The quiet strength of an Optum Super Hero

Growing up within a society shaped by state control — in a country with an already tumultuous past — Merita Morena, phlebotomist at ProHealth Physicians Glastonbury Primary Care, developed an appreciation for choice, stability and human connection.

Later on, as she navigated life in a much different system, this appreciation grew stronger. She learned firsthand what it meant to live with uncertainty — and how much steadiness can matter to someone facing it.

Born in Albania, Merita was the middle child in a close-knit family of four siblings. “We are very close. We love and help each other,” she says simply. “Even more now that we’re older.”

Her father was a writer, and as a child, Merita read constantly. “I thought I was going to do something literary,” she recalls. “But I have always loved biology and nature.” That love eventually pointed her toward teaching.

She became a middle school biology and chemistry teacher. While she loved teaching, Albania at the time offered limited choices. “You couldn’t pick and choose what you wanted to do. It was more like what they needed from you,” she says. “And freedom of speech wasn’t there. But they did have a very good education.”

At 30, Merita and her husband immigrated to the United States — an opportunity that meant starting over entirely. They arrived with their young daughter, a new language to learn and no guarantees. Her husband, an economist back home, took on different jobs when they first arrived. “He did it so we could move forward,” Merita says.

Today, they have what they need: a home, stability, community. A profound sense of gratitude runs through everything she describes. “It was another beginning,” Merita says. “But we embraced everything and became good citizens of this country.”  

Like so many immigrant stories, theirs was built in stages. Merita worked part-time jobs while caring for her daughter — substitute teaching, then working for a company that stored and retrieved medical records. “I had good skills on the phone, talking with people,” she says. “With colleagues. With customers.” Bit by bit, she found her footing.

A friend who worked as a phlebotomist at ProHealth opened another door. Merita had done some shadowing in college and remembered liking it. While still working, she went back to school.

“I wanted to be a phlebotomist. I gave it my all, and I did it,” she says. She joined the ProHealth lab, then quickly realized what she loved most was the human side of the work. “I enjoyed drawing blood — working with people — so I transferred to an office. I have loved it from the very beginning.”

She’s been with ProHealth for about seven years now, and those human moments are where her strength shines. “It is a very short time that you get to be with them,” she says of patients. “People are always going through many things. But if I can at least make it positive, change the emotion and show some sympathy, I feel like I have done something for them.”  

Her colleagues see it every day. In nominating Merita for the Optum Super Hero Award, teammate Shara Dorsey described how Merita consistently turns anxiety into reassurance — whether with elderly patients arriving “visibly anxious and with many questions,” or a young patient with severe needle phobia.

Merita slows down, explains each step, invites caregivers to stay close and finds ways to give patients back a sense of control. “These moments don’t just improve clinical outcomes,” Shara wrote. “They foster trust, reduce fear and strengthen the patient–provider relationship.”

That instinct to meet patients where they are is central to how Merita approaches caregiving. “I try to put myself at their level, because that’s the only way they can trust you and feel good,” Merita says. “Most of the time, people just need to talk. And it doesn’t take much to listen.”

Speaking with older patients, she often talks about history, books or what life used to be like. Many ask about Albania. “People don’t really know a lot about Albania,” she says with a smile. “So, they ask me how it was growing up. I like it.”

Those exchanges — brief, human, unhurried — are often what patients remember most. “At the end they tell you, ‘Oh, it wasn’t that bad.’ And it feels good.”

Ask Merita about the Super Hero Award, and she laughs. “I didn’t know it was such a big deal,” she says. “My first question was, ‘WHY?!’” She credits the team—every time. “Without the team’s help, it would have been hard for me to achieve anything at that level. It is the team. I can’t see it any other way. I know how hard everyone works.”

Outside of work, her world centers on family. Her daughter — “the best thing that has ever happened to me” — is now married, and Merita is happily waiting for grandchildren. She and her daughter travel together often, especially to visit her parents in Albania once or twice a year.