2020 has been a year that will be remembered, but definitely not one that any of us want to relive. In my 12 years of ICU nursing, this has been the hardest experience I have ever worked through. During this experience, sometimes it feels like you're drowning, and yet the environment is so intense when you try and come up for air, you can feel smothered by the sheer intensity of it all.
In times like these, it is so important to have a leader who is in the storm with you, but not driven by the storm. Kristi Valdez has been that leader not just for MICU, but for the hospital. She has been at the helm of something that modern healthcare has not experienced before and has lead with extraordinary resilience in the face of complex and ever-changing processes. During this, she has been focused and intentional on trying to create a physically and emotionally safe environment for her staff not just at work but at home as well. She speaks with empathy and compassion and keeps a perceptive eye on behavioral context, which is so important for someone who leads a large staff of people who have such varied lives and social backgrounds. She keeps us motivated to keep fighting the right battles and to pursue things that bring life and a therapeutic milieu for the staff, our patients, and their families.
When census and acuity were beyond and extreme and staffing could not cover the needs of our patients, Kristi has donned her scrubs and stepped into the storm with us, and then picked up a phone and called to get us the help we so desperately needed. This is all done with a meek and humble presence that radiates approachability, well mixed with resolute leadership. She is the image of nursing that UMC desires to shine into the organization and community we serve. Thank you Kristi for continuing to lead us through this unprecedented time.