Courtesy photo Southern New Hampshire Medical Center emergency department nurse Gina Teixeira holds items she was presented upon being selected one of four New Hampshire healthcare workers to go to Super Bowl LX in Tampa. (Courtesy photo)

NASHUA – Career nurse Gina Teixeira, a member of the emergency department staff at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, is one of four New Hampshire healthcare professionals selected this week for an all-expenses paid trip to Sunday’s Super Bowl in Tampa.

The trip, organized by the New England Patriots and its chairman and CEO Robert Kraft, is a gesture of gratitude to all healthcare workers across New England whose “dedication … on the front lines” and tireless efforts procuring, and administering, COVID-19 vaccinations to the public is worthy of a celebration.

“I’m so honored to represent my hospital, you have no idea,” an emotional Teixeira said last week, two days after she was escorted to a conference room toward the end of her shift without knowing why.

“I was told to go see my supervisor,” Teixeira said. “I walked into the conference room and Gov. (Chris) Sununu was on the (TV monitor) screen.”

Sununu asked Teixeira a question, although he surely knew the answer: “Would you like to go to the Super Bowl?”

Courtesy photo Gina Teixeira, the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center nurse who was selected for a trip to Sunday's Super Bowl in Tampa, prepares for an injection of the COVID-19 vaccine recently. (Courtesy photo)

“It was surreal,” she said, recalling being told that her supervisors and hospital administrators selected her from the group of nominees.

The other three New Hampshire honorees headed to the Super Bowl include Jenna Osborn, an ICU nurse at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester; Dawn Chapman, a nurse at Concord Hospital; and Scott Trasher, assistant director of Environmental Services at Hanover Hill Healthcare Center in Manchester.

The four are among 76 honorees from across New England.

A full story will appear in The Sunday Telegraph.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.