Teresa A Graves
December 2021
Teresa A
Graves
,
MSN, RN
Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health
Children's National Hospital
Washington
,
DC
United States
There is not one staff member within her team that doesn't know Teresa professionally, and as a leader, they can trust who will roll up her sleeves to help in patient care, charge, or whatever needs to be done.
Teresa Graves is the Nurse Manager for the Clinics. When you describe a nurse leader Teresa comes to mind. She is a role model, respected, and an endearing ethical leader that represents nursing excellence in the community. She is at the forefront of strategic development, providing insight and seeing the patient and family's needs as the driver for care and outcomes. Teresa is the nurse lead for these primary care homes throughout the District of Columbia. She continues to lead from behind the scenes throughout Covid and the ever-present surge in the community that we are all navigating. She quietly prepares, guides, and leads her team to support the Primary Care world and the many moves that support inpatient and emergency department surges. Teresa has formed professional relationships to establish mutual trust within Goldberg, nursing, and the community.
As described by her medical director, "we would be lost without Teresa!" There is not one staff member within her team that doesn't know Teresa professionally, and as a leader, they can trust who will roll up her sleeves to help in patient care, charge, or whatever needs to be done. She is a motivational leader who keeps her teams' morale, skill, and engagement at the forefront, providing support, advocating for and looking for a better process to support her nursing team. She is innovative, and creative and uses this to develop workflows, design new sites as well as implement projects that support not only Goldberg's primary care families but the children in DC.
Teresa worked on a collaborative partnership with the Mobile Program, Department of Health and Children's School Services (CSS) manned the mobile van to help vaccinate children in the District to improve vaccination rates that fell dramatically during Covid when most families avoided coming in for vaccines and well-child care. She provided education to CSS nurses including vaccine preparation, administration, and documentation, all to improve access and vaccine rates in the most vulnerable populations to immunize children before school opening. Teresa staffed this effort and supported the implementation of the program. She later coordinated the de-centralization of Covid vaccine to the Goldberg medical homes providing vaccine clinics and vaccines during well-child visits. She managed this while bringing the move of the Goldberg clinics to the newly opened Children's National at Shepherd Park and soon-to-open Children's National at Shaw; each of these moves supported surges throughout the house.
This work was placed on an accelerated timeframe and the team had a thirty-day turnaround months before the initial timeline. Teresa provided updates on challenges and how she worked towards the resolution of each. When her teams arrived, she and her PMO lead, a nurse as well, had it all in place. This allowed the team to explore their new home and get comfortable with the first day visits. It was Teresa's efforts with the PMO team that made this move a huge success. Not many folks know of the planning, HR implications, and physical and mental support needed to pull this off successfully. These moves significantly impact her teams dealing with teams moved between two locations, moving off the SZ campus, new routes to work, etc. Teresa calmly navigated this, listened, and supported the team. She worked relentlessly to ensure everyone was heard, and their concerns addressed.
Teresa's knowledge and shared vision guided her decisions on build, throughput, and safety. Teresa thought of everything from troubleshooting due to the limitations of opening a clinic in a historical building to medication safety and vaccine safety. You might ask does she walk on water? I haven't seen it, but she is a servant leader. I do know that through all the transitions, Teresa completed her master's degree and enrolled in a global health program. She is a mentor for Conway scholars and provides guidance and mentoring to many others. She is also a co-author of a manuscript detailing the CN approach to Covid vaccine implementation that has been accepted for publication. Teresa is an extraordinary nurse leader with the attributes of our core values and nursing excellence. I am grateful to have her as a part of my team. I am proud to nominate her for a DAISY Nurse Leader Award.
As described by her medical director, "we would be lost without Teresa!" There is not one staff member within her team that doesn't know Teresa professionally, and as a leader, they can trust who will roll up her sleeves to help in patient care, charge, or whatever needs to be done. She is a motivational leader who keeps her teams' morale, skill, and engagement at the forefront, providing support, advocating for and looking for a better process to support her nursing team. She is innovative, and creative and uses this to develop workflows, design new sites as well as implement projects that support not only Goldberg's primary care families but the children in DC.
Teresa worked on a collaborative partnership with the Mobile Program, Department of Health and Children's School Services (CSS) manned the mobile van to help vaccinate children in the District to improve vaccination rates that fell dramatically during Covid when most families avoided coming in for vaccines and well-child care. She provided education to CSS nurses including vaccine preparation, administration, and documentation, all to improve access and vaccine rates in the most vulnerable populations to immunize children before school opening. Teresa staffed this effort and supported the implementation of the program. She later coordinated the de-centralization of Covid vaccine to the Goldberg medical homes providing vaccine clinics and vaccines during well-child visits. She managed this while bringing the move of the Goldberg clinics to the newly opened Children's National at Shepherd Park and soon-to-open Children's National at Shaw; each of these moves supported surges throughout the house.
This work was placed on an accelerated timeframe and the team had a thirty-day turnaround months before the initial timeline. Teresa provided updates on challenges and how she worked towards the resolution of each. When her teams arrived, she and her PMO lead, a nurse as well, had it all in place. This allowed the team to explore their new home and get comfortable with the first day visits. It was Teresa's efforts with the PMO team that made this move a huge success. Not many folks know of the planning, HR implications, and physical and mental support needed to pull this off successfully. These moves significantly impact her teams dealing with teams moved between two locations, moving off the SZ campus, new routes to work, etc. Teresa calmly navigated this, listened, and supported the team. She worked relentlessly to ensure everyone was heard, and their concerns addressed.
Teresa's knowledge and shared vision guided her decisions on build, throughput, and safety. Teresa thought of everything from troubleshooting due to the limitations of opening a clinic in a historical building to medication safety and vaccine safety. You might ask does she walk on water? I haven't seen it, but she is a servant leader. I do know that through all the transitions, Teresa completed her master's degree and enrolled in a global health program. She is a mentor for Conway scholars and provides guidance and mentoring to many others. She is also a co-author of a manuscript detailing the CN approach to Covid vaccine implementation that has been accepted for publication. Teresa is an extraordinary nurse leader with the attributes of our core values and nursing excellence. I am grateful to have her as a part of my team. I am proud to nominate her for a DAISY Nurse Leader Award.