Montrose Business Times
After nearly three decades working in cardiovascular care, a Montrose Regional Health caregiver is using a newly published book to shine a light on the emotional challenges often faced by healthcare workers behind the scenes.
George Dewiliby, who works in the hospital’s catheterization laboratory, recently published “The Light I Had to Fight For,” a book that explores burnout, grief, emotional exhaustion and resilience among healthcare professionals, according to a news release from Montrose Regional Health.
Dewiliby said the book grew from experiences accumulated over years spent caring for patients in hospitals and cath labs, where healthcare workers frequently navigate high-pressure situations while managing their own emotional burdens.
“The world only sees the scrubs, not the scars beneath them,” Dewiliby said in the release.
The cath lab is a specialized hospital unit that uses advanced imaging technology to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease. While patients often leave the unit after receiving life-saving treatment, healthcare professionals can be left carrying the emotional weight of traumatic events, loss and difficult outcomes.
“Healthcare workers often have to remain composed in moments that are breaking something inside them,” Dewiliby said. “They have to move from one patient to the next, one room to the next, one crisis to the next, without always having space to process what just happened.”
According to the release, Dewiliby’s book examines those realities and seeks to encourage conversations about the mental and emotional impact of caregiving. Since its publication in February, healthcare professionals around the country have shared the book with colleagues as a source of support and understanding.
Dewiliby and his wife, Heather, joined Montrose Regional Health’s cath lab team in August 2025 after spending years traveling throughout the country for medical assignments. The couple recently chose to settle permanently in Montrose.
“This community has come to mean a great deal to us,” Dewiliby said in the release. “The people, the pace, and the mountains have made Montrose feel like home.”
Montrose Regional Health is a nonprofit healthcare system serving Montrose and surrounding counties in western Colorado. The organization operates a 75-bed hospital, a Level III Trauma Center, an Ambulatory Care Center and multiple outreach clinics.
