Plymouth Healing Communities (PHC) is excited to announce the appointment of Eppie Williamson to our board of directors. Although new to the board, Eppie is well acquainted with PHC’s mission to provide affordable housing, circles of support, and companionship to people living with mental illness and experiencing housing instability.
Throughout her nursing career, Eppie has come across many individuals with mental health issues seeking medical care. This has inspired her to take up a position on the board at the invitation of another PHC board member, Nancy Parker. Eppie sees this as a way to help address Seattle’s mental health and homelessness problems. She is particularly drawn to PHC’s small communities and companionship model, and we are optimistic that she will become a part of our long-term strategic planning committee as we strive to find more opportunities to expand our outreach and serve more people in need.
Eppie, an RN at UW Medicine, Internal Medicine, enjoys reading medical and science articles and journals. However, she has recently started reading fiction to add some levity to her life. When asked about her likes and hobbies, Eppie laughed and mentioned running, although it’s a stretch to say she “likes” to run. During the pandemic, while working on the COVID floor at Johns Hopkins, she was forced to find a way to stay fit and burn off stress after the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order-mandated pool closures. She found walking didn’t do it, so she took up running, although she still prefers swimming. Since last February, she also has a new friend, her cat, Stormy. “She really is quite sweet.”
Despite her colleagues’ teasing about her name, comparing it to medical terms such as “EpiPen” or her “Eppi patients” while she worked on a hospital’s epileptic floor, Eppie takes it all in stride. This is because she knows that she was named after James Child’s Scottish ballad “Eppie Morrie,” which tells the story of a woman taken from her home but who successfully fights off all attempts to be forced into marrying an unwanted suitor. Like her namesake, Eppie Williamson is a strong, determined, resilient woman.
We are thrilled to welcome Eppie to our board and look forward to working with her to further our mission: to provide a home, circles of support, and companionship to Seattle’s most vulnerable.
