Being an exemplary, competent, and experienced nurse means that the patient and staff members in your care and under your stellar leadership must be able to trust you and have confidence in you. It means being up-to-date with the best practice and evidenced based practice which is dynamic and ever developing. It means treating your patients and your colleagues with morality, kindness, respect, gentleness, and compassion.

Catherine Piccirillo embodies these things and so much more. She seeks to defend the dignity and ethics of those in her care, and advocates for and strives to protect the rights of her patients. One story has really touched my heart because it was a particularly hectic shift in our ED. We had a patient in the ED who was here longer than most would like to be and stationed on our discharge wall which is an open and sometimes chaotic area. The physician’s assistant providers and many nurses worked tirelessly to facilitate this discharge for her but sometimes no matter how hard the efforts some things just can't be arranged due to outside forces and delays in the appropriate ambulance transport back to her living facility. The patient knew it was going to be some time before an ambulance ride home. She expressed her wishes several times to "just go home" and how she felt uncomfortable exposed in the hall to Cat and myself.

Catherine was able to make this a better experience for her by issuing curtains and extra blankets as well as TLC. The patient got to go home within a few hours with the ambulance transport. The patient and patient's mother mentioned how Cat was "one of the kindest most caring nurses I've ever met. She not only took excellent care of my mother but also me and my family with no way of getting her home at the time." I would like to recognize Catherine for all her hard work and positivity that she brings not only to her patients but her coworkers.