Deb Heinig is pictured with CNO, Tommye Hinton.
As Chief Nursing Officer Tommye Hinton finished her remarks at the DAISY Award ceremony, noting “nurses don’t seek recognition or a pat on the back”, and announced the recipient of the honor given for extraordinary nursing care, those in attendance were witness to those words in action.
Deb Heinig, RN, looked down the row of fellow nurses waiting for someone to stand up and accept the award. Hinton announced Heinig’s name again, and Heinig continued to scan the two dozen or more individuals to see whom she should congratulate. Finally, a colleague leaned over and whispered something to Heinig.
And when her niece, entered the Collins Auditorium and hugged Heinig from behind, and was followed closely by Heinig’s father and mother, her sister and her other daughter, the East 7 nurse exclaimed, “Me? I cannot believe you selected me.”
“I was just so stunned,” Heinig said after the ceremony, “It just didn’t register. They told me it was someone from West 4, so I was expecting someone else.”
Heinig wasn’t completely incorrect in her expectations. She began at Highland two years ago on West 4 after a career change, and one of the nominations was submitted from that unit based on a colleague’s observation of Heinig’s exceptional and compassionate care given to a 96-year-old woman with dementia who couldn’t speak English and was afraid.
“I was very impressed by Deb’s intuition and professionalism,” wrote nurse Marcia Gudonis, who noted that Heinig not only placed an oxygen mask on herself to show the patient that it was safe, but also applied lotion to her hands and spoke in a soothing voice until the woman fell asleep. “It is not uncommon for her to provide great nursing care, but for her to handle a patient she was unfamiliar with so cleverly was truly remarkable.”
Other nominations included examples of Heinig sitting and laughing with patients, treating patients with “utmost respect” and making their final days “meaningful.” One noted that Heinig, who had worked a 13-hour shift and gone home, then returned after learning of the patient’s death just to be with the family.
“Highland needs to figure out how to clone Deb,” a family member of a patient wrote on the nomination form. And the nominations came from every possible angle: a fellow nurse, a marketing specialist whose friend was cared for by Heinig and who later used Heinig in a poster campaign for flu vaccinations, a family member of a patient, the manager of Patient and Family Relations.
“I watched a young mother/patient light up when Deb walked into the room. I watched as Deb spoke gently to an elderly hospice patient, who seemingly responded to her gentle voice and touch,” Amy Eisenhauer, Manager of Patient and Family Relations wrote, mentioning Heinig had a “proactive approach” that ensures a positive patient experience.
It took Heinig a good 10 minutes after hearing all this to wrap her head around it, and when she spoke briefly to those in the room her first words were complimentary to other nurses. “I couldn’t have been sitting with those patients and helping them if my co-workers hadn’t picked up some of the slack created by my absence,” Heinig said. “I have such wonderful colleagues; I truly do.”
Heinig came to nursing later in life, receiving her nursing degree from St. John Fisher College two years ago and immediately turning her attention toward Highland. Having done all her clinical rotations here, she said she never considered another place to work.
“This was my hospital of choice,” Heinig said. “I love coming to work.”
According to Heinig, she also loves learning and sharing what she’s learned. A Type 1 diabetic, she said she’s spent her whole life monitoring her health, and when life presented her an opportunity to help others with their health, she said nursing was a “natural fit.”
“I’ve always been compassionate and I really enjoy the chances I get to connect with someone,” Heinig said. “There is so much power in being able to have a positive effect on someone’s life.”
Case in point: As a diabetes resource nurse, Heinig proactively teaches patients about the disease process. One night when a patient was admitted with high glucose levels after recently being informed they were diabetic, Heinig communicated to the patient about insulin administration and much more. The nominator wrote that Heinig’s notes on the patient’s chart were “clear and concise” and the soon-to-be-discharged patient was “confident and skilled in his diabetes management.”
“Deb is an advocate and she seeks answers to questions and problems.”
According to Kathy Shanahan, the East 7 Short-Stay Nurse Leader, Heinig has an “innate ability to instill trust in people so that they trust themselves.”
Heinig once sat with a patient in excruciating pain, promising she would not leave the bedside until the person was able to make a sound decision, and she once helped a disoriented patient calm down using a simple tactic. “I found her playing the card game War at the end of his bed,” Shanahan said. “He was talking and interacting, but Deb did that. She found the common ground to make a connection.
“She sets such a lovely tone.”
Hinton explained in her introduction about nurses bringing their knowledge and their heart to patients, who often need the latter most.
“Heart is the key to nursing,” Heinig said.
And even if she said it softly, Heinig’s actions surely speak loudly enough.