I have had the privilege of working with Tanya as her manager for the past 8 years. She is a professional, caring floor nurse who is recognized as exemplary by the other nurses with whom she works. She pitches in and works as Charge Nurse or Preceptor whenever needed, but really prefers to be one of the nurses taking direct care of patients. Tanya communicates with respect and caring.

Her patients often speak to me about her. I remember one addicted young woman telling me that Tanya "makes me feel like a real person." A typical comment is "You can tell this is more than just a job to her, she really cares about me." Tanya herself says her philosophy is to communicate respect and make sure her patients know they are not less of a person because they are addicted... or homeless... or uneducated... or don't speak English. Even for Harborview, where staff routinely goes above and beyond the standard work requirements, Tanya stands out. Here are just a few examples:

Tanya is known to bring in shoes or clothes for patients living on the street; she tracked down the daughter living in Oregon of a dying patient and reconnected them; when she found out it was the wedding anniversary of a patient with a rare, painful, disfiguring disease, she brought in Italian sodas for the couple because the patient had mentioned she enjoyed them.

Tanya's compassion for her dying patients is such a comfort to their families that they have been known to come back to see her. One family has come back at Christmas with chocolates for 3 years now. The wife of a long-established, well-known patient came back to specifically thank Tanya for her help as her husband died. They had been together since they were teenagers, and it was Tanya who took the time to find out their history and bits about their life so she could help her through those bad days.

Another patient, an ER nurse, was pretty remote. She never complained, always had great things to say about her care but was reserved with us all. It was Tanya who broke through and talked to her and learned about her dismay at not being able to be at home and look at the beach. Tanya immediately started working on making going home happen, which was a complicated regimen of large doses pain meds, transfusions and difficult dressings.

She is the professional that continuously improves the reputation of HMC the more anyone has contact with her. Tanya deserves this award for her respectful, caring communication and her ability to find just the right thing the patient needs, always going above and beyond.