It gives me great pleasure to nominate Matt Santmier to be considered for The DAISY Nurse Leader Award. Matt has a unique and calm communication style that involves empathy, compassion, active listening, and conflict resolution. Any time that a team member and I have a concern or suggestion about work or personal conflict, his office doors are always open to talk. When he comes out of his office, I always overhear him speaking in the hallway by the nurse’s station to one or two of our team members and encouraging them to take regular breaks, reminding them to drink water, utilize their vacation hours to help prevent them from burnout and he always asks me if I already took my blood pressure pill. I have also witnessed him working tirelessly along with ANMs and charge nurses on the schedule to provide us with a fair and balanced assignment.

Matt always prioritizes team members' well-being to promote a healthy environment and boost our morale. His genuine empathy helped create a supportive and harmonious work culture. Matt is humble, and he is always willing to accept critical feedback and suggestions from team members and adapt. It shows his commitment to personal and team improvement. He has always treated me and our team members with respect, fairness, and professionalism. He has the wisdom and ability to inspire and motivate our team to achieve the best and bring out the best of us to drive us to collective success.

I feel so blessed and proud to work for this great organization, and I appreciate the opportunity to work under Matt's direct leadership. With his consistent actions and exceptional leadership, Matt has shown me that our mission, vision, and values to extend God's care through the ministry of physical, mental, and spiritual healing is always genuine and that it is being applied to our team members and to the ones we serve.