Noni has created a positive image of professional Nursing by her continuous efforts to improve Nursing outcomes by implementing evidence-based practice changes. Noni has served in a number of roles over her 30+ years and has served in each with professionalism and a desire to make a difference in the lives of our patients through the provision of safe, effective clinical care. I have always found Noni to be prompt, concise, and informed. She has been a wonderful representative of Nursing over the years. Everyone feels better if Noni is on the team. She will ask the tough questions and push everyone to be part of the solution. I worked with Noni as my manager on the 10th floor for approximately 4 years. Her dedication to her floor and her staff never wavered during that time. She ensured that as a teaching floor, we would be the first to trial new nursing best-practice ideas such as sliding scale insulin orders before they were given to other floors, telemetry monitoring and interpretation classes (for charge nurses), and availability to attend port access and care classes. Noni would inform us of Medical/Surgical certification classes and encourage us to become certified; she often stressed to the nursing staff that Medical/Surgical was a specialty area, not because we focused on one area of nursing, but because we focused on multiple areas of nursing. Noni encourages nurses to nurture and develop their strengths. She perceives strengths in her staff, whether they be the capability to be charge nurse, a preceptor to new staff, or movement to another floor to investigate a new area of nursing. Noni also helps nurses who need assistance in honing skills as a nurse with encouragement and patience, such as personally helping new nurses become confident with IV start skills.
Noni has created innovative environments by not being afraid to try something new. She is an excellent planner and helps others to see her vision through her organizational skills and knowledge. She helped to bring technology in to help us meet the needs of patients while adhering to rigorous regulatory standards. The Sitter unit saved tens of thousands of dollars in labor and served as a model for others across SSM Health as well as presenting to the AHA as a best practice for consideration. She poured her heart and soul into that project, and I remember her comment "Anything I look at I consider how I can make it a ligature". It is a revolutionary design, with cost savings for staff and better safety measures for the patient. Noni encourages members of the PNPC team to engage in projects and programs locally and at the system level to leverage the innovation of our Nurses with those of colleagues across the system. One of Noni's Nursing units is known throughout our ministry as being very innovative and the choice unit for pilots of many types due to their exceptional change management skills, led by Noni while the nursing manager of the 10th floor Medical Teaching Unit for 8+ years. When Noni was our nurse manager on the 10th floor, I remember that we are always piloting new processes or trying out new beds, supplies, etc. to a point that the 10th floor was dubbed as the "pilot floor". She cultivated a culture on our floor of just not being afraid of anything new and to be a voice of advocacy for our own profession. She encouraged her nurses to be involved in the change and have a sense of ownership in our nursing profession. I became the manager of the 10th floor in 2015. Noni was first my preceptor, and then my director. She made time for me to visit with her every day during her time as my preceptor; during this time, she helped me prepare the floor for new best-practice nursing projects. A primary example was the telemetry monitoring, where we observed patients who might benefit from having their telemetry discontinued. We do not have monitors on patient rooms so patients would have to wear heavy telemetry boxes during their stay. This project increased hospital revenue by discontinuing unnecessary equipment and increased patient satisfaction by removing what they felt was a tethering object. Noni most recently was a patient and nurse advocate for the COVID-19 Med-Surg floor. She saw that there was a problem with acuity and helped rectify a Stepdown vs Med-Surg level of care in Nursing as there were multiple Rapid Responses and Codes within a two-week period. She understood the mental aspect of taking care of the COVID patients and met with the floor regarding the understanding of COVID-19 Med-Surg and the normal workflow that Med-Surg nurses are accustomed to. She again has such wisdom and insight into Nursing. She is a true "Saints in Action".
