Chona makes an impact in the lives of our patients every day. A particular story that stands out is when she walked through a snowstorm from Freeport starting her journey at 3 pm in the afternoon to make sure that she would get to work for her 7 pm shift. On that particular day, we had gotten close to 12 inches of snow on the ground - all cars were plowed in, there was no public transportation available. Chona, knowing that our unit was full, and she was in charge, knew that she had to make it into work. She never hesitated once and never even mentioned to anyone what her plan was.
Chona arrived to work at 6 pm; it took her 3 hours to walk through the snow from Freeport to Oceanside. She did this not to be recognized, but because this was the right thing to do to make sure our patients were cared for. She is a very selfless person, always puts her patients first, always puts her co-workers first giving them the support that they need. Her patients were very lucky to have her there that night. She is a great example to our younger nurses whom she orients and mentors on the night shift. She teaches them what it means to be a committed professional nurse. As a professional, she has attained Certification in Gerontology which is the focus on our busy 38-bed unit. She has recently agreed to assist with coaching our nurses that are approaching the 2-year mark for taking the Certification exam. She is always volunteering to assist and is committed to high standards of nursing practice.
At the bedside, Chona is often recognized by families for her caring and compassionate nature. She is kind and thoughtful and ensures the patients have all their needs met. She truly believes in 5 STAAR service. Chona is extremely flexible often changing her shift to meet staffing needs and helps to make sure that our skill mix is where it should be as we have a large number of new graduates on the night shift. She is enthusiastic about opportunities to make changes that will help grow our nursing practice and make the environment on our unit the best place for nurses to practice and patients to receive care.
Chona is a team player and positive with all her interactions. She facilitates throughput on a unit which often discharges and admits almost 40% of our patients many days. It is not uncommon for the night shift to admit more than 10 patients a night. Because of Chona's collaborative efforts, every process on the floor is done almost meticulously and the unit runs at the highest efficiency due to her efforts on the off shifts. I am grateful that she is a part of our wonderful staff and feel that there is no one more deserving of this DAISY Award. She truly made the biggest imprint in the snow that one night- where it matters - patients' lives!