The Critical Care Unit (CCU) at the Memorial Campus has endured a lot over the last 3-4 years. From being the primary COVID-19 unit to nursing turnover secondary to morale distress and PTSD. With everything the CCU has been through, Karen Bissonnette, Rachel Collette, Ashley Davis, Alison Hammond, Emily Hannen have been phenomenal nursing leaders throughout these difficult times. Each one of these exceptional nurses has been viewed as a resource on their nursing shifts - precepting new nurses, acting as resource nurses, and always being available for not only the bedside nurses but the nursing leadership team as well. This group of nurses is the core nursing group for the Unit Council, facilitating improvements to better the functionality of the unit.

A few improvements include replacing rusty linen carts, implementing changes to the paging system, and adding additional phones to the phone system to allow for improved functionality. Over the last six months, this team has worked tirelessly to complete the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, Beacon Award Application. This application is composed of 5 sections and entails 50 pages of in-depth questions regarding the CCU. All of these nurses, on top of maintaining their leadership responsibilities within the unit and in unit council, took on this application seamlessly. Scheduling meetings on their off days, meeting as a group multiple times a month, and taking this opportunity to learn about UMass. While completing this application, this group brought back a lot of this information to their peers, helping the post-COVID morale distress and morale within the CCU. All of these exceptional nurses representing the CCU Unit Council, deserve the DAISY Team Award for all of the outstanding work they have done to improve not only the CCU, but UMass Memorial as well.

This team exemplifies true nursing leadership, ensuring the CCU is receiving the most up-to-date evidence-based research. They are imperative to the functionality of the CCU and ensure that all members of the team work well together, especially when change is being implemented. The CCU would not be the same unit with these members and the Beacon Award application would not have been submitted by the July deadline without these members and their strong work and determination.