Dana personifies the kind of nurse for which this very award was created—that is a nurse who "consistently demonstrates commitment to compassion and patient-centered care."
When Dana first started on 10 South 3 years ago, the running joke on the unit was "where's Dana?" because she was never just sitting around. She was always in a patient's room. Although the same question could be asked—and has been asked—for any new nurse struggling to learn how to manage all of their responsibilities in a timely fashion, for Dana it was not about that, because even when Dana became proficient in her nursing skills and efficient at performing them, we would still ask ourselves "where's Dana?"
The first time I ever met Dana, I got a chance to be on the other side of that question. I was a nursing student companion providing one-to-one coverage for a patient on 10 South, and Dana was the nurse for his roommate. I didn't know the entire backstory of what was going on, but I could tell her patient was going through a rough time. Apparently, his doctor had told him that his only chance to beat his cancer was to get a bone marrow transplant and that in order to get that transplant he needed to improve his functional status. Mainly he needed to gain some weight. However, no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't eat. The very thought of food made him nauseous. And to top it all off he was too depressed and anhedonic to really care.
That morning when Dana went in to do her nursing assessment and give him his morning medicine, he pretty much refused her care. She could've been in and out of the room pretty quickly, but she wasn't satisfied with that. She sat with him and listened patiently and compassionately, showing genuine concern for what was on his mind. She helped him break down the many things on his mind into small, attainable goals. And then she set out to help him accomplish them—she even got him to eat something. It was the single most thorough nursing assessment and patient education I have ever witnessed.
However, as attentive and thorough as Dana always is with her patients, the answer to "where's Dana" isn't necessarily "with her patients." Although clearly Dana will always go the extra mile for her patients no matter what, she is also an excellent teammate who is implicitly devoted to her teammates. Nowhere is this more evident than when she is the charge nurse. "Where's Dana" when she's in charge? Simply put... everywhere. When she's in charge she routinely sits in the chair closest to the call bell so she can be aware of what is going on with every patient and be ready to jump in to assist when needed. When the clerk is on break, or in the rare times we don't have a clerk at all she'll even sit at the front desk and answer call bells, welcome and direct visitors, and take care of her own responsibilities as well. And when she does offer assistance to other nurses' patients you can be sure she shows them the same compassion and patience she does with her own patients.
And as much as Dana is that devoted to her patients and teammates at work, she is at least that devoted towards her own professional development. This past year, only in her 3rd year of being a professional nurse, she became a nationally certified nurse in oncology and a senior staff nurse with a portfolio as decorated as a five-star marine general.
I could write at length about some of the amazing things Dana has accomplished here like the time she organized a surprise birthday party for a young patient who was dying, or the time she spent her off day traveling to Queens to find the last Liverpool jersey left in New York City to give to a patient who had just been told he was cancer-free or the time(s) she stayed 4 hours after her shift to help the night shift get through an emergency, but I won't, because I know that you only have so much time to read this nomination letter!
So, where is Dana? I still don't know, but wherever she's at she's pushing the bounds of oncology nursing and "compassionate patient-centered care." It's a place we should all strive for.
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Dana is a rare person who is so committed to admirable principles that she does not need to assert her ego unless it is required to provide her patients with the courage to face their reality and fight for their lives. Power, vanity, superiority, selfishness are concepts that have no place among her goals, which consist of the drive to give others the benefit of her tireless hard work.
Because of her talent at soccer, Dana won a scholarship to college to fulfill her studies. She saw it as part of her responsibility to assist her family and participate in providing the cost of her education. The purpose of her training was to prepare her to help those less fortunate than herself; she is a true humanitarian. Her good fortune is made possible by the love from her family which she appreciates and returns and because she has always worked tirelessly to excel and develop her natural talents. As a top student academically, a star athlete on the soccer field, and now as a charge nurse, Dana exhibits all of the qualities of a Renaissance human being, to choose what she sets out to do based on inherent value, to do it well, and to strive to be well rounded, healthy in body and mind with a wide range of knowledge and the ability to carry out the basic principles of a life well-lived in service to mankind.
She has the vision to see that ambition for its own sake is empty and futile, unless it successfully brings good into the world, we live in. Her ambition is to raise the bar on excellence for the care of oncological patients now and for the future. Dana was drawn to the specialty hematological malignancy because it is a complicated area with hard-won victories' which make these victories even greater. It takes intellectual acumen to embrace the complexities of these conditions and treatments and medications, both traditional and cutting edge which is the business of our unit.
She is devoid of an immature and selfish ego. She does not seek out responsibility to gain power and prestige. She seeks out responsible, and opportunities for hard work out of a natural desire to do good in the world, to be a force for positive change and to ensure a win-win environment for everyone. Dana does not need accolades or awards. She needs to dedicate her impressive skills, talents, abilities in the pursuit of better lives for people less fortunate, people of all ages, backgrounds, races and socioeconomic backgrounds who have lost their health and face death. She fights to give them a chance at life. And if that becomes impossible, Dana never falters in her courage to stand by her patients and to continue to support them, to encourage them through their journey whatever they may need.