May 2024 Honoree
CV & Monitored Surgery
Alla Lukovsky RN-Acute Care • Angela Gwinn RN-Acute Care • Anna Pinson RN-Acute Care • Ashlee Vitale RN-Acute Care • Ashley Matheson RN-Acute Care • Bri Hartley RN-Acute Care • Christina Lehn RN-Acute Care • Danielle Beaudoin RN-Acute Care WIN • Devyn Keen RN-Acute Care • Gracie Zamudio RN-Acute Care • Hannah Case RN-Acute Care • Hollyn Lee RN-Acute Care • Jennifer Gibbs Asst Manager-Nursing • Jensen Bowling RN-Acute Care • Jessica Brabazon RN-Acute Care • Jodi Bullard RN-Acute Care • Jonathan Banovetz RN-Acute Care • Jqwan Williams RN-Acute Care • Katie MacKnight RN-Acute Care • Keela Patton RN-Acute Care WIN • Krista Pray RN-Acute Care • Mackenzie Crenshaw RN-Acute Care • Maria Francisco RN-Acute Care • McCarley Kyzer RN-Acute Care • Megan Weaver RN-Acute Care • Michelle Valerie Aligaga [C] RN-Acute Care (INTL) • Natalie Jackson RN-Acute Care • Natalie Shirley RN-Acute Care • Nathaly Pajon RN-Acute Care • Nikki Gettman RN-Acute Care WIN • Paige Young RN-Acute Care • Samantha Wrice Asst Manager-Nursing • Sami Marino RN-Acute Care • Sarah Gasque RN-Acute Care • Sarah Lancaster RN-Acute Care • Shanna Hudson RN-Acute Care • Sharon Lukas RN-Acute Care • Sierra Storey RN-Acute Care • Stephen Mayes RN-Acute Care • Thu Hughes RN-Acute Care WIN • Travis Harris RN-Acute Care • Vickie Kovalenko RN-Acute Care • Yari Cotto RN-Acute Care
The CV & Monitored Surgery unit is special. The patients cared for on this unit routinely express this sentiment and so do the staff who work there. It is a privilege to be a part of a team continually striving for excellence and growth and invested in the wellbeing of the patients and staff alike. Each and every member of the CV & Monitored Surgery nursing team is connected to the greater mission and takes pride in what is being cultivated. I am a veteran and highly value teamwork and shared vision. When I interviewed for an RN position on CV & Monitored Surgery, I was struck by how cohesive it felt. Staff assisted each other and seemed to be enjoying each other’s company. This matters, especially when navigating the complexities of healthcare in a post-COVID world. We talk a lot about “culture” in the hospital setting and CV & Monitored Surgery exemplifies the positive expression of this. Leadership has set the expectation that we will do things well and we will do them right (according to policy); that people will be treated justly and with respect and care; and that how we carry out the small tasks will inform how we show up for the more important or emergent ones. These values are woven into the fabric of this unit, and that doesn’t happen by accident. It takes great intentionality, first by the leaders who lead from the front, second by the staff who are the face of the CV & Monitored Surgery team. The attitudes and choices made by each RN, tech, and secretary set the expectation of how we wish to be and who we are as a unit. When someone is having a tough day, we band together and help, because we care about them, and we care about the patients being well taken care of. It’s a true honor to be a part of the team—I’m a better nurse and a better person because of it.
To illustrate the CV & Monitored Surgery nursing team culture, I’d like to tell you about a very special patient and the way our team showed up for him, for his family, and for each other. For several months this past fall/winter, we had a patient admitted to our floor. He was kind, funny, appreciative, and had a remarkably positive attitude, considering the enormity of his health issues. This patient was beloved! His family visited daily, and they, too, became special to the team. We rallied around both the patient and his family to ensure that their needs were met to the best of our ability and that they felt emotionally supported during that difficult time. When the patient began to decline and suffered a stroke, he was moved to a different unit. For the few days that he was there, nurses and other staff from our unit would visit him during their lunch breaks and continued to support the family as they wrestled with making very difficult decisions and, ultimately, the further decline of their loved one. At the insistence of both the patient’s family and the CV & Monitored Surgery staff, the patient returned to our floor on comfort care where we enveloped all of them with support and superb nursing care. The patient passed away in the early hours, with his nightshift nurse beside him, keeping a promise she had made to his family that he wouldn’t be alone. In order for her to keep that promise, other nurses helped to ensure all of the unit’s patients were cared for that night. The entirety of the CV & Monitored Surgery team was invited to his funeral, and many paid their respects to him and his family that day. We will surely remember this patient for years to come, and I will personally recall how amazing it felt to be a member of a team so genuinely caring and invested in not only the science of nursing but the art of it as well. I work with incredible people, all of whom I respect and am grateful to know.
To illustrate the CV & Monitored Surgery nursing team culture, I’d like to tell you about a very special patient and the way our team showed up for him, for his family, and for each other. For several months this past fall/winter, we had a patient admitted to our floor. He was kind, funny, appreciative, and had a remarkably positive attitude, considering the enormity of his health issues. This patient was beloved! His family visited daily, and they, too, became special to the team. We rallied around both the patient and his family to ensure that their needs were met to the best of our ability and that they felt emotionally supported during that difficult time. When the patient began to decline and suffered a stroke, he was moved to a different unit. For the few days that he was there, nurses and other staff from our unit would visit him during their lunch breaks and continued to support the family as they wrestled with making very difficult decisions and, ultimately, the further decline of their loved one. At the insistence of both the patient’s family and the CV & Monitored Surgery staff, the patient returned to our floor on comfort care where we enveloped all of them with support and superb nursing care. The patient passed away in the early hours, with his nightshift nurse beside him, keeping a promise she had made to his family that he wouldn’t be alone. In order for her to keep that promise, other nurses helped to ensure all of the unit’s patients were cared for that night. The entirety of the CV & Monitored Surgery team was invited to his funeral, and many paid their respects to him and his family that day. We will surely remember this patient for years to come, and I will personally recall how amazing it felt to be a member of a team so genuinely caring and invested in not only the science of nursing but the art of it as well. I work with incredible people, all of whom I respect and am grateful to know.
Thank you for your exceptional compassion, advocacy, and dedication to your patients. You truly make a difference.
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