JoAnna is an incredible nurse, and PeaceHealth is so lucky to have her! She is a Mom/Baby RN who frequently floats to the Pediatric unit. I work a lot of the same shifts as JoAnna, so I have had the pleasure of getting to know her well both as a nurse and on a personal level. I am always happy when she floats to Pediatrics, as she is so easy to work with and is such an incredible nurse.

JoAnna often gets floated mid shift from Mom/Baby and gives up a team on that unit to take a new team on Pediatrics. When she gets floated to Pediatrics, she always has a positive attitude and does everything with a smile on her face. She is very knowledgeable, has amazing critical thinking skills, and is always willing to be a team player.

Since JoAnna floats to the Pediatric Unit often, she has experienced and seen a lot of things that are outside of her usual population on the Mom/Baby unit. There are so many examples that I could give to explain why JoAnna is deserving of this honor, but below are a couple of examples of nights when she went above and beyond.

There was a patient we admitted who was brought to us as a new-onset seizure patient. The patient arrived, and her presentation was not at all what we were told in the report. The patient was very worrisome and ended up being very ill. When she arrived, she looked terrible. There were only two pediatric nurses total on the unit aside from JoAnna. She immediately jumped into action to help care for this sick patient.

We immediately took the patient to CT and then initiated a rapid response, including administering multiple medications, performing procedures, and communicating with OHSU via telehealth. JoAnna was amazing. Without being asked, she helped in every way possible, and we were able to transport the patient to OHSU. This same night, JoAnna’s own patient decompensated and began to desaturate to the 70s and ended up on a non-rebreather. She stayed calm, responded appropriately, and notified the doctor who came to the bedside.

A couple of nights later, we had a patient on HFNC who was not doing well and continuously getting worse throughout the night. JoAnna kept asking if there was anything to do to help with the patient’s care. As I was in the room helping the bedside nurse, we had another patient who was being admitted and needed blood. The patient was being cared for by a new grad nurse. JoAnna came into the HFNC patient’s room as I was in there and asked if there was anything particular regarding pediatric blood transfusions.

After speaking with her about it, JoAnna took the initiative to help the new grad RN hang and begin transfusing the blood. JoAnna will always jump in to help, even if she is busy herself. She is so valuable when she floats to our unit, and we feel so thankful every time she is here. The doctors know and trust her, the staff love working with her, and the patients always have nothing but positive things to say about her.

When JoAnna floats here, I know her patients will receive phenomenal care. She is truly one of a kind, and we are beyond fortunate that she chose Peds as her float unit.

Thank you, JoAnna,  for all that you do!