Jess is my counterpart ANM here at the new Wolfson South ED. Shortly after we opened, COVID 19 took over the world. Due to low census numbers, our ER took a huge hit, and it was decided to temporarily cut the mid-shift nurse to not overstaff and be able to stay within budget. Despite being displaced off her hired shift, she always made it work. She worked days and nights for months to fill our staffing needs. It was exhausting just looking at how she would have to go back and forth between working dayshift and nightshift in the same week, and yet she did it like a champ.
Jess tirelessly changed her schedule around to make sure we always had coverage. She was always available when things became hectic only having 2 nurses on at times when we needed more. Throughout the majority of the year, we have had several meetings discussing staffing needs and census swings and through it all, she always chose to support our team and do what was best for the unit. She managed to do all this for our unit as well as take care of her family at home watching her come and go at different times each day. I am truly thankful for what she has done and continues to do for our unit. She is an excellent team leader and a perfect example for all of us of what being a team player is! We finally got our census up to where we need mid-shift back but only during certain hours. She is now doing modified mid-shifts and coming in 4 days a week to make sure we have coverage!
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Jessica Paez is an ANM in the Pediatric ED at BMCS. When COVID started our little unit dropped from 2-day shift RNs and 1 mid-shift RN to just 2-day shift RNs. This caused many of us to be canceled weekly, which then made many of us struggle in our daily lives because of pay cuts. Jessica, who was previously a mid-shift, was beyond flexible with adjusting her entire life to help us all on the unit. She is a mother to two four-year-old girls, and she was working nights, and days to help eliminate the number of cancels the rest of us took. She also put herself in the cancel rotation, which helped decrease the number of hours that everyone was canceled.
Here we are, 7 months into this Pandemic, and she is still sacrificing herself for her team and our staffing needs. We do not have our mid-shift back at a full capacity as of yet. Jessica is working more than her normal 3 days a week and only working during our busy hours as our third nurse. Her schedule is up in the air and a day by day case. Currently, she is scheduling herself for four 8 hour shifts a week; however, if during those days and times the ED is not busy, she has to cancel herself and go home, regardless of if she hits her hours or not. Many weeks she has to come in 5 days a week, and only a few hours each day.
As you can imagine, this would be extremely difficult for anyone to make these changes to their life, let alone a mom of twin four-year-olds. Jessica loves our unit and believes in our team. She wants to see our little unit succeed so much so, that she has gone above and beyond in her role as ANM.
Thank you Jessica for all you do for our patients and families! Congratulations on winning the DAISY Award!!