For the past two years, Margo Ott, Nurse Manager, has been in OCC (Office of Community Care), she spearheaded a quality control project that improved the medical record process, has gotten OCC staff members access to external portals, which has saved numerous hours of time for staff having to request records, and has gone way beyond her job duties to try to bring down the cost of high utilizers (i.e., patients with a high volume of using Community Care ERs), etc. which in turn has resulted in dramatic improvement in the way OCC functions on a daily basis. When no one else stepped up, Margo volunteered to case manage a Veteran who was overutilizing a Community ER. She got him situated with home care, travel, medications, etc. His visits to the Community ER have stopped, and he is now having all his physical and psychological needs met.

After one year in the department, she became the Nurse Manager and quickly adapted to that role. Margo has gone through the OCC field guidebook (policies and protocols OCC is required to follow) with a fine tooth comb and knows that guidebook like the back of her hand. She got the OCC updated to many of the requirements of that field guidebook. She took on that huge task during her own time. Also, Margo created/updated the OCC SharePoint and presented this to various departments within the hospital so that they all have a quick resource as to what services OCC provides. She quickly learned the roles of the Transfer Coordinator who left OCC and that of the Traveling Vet Coordinator for coverage purposes. This resulted in no interruption of care for those Veterans. She has the respect of all staff members who work in OCC, as she is the first person they reach out to with an issue. She is a Mentor to the staff as she is the sole trainer for new employees and continues to mentor them as they adapt to their roles.

Personally, Margo inspires me to be the best, most competent nurse I can be. I have learned a great deal from her, and I admire her willingness to drop whatever she is doing to help a fellow employee or Veteran, as demonstrated by the earlier example. She has compassion for the Veterans, motivates the clinical and administrative staff to be the best they can be, is flexible and open to ideas on how to improve current processes, and is completely accessible despite how busy she is all the time. She is a strong advocate for clinical and administrative staff and the Veterans. She has and continues to make a huge positive impact on the OCC department. Therefore, Margo fully deserves recognition for all her hard work. She is a true DAISY Nurse Leader.