Noni supports other Nurses in her mentoring of fellow Nurses. Whether just starting out or contemplating a change in their path, Noni is approachable, attentive, and honest in her feedback and very adeptly gives advice and feedback. Noni is also a staunch advocate for Nursing related to her service on the Professional Practice Evaluation Committee with physician leaders. Noni reviews outcomes always with an eye toward making the practice of Nursing as well as the care provided, safer. Noni has served as a mentor to undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate as well as executives over the years. Noni has not just been supportive of other Nurses, but other disciplines as well. Noni is my nurse mentor and I know many nurses feel the same way about her. I can personally say that Noni has a big impact on who I am as a Nurse today. She hired me as a brand-new nurse, encouraged me to be a preceptor, and "voluntold" me for UBC and practice council and even with Informatics. She has the knack for identifying your strength and then provides you with the right opportunities for growth by stretching you and taking you out of your comfort zone. Noni has helped me tremendously over the years to learn and grow as a nurse. She was in recruitment when I was hired. There were also numerous times when I was in the float pool that I would end up in her office on 10 where she would either talk me off the ledge or convince me that I was good enough for the job and to put my big girl panties on and handle business. For the past couple of years, she has been my direct supervisor and at first, I was a little nervous about that but it really has been a great experience. She always supports her staff and makes the best decisions about what needs to be done for them or the patients they are caring for. I feel she 100% has our backs and that is hard to come by. Noni Erb is a nurse who has helped mold me into the nurse that I am today. She taught me valuable leadership skills, compassion, nursing judgment and so much more. She is always available to talk to you, even if it personal. She has been a true advocate for nursing over the years. She exuberates wisdom and always seems to know how to help you navigate your way through the process. She is very involved throughout the hospital and is a person that I have relied on over the years with difficult situations. My fondest memory of Noni helping me work through a problem was when I was a relief charge nurse on 10ECT. She was my manager at the time and was pushing me to become a leader of the unit despite my reluctance. She told me to always call her with any concerns. One weekend, I had a patient who had been "released from custody" and the OKC Police Department called me and asked me to give them a call when this patient was discharged. I had called House Supervisor and we had talked it over and I wasn't sure that I agreed. I gave Noni a call and we spoke about my concerns about patient rights vs obstruction of justice. We agreed upon the decision of the patient rights and her exact words to me were "If you go to jail, they will have to take me too and SOMEONE will come and bail us out". This is an example of a patient advocate, a leader, and someone who supports nursing. Noni has always had a passion for the importance of strong foundations for new nurses and she felt like medical-surgical exposure was key to strong life-long nurses. She brought ideas around physician learning and enriched collaboration between physician and nursing staff while nurse manager on the learning unit. Her unit was often the leader among other med surg units to roll out new practices in patient care and staffing models. Noni's strength as a leader often led to promoting her staff and after building and leading the medical teaching unit to success, she promoted to Director of Patient Care broadening her scope to multiple med surg units. Noni's relationships with the nursing managers were strong with an unquestionable trust among key stakeholders.
Noni has served in the role of Float Nurse, Staff Nurse, Charge Nurse, Nurse Manager, Critical Care Director, Nurse Recruiter, Chief Nursing Officer, Director of Nursing Practice, and her current role as Administrative Director of Nursing. In each of these roles, she has partnered with stakeholders to help them understand the contributions of Nursing as well as how to better serve the patients in our care. In each of these roles, she learned from different stakeholders and worked with them to ensure the entire team could feel good about their individual contribution. Noni is always open to a discussion and an opportunity to work together in a true partnership and that is what I have come to know and appreciate in working with Noni over the years since I joined our HR department in January of 1998. I worked closely with Noni when she was one-of-two nurse recruiters and she mentored me as the HR Assistant in nursing recruitment support, instilling the importance of compliance and details within the recruiting and hiring process which led to me being successful in my role as nurse recruiter and ultimately the leader of the recruitment team before transitioning to Human Relations. This is only one example of Noni's leadership and desire to help others grow.
