I came to the VA from another hospital that I adored. I knew that it would be very difficult to have any other work environment live up to what I had experienced. I started here in the SICU under this manager's leadership. She was encouraging, nurturing, patient, optimistic, and had a gift of always seeing the good in a situation. She was blessed with the ability to have the world crashing down all around her, and she would remain calm and encouraging. There was never a question about how busy she was. She rarely worked from her office and if on the rare occasion she needed to, you would never see her door closed. I know that she did this to make it clear that she always had time for everyone no matter what. This was not only clear in the fact that she conducted most all of her work out in the open at the desk to be accessible to anyone who may need her. Her work ethic is truly unmatched.

She gives her soul to her employees and the patients every day. If there ever is a situation where a nurse is unable to get something they need in a pinch from a patient's surgical team MD, she also has her NP degree so she is able to coordinate care and help physically place the orders that the patient may need. She makes it very clear that she is there for all of us...staff and patients. I know that if I need help pulling a patient up, she is never above being one of the first ones to jump to my rescue. Just one of MANY examples is that any new, complicated surgery that would come in, she would jump right in with staff to settle and receive the patient. She jumps right in to draw labs, dress IVs and incisions, and simply do whatever the patient may need. If I have questions about orders or practice, then she will stop whatever she is doing to address them. There is a saying "those who can't do-teach". That is absolutely not the case for this manager. She is capable of taking care of anything that comes through the door. You would be hard-pressed to find another manager in this hospital who could have the same thing said about them.

If you ask any of her staff, you will be hard pressed to find anyone who would speak an unkind word about her. She truly is a manager who has the purest of hearts for her job. It is never about power or advancement for her. It is always about doing what is right. She lives and breathes this job. An example of that is how she would call the charge nurse every single morning on her drive in to get a full report on each patient on the unit so that she can make sure that during morning rounds she is equipped with the knowledge she needs to cover each patient's care needs for the day. I have long since reluctantly left her department. Not for any other reason than in search of the type of nursing that is comparable to where I came from and love. I frequently go back to her for advise, support, education, and just a moral battery recharge.

I can not express adequately how important and irreplaceable this person's presence has been in my life these last 7 years of my employment here. I know wholeheartedly that I don't speak for myself when I say that she was/is the change maker for my career here at the VA. She IS who I would hope every department here would experience in management. If they did, we would have no turnover.