Korinne Van Keuren is a clinical expert and an invaluable asset to the Pediatric Unit and PICU in her role as the NP for Pediatric Surgery. She provides her families with excellent surgical care, anticipatory guidance and patient teaching as they move through their surgical process.

But that is really the expectation of her role. The reason I’m nominating Korinne is that she consistently sees beyond the surgical issue or the post-op period and really sees the child and family as a whole. She is very skilled at seeing what else they need in the big picture and then working tirelessly to get it done. No matter how unrealistic or difficult it seems.

We had a young lady with us for 8 or 9 months with a complex surgical picture and a very discouraging course. She had very little family support. While Korinne managed her multiple surgeries, months of TPN, and recurrent UTI’s, she also bought her GED books and constantly encouraged and tutored her to accomplish her goal of passing the GED. She gave advice as a trusted support person on life decisions this young lady needed to make a she moved on and lovingly and supportively told her when she blew it. She built a truly beautiful supportive relationship that continues now. She always kept the nursing staff in the loop as to the latest accomplishment or the current worry so that we could be a team as we cared for her over this long time frame. This young lady has completed her GED, finished a job training program and is starting on college now. I would attribute much of this success to the relationship that Korinne developed.