Eileen has led an impressive nursing career journey. She will tell you it all began with a book in fourth grade, Miss Sue, the Nurse. It opened her eyes to the caring arts which she then recognized in the nurses at the pediatrician's office, during her stay in the hospital after a tonsillectomy, and in the patient and loving care, her grandmother provided ill family members. After nursing school, she started as a staff nurse in Obstetrics at South Nassau Communities Hospital in 1979. A few years later, she transferred to Labor and Delivery. From early on, Eileen was a life-long learner. She embraced new practices, processes, and opportunities to further her knowledge and skill set. While working in L&D, Eileen became a Childbirth Educator. She has shared that patient education and narration of care was crucial to Laboring mothers and positive experiences. She progressed to Nurse Manager and then Director of Perinatal/Pediatrics. Sometime during those years, she went back to school and attained her Master's degree as a Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International, the Nursing Honor Society. She was a Neonatal Resuscitation Instructor. She attained certification, RNC-OB. Eileen was a nursing supervisor, well respected by staff in all practice areas for her calm, problem-solving abilities, and a respected sense of fairness. Her aptitude to educate took a different direction while a nursing supervisor. She was able to instruct nurses and teach them to utilize their resources, which included the seasoned nurses they were working with. She has worked with architectural teams to design nursing units, worked as an adjunct professor at a local nursing college, and met with representatives from Washington to discuss nursing concerns.

Eileen joined the Nursing Education: Professional Development, Practice, and Research department in 2007 as the Director. Education of the staff and the nursing leaders became her focus. She is responsible for the professional development, clinical practice, and education of her PDPR staff and the hospital's nursing staff. Her open-door policy creates a climate of approachability and fairness. She works with her PDPR staff individually and collectively to foster their professional growth and commitment to the goals of the PDPR Department and the hospital's Professional Development Model, which she created with nursing leaders and staff. The electronic Learning Needs Assessment Survey she sends to nurses yearly provides the foundation for nursing staff-related educational goals. The WEEK ED BRIEF emailed weekly by Eileen keeps all nurses apprised of patient care issues and educational opportunities, e.g., Skills Day, HealthStream module assignments, and the recent Annual Clinical Research Day. Additionally, she works with the area and online schools to ensure affiliations and contracts are in place to support the academic growth of our staff and clinical experiences and learning are available. As the Director of the department, she is responsible for the budget. And when the budget is thin she finds other ways to fulfill the educational needs of our staff. This has included Grant writing to cover the HeartSaver courses for our PCTs, and fundraising with candy-grams and collaborating with the Ladies Auxiliary to host a breakfast at Applebees.

As facilitator of the Nurse Practice Council, Eileen has been instrumental in guiding members to change practice by integrating current research and other relevant evidence sources into the hospital's standards and policies. In this council, she has empowered members to be assertive and share knowledge and best practices. She encourages, inspires, promotes, and actively reaches out to involve staff nurses to participate in the NPC. She champions nursing research as she works with the Nurse Scientist in her department who is responsible for nursing research. She also is a member of the Nursing Research/Evidence-Based Practice Council and recently presented her research study at the hospital's Nursing Research Conference. Thus, Eileen continually demonstrates significant achievements in all areas, i.e., the professional development of all nurses, their clinical practice, education, and research.

She is a transformational leader whose behavior, beliefs, and strong personal values exemplify this type of leadership. She is a change agent, visionary, and a positive role model. She has expanded and developed the Clinical Advancement Program (CAP) beyond the original model to foster staff involvement in nursing life in and out of the organization. Her excellent interpersonal skills and the respectful and trusting leader-staff relationships she fosters result in effective teamwork that promotes the realization of her visions. She models a very positive professional image in handling difficult or challenging situations. A thoughtful listener, she often coaches individuals through the decision-making process, which assists them in their professional development.

She is highly creative and models sensitivity to learners' capabilities and needs from novice to expert. She champions change management and makes learning fun and interactive through various strategies, e.g., the Escape Room, Jeopardy, Podcasts, and innovative PowerPoints. She has worked with cinematographers to create educational videos. Her creativity was very evident in the Leadership Cafe© that she held. In this program, she mentored Assistant Nurse Managers, Nurse Managers, and other nurse leaders, thus fostering their leadership skills and development.

Eileen has demonstrated her strong leadership and role modeling when presenting her doctoral study, Factors Influencing the Perceived Stressors of New Graduate Nurses Transitioning into Acute Care: A Secondary Data Analysis, at two hospital research conferences and external nursing research conferences. She also used the results of her research study conducted at the hospital, which explored the factors influencing the perceived stressors of new graduate nurses transitioning into acute care settings, to collaborate with nurse educators to restructure the hospital's orientation program. The program now includes some clinical experiences between classes in order to have the new nurses more engaged in the didactic content being covered. Stress management and meditation are incorporated into the orientation, and in the orientation welcome bag is a stress ball and lavender sachet.

As our Magnet Program Director and primary writer, she is passionate about her role and works tirelessly to ensure that the goal of excellent nursing practice is sustained. She works with various teams and committees to obtain data and evaluate quality improvement projects. She recruits engaged nurses to attend Magnet Conferences and returns ready to further inspire and challenge nurses to pursue excellence in nursing practice. She educates staff about Magnet utilizing the Magnet Champion nurses and the Nursing Practice Council members. In summary, Eileen is an amazing and inspirational leader and a positive role model.

As a leader, she recognizes the importance of staff recognition. She organizes many celebrations, Nurses Day and Week, and Magnet Fairs to name a couple. She started the Nursing Honor Council and implemented the internal Nursing Awards which occur during Nurses Day. She makes it a point to have external award applications sent to all nurses and gathers the Honors Council to select the recipients. She was instrumental in acknowledging Certified Nurses by starting the annual Certified Nurses Breakfast and ensuring certified nurses were easy to identify by providing them with a gold badge. She currently holds two nursing certifications.

Although Eileen is the Director of PDPR and is hospital-based, her influence reaches far beyond our bricks and mortar. She is consistently supportive of our population health events and works closely with Community Education to encourage clinical nurses to volunteer in the community. Without her assistance and encouragement, Community Education would struggle to get the coverage needed to run screenings, educational lectures, and flu pods.

In 2019, Eileen assigned additional clinical advancement program (CAP) points for nurses who volunteered for some of our major events, such as:
-Community blood draws for Measles in the 5 Towns in response to the Measles outbreak
-The annual Community Health Fair which drew hundreds of attendees
-The Eat, Shop, Rock Street Fair, which hundreds attended and where our nurses provided blood pressure screenings
-The Children's Safety Fair at the local Jewish Community Center

Eileen is a leader and role model who goes above and beyond to ensure educational activities are fun, community goals are met, and outcomes are measured. She does all of this with kindness and compassion for our patients, staff, and community. She is a nurse, it is part of who she is, it has evolved as her journey has unfolded, and it will ever be evident in who she is. She has been with this organization for over forty years. It is our pleasure to present her with The DAISY Lifetime Achievement Award.

Note: This is Eileen's 2nd DAISY Award!