Ivelis Peña's primary role is as the stroke rehabilitation nurse coordinator at the VA Puget Sound. She came to our facility from the private sector in 2014, and since her arrival, has served as a uniting force for our specialty care programs as she quietly leads others by example. Always kind, always caring, always serving our Veterans and our mission. Ms. Peña naturally steps up to help others who are struggling. Her gentle leadership has raised the bar in our department and facility. Ms. Peña is also highly regarded by both the Veterans she serves as well as their families. Even surviving spouses of Veterans who pass away have come back to thank her for the excellent and kind care she provided to their loved ones.
In regards to professional development, Ms. Peña sets an example for those around her. Ms. Peña came to our facility with a background in inpatient rehabilitation nursing and had to quickly pivot to take on her new role as an outpatient coordinator. Rather than just meet basic expectations, she quickly developed the skills for her new role and set a new standard for excellence in her position. Within one year of her arrival, Ms. Peña successfully facilitated our application for national accreditation as an inpatient and outpatient stroke specialty program through the Council of Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). This made our facility the first such VA program in the nation to receive this recognition. The CARF Stroke Specialty designation is an incredibly rigorous program requiring data analysis, demonstration of quality improvement activities, quantitative program analysis of efficiency and effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions, and demonstration of the implementation of best practice for stroke rehabilitative care. She poured over charts to manually extract data required by the accrediting body for quality improvement activities. By the end of her first year, Ms. Peña had amassed two three-inch binders worth of program description and data regarding our stroke rehabilitation program. The results of her efforts within that first year still stand to benefit our Veterans. These include an innovative staff stroke education series to disseminate evidence-based care for stroke, as well as an open-access community exercise program for Veteran stroke survivors to not only build physical resilience but develop a community of support with other survivors. In addition, Ms. Peña collaborated energetically with nursing colleagues in neurology and acute care to create a stroke awareness fair that achieved record participation for our facility.
Ms. Peña's efforts related to our stroke program have been sustained as we maintain specialty certification. She continues to oversee quality improvement efforts related to inpatient and outpatient stroke rehabilitation and has collaborated with our postgraduate trainees in the Chief Residents in the Quality and Safety program in these activities as part of their learning experiences as well. She assists in disseminating our outcomes to internal and external stakeholders annually and using our data to inform annual strategic planning for the stroke rehabilitation team.
Her willingness to help others was exemplified during the COVID-19 crisis. While some of our nursing staff were detailed to other departments to provide support for a potential inpatient surge, Ivelis became the reassuring voice on the phone for Veterans with severe disabilities and their caregivers who were left without their primary nurse coordinator coverage. Despite being the nurse coordinator for the largest population of neurologically disabled Veterans, she did not hesitate to jump in and cover for others while still providing excellent care for stroke survivors. She not only ensured that existing telehealth clinics kept running to serve Veterans, but she also helped shepherd physicians and nurses (even from other departments) through the process of starting new telehealth clinics to ensure continuity of care for these disabled Veterans and helped the schedulers with the massive task of moving Veterans out of traditional and into virtual clinics. True to her nature, she did all of this with her unflappable positive attitude. Due to her support during this crisis, our program continued to provide excellent care and has maintained access through alternate means. We have expanded our telehealth services not only throughout our region, but across multiple time zones to support Veterans in need.
Ms. Peña is an incredible partner in caring for disabled Veterans. She demonstrates an unwavering commitment to the safety and comfort of our vulnerable patients. You can see her in the hallways pushing our Veterans in their wheelchairs to make sure they get to their transportation on time, and to the canteen to pick up a sandwich if they missed lunch because they had to come to their appointment. She's always up to the task to help build new programs to fill unmet needs, and support existing ones even in the most challenging of times. For example, last year, Ivelis ran and organized a successful "Caregiver Bootcamp" to provide hands-on skills and practical support for Veteran caregivers, including community volunteers she coordinated. She readily accepts new challenges. We recently opened a cancer rehabilitation clinic to serve a very complex patient population and fill a gap where services were not being provided. Within a months' time, she transitioned from novice to the expert on the phone, counseling patients what to expect during their cancer rehabilitation appointment.
She strongly embodies her role as a stroke rehabilitation nurse not only in the facility but in the community as well. Despite having a very active life outside of the hospital walls, she and her family are regular participants in the Seattle American Stroke Association stroke awareness walk.
The VA is a better place because of nurses like Ivelis Pena. She is a DAISY Nurse for her servant leadership and dedication to the Veteran population.