Elizabeth Gates

Liz Gates has been a Registered Nurse for 19 years. Prior to becoming a nurse, Liz was a Registered Dietician. The reason Liz became a nurse is that she wanted to take care of the whole patient and not just taking care of  their diet. Liz’s belief in holistic care is very obvious when she is caring for her patients. She is kind to all and treats all patients equally well, no matter what age or social status. Liz works on the Medical Surgical unit and also on the Cardiac Rehab unit. Her responsibilities in Cardiac Rehab include teaching recovering cardiac patients how to live a healthier life style to help prevent recurrent problems. Liz shows her compassion both at the bedside with inpatient care as well as putting patients at ease during times of tension during stress testing. Also, in Cardiac Rehab, she shows her concern while establishing a relationship for those needing ongoing care. She is a true patient advocate.

Liz’s most significant contribution to nursing is her kindness and care for her patients, families, and coworkers. She has the ability to show that she cares and that she is interested and listening. She has a strong Christian compassion.  She also brings a great deal of knowledge to the unit and shares that with coworkers and patients alike.

Another significant contribution is Liz’s work on the Professional Development Council. Staffing methods had been a source of nursing dissatisfaction for several years. Liz chaired a sub-committee of the Professional Development Council to research different methods of staffing. The different methods of staffing were presented to staff and a vote was held for staff to decide which method of staffing they preferred. Self determination of staffing methods was a great step forward for nursing in our facility on our journey to Pathways of Excellence and Magnet status.

Since Liz works in two areas of our facility, she has been able to look at things from a broad scope of view rather than a point of view limited to one department.

Liz has mentored many nurses from the novice level to become professional nurses. She has been a preceptor for new nurses and is also very helpful to students who rotate through our facility. Being such an excellent role model and advocate for holistic care of the patient, Liz has helped many a new nurse or student look beyond the “disease” and see the “person”. Liz also displays a love of her profession and remains positive in all situations. She enjoys her work and brings joy to the work place.

During team meetings, Liz does a great job in keeping the team focused on the task at hand She helps everyone gather information and base the consensus on the facts at hand rather than her personal bias.

Liz is also a role model for new nurses and students in that she has received her national certification as a Cardiac/Vascular Nurse through the American Nurses Credentialing Center. She is encouraging others to obtain certification in their specialty area and also to further their education by obtaining their BSN.

Liz is one of those special nurses who is always willing to help others, including her coworkers, whenever possible. Her coworkers state that she makes her work environment more pleasant, In Cardiac Rehab, the department is smaller and many of the staff have worked at PRHC for many years. Recently, when a staff member left and a replacement was being recruited, Liz helped maintain consistency and give feed back on how changes in the new position could better help the department.