Noni consistently challenges us to be better. She believes all our patients deserve exceptional care and works on many different fronts to ensure decisions made will result in better outcomes for our patients. Noni makes sure people have information to do their work, she is persistent if there is a need, to be sure it is met Then after a few years, shifting her knowledge skills and abilities to the Nurse Recruiter role, she was dedicated to identifying top candidates for the hospital for about 6 years. She was sound in her ability to identify and match new nurses in the appropriate patient populations always mindful of retention and turnover goals. Noni saw the bigger picture and how she could leverage her abilities to make partnerships in the community and provide support to lead our teams to excellence in meeting department, regional, and system goals. She is our liaison to the board of nursing and other state agencies in the state and she works closely with risk management and education and all managers of staff at our hospital and has proven to be an incredible resource and support for others.
Noni embodies what an SSMHealth nurse should be - she is a professional, a leader, a partner, an advocate who models accountability. Noni's nursing career is a profound testament to the nursing profession by her dedication and openness to learning and new growth that has led her to Administrative Director of Nursing. I believe Noni's dedication to her nursing profession has positioned her to create a positive image of the nursing profession demonstrated in each position she has held over the years. I believe her personal dedication and openness to learn as a new nurse was the strong foundation that she carried with her on her journey as a nurse. She achieved a high acuity skill set and attention to detail in every aspect of her nursing care.
Standing on the shoulders of those who came before us, is a phrase that perfectly describes Noni's leadership. She has a way of making everyone around her a better version of themselves. Allowing individual growth by supporting and guiding her nurses in a way that makes us feel valued and empowered. My introduction to Noni was in Professional Nurse Practice Council, her demeanor and professionalism motivated me immediately. Her balance between candor and rectitude strikes the perfect tone in every situation. She knows when to respond with humility versus punitive action and navigates each situation utilizing just culture. Countless nurses have soaked in this knowledge over the years, taking what they have learned from Noni out into the healthcare system, setting off a chain reaction that will inspire future generations. I am one of those nurses, she will always be in the back of my mind. In every situation, large or small I will always ask myself "how would Noni handle this?" Noni has without a doubt made our patients safer, our nurses stronger, and has provided sound shoulders for future generations to stand proud upon.
Noni has always been the nurse manager that I have looked up to as the "ideal nurse manager".  She is stern but fair in her dealings with everyone.  She was my nurse manager during the OKC bombing and she was a calming force during those trying times.  She will be retiring soon after many years of service to St. Anthony and I would like to see her recognized.
The departments that Noni manages are some of the best in the system due to her many years of nursing as well as her concern for her co-workers.  She has always inspired others around her to be their best in quality, service, and performance.
Noni has been a role model for the nurses she supervises.  She has an attitude that inspires us all to always "do the right thing" and look at every patient as though they were a family member.
Noni has always been there for families and patients and has never shunned her responsibility for counseling those families and patients during the most difficult time.  She is also a true friend to those colleagues she supervises.
She has always been an advocate for fair treatment for everyone.  She doesn't care if it is a street person or a person of great influence.  She treats everyone the same with respect and dignity.  She epitomizes the role of nursing as a caring profession and is an asset to SSM.
Noni deserves this award because of her tireless work with the hospital during some very trying times.  She was instrumental in keeping a calm, efficient, work atmosphere during the OKC Bombing as well as during the current COVID crisis.  During the many months after the bombing, she worked tirelessly to keep the staff on her floors working toward the goal of maintaining a workplace of excellence and instilling a sense of security in us all.  The day of the bombing was my first day as a charge nurse on the 10th floor and Noni was my manager.  I was terrified of not only what was happening but also the fear that I wouldn't be able to do my job as needed by the many patients we had at the time.  The windows blew out and Noni was there to help us and told us to move all the patients to the hallways to keep them safe from a potential second bomb.  She was a voice of reason in a very chaotic situation.   She has trained thousands of nurses during her many years as a manager and has done it with knowledge, compassion, and a true desire to see these nurses go into the community and succeed in their nursing careers.  She is an inspiration to all whom she has touched during her many years at St. Anthony.  Her distinguished career has helped not only the hospital but the community to be a better place.  She has given her life to the hospital and the patients they care for making her a true DAISY Nurse.