Judy McCoy has been an RN in this organization for 31 years, starting as a new graduate nurse. She originally began her career on 6N, which at the time was an oncology unit that was moving towards the care of cardiac patients and the use of telemetry monitoring. She started on midnights and gradually worked her way up from afternoons to days; a quiet presence who was there when needed. Judy was one of the leaders in helping to change the focus of care on that unit.

I have had the privilege of working with Judy as a bedside nurse alongside her, as her Charge Nurse, and now as her manager. Throughout these many years, she is the person who consistently stands out as the perfect example of a nurse. I know she taught me a lot. She has a strong knowledge base of disease process and has the ability to clinically plan how each patient will receive care based on their ever-changing symptoms. The patients on 4Main can experience status changes in the blink of an eye. Judy calmly and confidently takes charge of each situation without any hesitation.

Her nursing practice has become intuitive because of her skills, but she is still one of the best preceptors on 4Main for newly hired employees. She loves to teach not only the nurses, but the patients. Judy doesn't just walk into a room to help a patient; she slowly explains what she is doing and why she is doing it. Her patients trust her.

I could list so many examples from over the years of experiences I have shared with Judy that involve education, compassion, chaos, humor, and even tears. I will never forget an event when a patient's health condition deteriorated after a procedure. I walked into the room after the patient was gone to see the usual litter of gauze, wires, empty IV bags, and linen. Judy was alone standing at the window. She was crying. "I was so busy today. Did I miss something? Was this my fault? Could I have done something better? This wasn't a good day." We cried together, because any of us can think back and remember many days when we have felt out of control but continue to push ourselves to give our hearts and bodies to these patients to make them well.

Judy has never changed her philosophy to "do no harm". She is passionate about making sure the changes we make in healthcare will not compromise her care at the bedside. She is soft-spoken, but will stand up for her beliefs. She will also listen and support what needs to be done to keep our hospital the best that it can be. When I need someone to lead in challenging times, Judy is one of my champions.

Judy is best described by the following quote from DWK: "When I think about all the patients and their loved ones that I have worked with over the years, I know most of them don't remember me or I them. But I do know that I gave a little piece of myself to each of them and they to me and those threads make up the beautiful tapestry in my mind that is my career in nursing."