it very well.

Juliana’s patient care inspires everyone around her to be better. She genuinely cares for every single one of her patients as if they were her own family, and consistently goes above and beyond for all. An example of this is when a patient once called EMS because she ran out of her medications and was unable to go the pharmacy to get them. The patient had no complaints; she just wanted to be able to take her morning medications and was out of options. Juliana called her Operational Supervisor to pick up the medications in order to keep the patient at home and out of the ER. The patient was so grateful to Juliana for her care, and mentioned that she had never come across a medical professional who treated her with so much respect and compassion.

You will hardly ever find Juliana’s truck without a student on it. This is because of the reputation she has made over the years with her students. The students and instructors at nearby colleges know her by name and recommend her for ride-outs because she takes time with every student to go over everything, from where supplies are located on the truck to protocols and operations. She cares about her community and puts as much effort into training new EMTs and medics as she puts into her patient care.

You may sometimes hear the crews speaking about a “treat fairy.” Few of us know who it is and many still wonder. Juliana keeps a box of snacks, fidget toys, stickers, cards, and inspirational quotes to leave in trucks randomly. When she notices a crew that has been busy or is just not having a good day she will leave treats for the crews to find in their trucks. This has helped spread positivity and unity amongst the crews. She enjoys spreading cheer and wants zero recognition.

Overall, there is not a more deserving person than Juliana “Jewls” Castro for the Star of Life Award. She puts 100% into every patient, every shift, every student, and every crew member.