Dena is a born leader, and truly an inspiration to all she meets. She has made countless contributions to what the department is today. Dena's most valued quality is her Grit. She looks for the opportunity in everything, she is persistent and mindful. I often tease her and say, Dena, “I could walk in here today, tell you the worst thing I just did, and I would walk out with a feeling of gratitude as you’ve empowered me to find the opportunity in the situation”. She does this for everyone, every day. 

Dena has compassion for patients, our staff, providers, and leadership. She supports our patients through weekly leadership rounding. I often see her helping to complete hourly rounding and ensure patient comfort. She says good morning to each person as they filter in past her office and check in with staff throughout the day. She takes the time to foster staff and providers, and her door is always open for questions, help with difficulties, and sharing successes. She mentors new staff and providers. She shares stories about her purpose, goals, and obstacles, in such a way that others can grow. 

As a leader, Dena shows staff what it means to be supported. As endoscopy faced critical staffing shortages of endoscopy techs Dena threw on scrubs and worked in our scope room, cleaning endoscopes. When we were down to a skeleton crew, she put herself in the endoscopy tech off-premise call rotation. She covered hundreds of hours of overnight and weekend call, so our remaining techs didn’t have to bear the sole burden, she did so quietly, not wanting any extra attention for doing so. She came in countless nights to cover emergency cases.  We are all grateful for this.

She doesn't let the constant changes in our workflow set her off, she embraces change and faces challenges head-on. She often says the only thing constant in healthcare is change, and change is to be expected. Dena mentors everyone by asking empowering questions, what’s the opportunity here, how can we use this to make us better? She helps develop opportunities for improvement from staff. Difficulties are never hardships here.

Above all things, at her core, Dena is a servant leader, she sees challenges as happening for her, not to her, and she inspires others to follow her lead. If mistakes are made, she doesn’t point fingers, or blame others, she takes ownership of her work, and the impact is far-reaching: Results are achieved,  forward progress occurs and those being led are inspired toward continuous improvement. She went back to school to attain her MSN to better herself and the department as a leader.

Her leadership, knowledge, ability to face challenges, and family-centered approach, have shaped and impacted numerous nurses, patients, families, providers, and the unit. I am honored to have the opportunity to learn from Dena and look to her as a role model. I truly appreciate all she does for the unit. Dena is one who comes to mind when I think of a most deserving recipient of a nursing leader excellence award such as the DAISY Nurse Leader Award.