Though Alex is relatively new to the leadership role, she has quickly become a phenomenal supervisor and manager. Alex is genuine, compassionate, kind, considerate, loyal, and a fierce support and advocate for patients, family members, and especially her staff. Alex truly cares about what is best for each person, even if it is not what is the most convenient for her or the critical care community. She always supports and facilitates exceptions to policy if it promotes healing and wellness amongst patients and their families. She will always urge staff to prioritize themselves and their wellbeing, even if it comes at a cost to her own workload (and she will often pick up the slack without complaining). She often will text or call staff who are experiencing personal challenges to check up on them and offer support, going well outside of her job requirements to show up for others. When she trains new staff, she always provides endless encouragement and positivity that fosters growth throughout the critical care community. Alex recognizes the strengths of her team members and does everything in her power to highlight them.

She is the first person to nominate her employees for awards and recognition and wants us to be proud of our accomplishments. Alex is so very passionate about excellent and safe patient care and transmits that passion to her entire team. Alex often comes into the hospital to staff in the middle of the night when we need more nurses and brings a smile to her face as well as coffee and snacks for the night shift.

She always makes sure to have her candy bowl in her office well-stocked, so we can grab a snack throughout the busy workday. She even decorated her office, so it is a calming, welcoming, and safe space for staff to decompress and chat with her, further demonstrating her commitment to the emotional safety of nurses. If anyone has a question about policy, technology, equipment, or logistics, she is always able to provide resources and support, or immediately connects her team to someone who does. Even her responsible management of human and financial resources across staffing and supplies is rooted in what is best for her employees. Alex takes staff input to heart, and researches items that will improve staff safety and satisfaction. For example, for this upcoming budget season, Alex is looking into repositioning devices following some concerns about physical safety while repositioning heavy patients. Everything that Alex does promotes the development, resiliency, and competency of the critical care community and shows deep commitment to its success. She embodies all the core values of both St. Mary’s and the DAISY Foundation, including advocacy, problem-solving, communication, compassion, respect, ethical behavior, professional development, transparency, and availability. Alex is one of the best bosses I have ever had (and will ever have) and has truly made my unit a better place. I am honored to have her as a leader, and I believe she is deserving of every possible leadership award! Thank you for everything you do, Alex!

Note: This is Alex's 2nd DAISY Award!