Stephanie Celataand Leigh Ferrante

Winchester Hospital has recognized operating room nurses Stephanie Celata, RN and Leigh Ferrante, RN as its most recent recipients of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses for their role in the relief effort for Haitian earthquake victims in January.

With less than 24 hours’ notice, Stephanie and Leigh packed their things, said goodbye to loved ones, got the necessary vaccines and paperwork, and boarded a plane for Haiti. Throughout their eight-day trip, the need for medical treatment, supplies and compassion never slowed as the team bore witness to innumerable stories of heartbreak and heroism. They treated a man covered with third-degree burns who was pulled from wreckage three days after the road on which he was driving collapsed, causing his car to burst into flames. A baby in their care survived only because the mother gave her life to shield it from falling debris with her body. Victims who couldn’t walk to the hospital were carried by family members or driven in the beds of pick-up trucks over bumpy dirt roads, which only added to their agony from broken legs and pelvic fractures. Traumatized patients insisted on sleeping outdoors so they didn’t have to fear buildings collapsing on them.

“When skill, caring and compassion were needed in a country ripped apart by disaster and chaos, Stephanie Celata and Leigh Ferrante never hesitated. They got on a plane and courageously went into the unknown,” wrote Kathy Schuler, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services at Winchester Hospital. “We, the nursing staff of Winchester Hospital, are honored to be your colleagues and are tremendously proud of you. You have made a difference!”