I have worked with Karen for over four years. In that time, she has stayed late to complete urgent patient care tasks that she felt could result in harm to the patient. She has such a strong drive to care for our patients that she won’t go home until she feels every urgent need is safety addressed - often 12-hour days when others in her role clock out. She comes in extra days off and Saturdays to help the tram when the messages on the desktop become overwhelming. Recently, she took one week off from coming in extra and the inbox messages were over 650. She is ALWAYS willing to address patient and provider needs when asked-no matter how complex or how busy -she has always responded with the utmost professionalism and moved to accomplish the task quickly.

She has superb clinical knowledge and serves at the top of her license to triage patients and bring only the most critical details to the provider. Her instincts are always spot on. She is so detail-oriented that she will never leave a stone unturned, a patient waiting at the pharmacy, a prior authorization on hold. She always goes to the next level to determine barriers in care for patients. This week she emailed our team to let us know that a long-time patient and diabetic confided in her that he had no electricity or running water so no fridge for his insulin and was using coolers. She is patient first safety first at all times- scouring the desktop of entire clinics to pull out and deal with the most important tasks. There is no doubt in my mind she has saved many lives.

Most recently, her practice share partner was out for six weeks and no other RNs were staffed to cover. She covered the patient load of 9 providers with the same exacting detail and quality of care. I often worry that she will burn out and leave us, but in my heart, I don’t think she could ever leave her post because she truly feels responsible for the safety and care of our patients. If I could clone Karen and instill her work ethic and compassion for patients in every new nurse, the healthcare world would be a better place. Please know how amazing a nurse you have in Karen Gerst. PS. Did I mention that on her days off she also provides private duty to a disabled and developmentally delayed adult? Her caring is boundless.