Moani Agard is being honored as Fountain Valley Regional Hospital & Medical Center'sDAISY Nurse of the Year!
Moani is an extraordinary human being. Looking at her from an outside perspective, I found that her drive comes from her innate ability to care for others before herself. She has in her entire life been a servant leader. Always putting others before herself, and always providing the most excellent evidence-based practices. She was directly involved with teaching in all of the skills lab, mock codes, and staff in-servicing. She wanted to make sure that all staff members were equipped and qualified with the most recent up to date evidence based practices. She always went above and beyond what was required of her. She is an absolute pleasure to work with. All her colleagues respect and enjoy working alongside her.
The focus of her career has always been about patient safety and advocacy. She signed up for extra shifts because she believed that patient safety is in direct correlation with unit staffing. Not enough nurses to care for patients meant lower patient safety and satisfaction. She wanted to be available for patients and for her colleagues. She understood the unit needs to its core and in order to solve the staffing needs, she had to ignite and renovate the New Grad Program. She accomplished that deed and 5 out of the 6 new graduates succeeded. The 6th nurse is on her way to becoming a telemetry nurse. Moani was instrumental in the planning and implementation of the new graduate program. She taught the didactic classes and was a preceptor to them. When the new educator was hired late last year, Moani handed the program torch to the Educator with poise and grace.
She is involved in the IMPACT committee, and she has never missed a meeting. She always puts off her vacations and requested time off to attend meetings and in-servicing. She also worked very hard to get the unit more involved in the GEMBA process. She has supported her patients, colleagues, and leadership.
She promotes healthy living by reaching out to staff members about the benefits of exercise and healthy eating habits. She taught me that your body should be your biggest investment in life. She introduced outrigger canoe paddling to many who would frown at exercise and taught them that healthy eating habits with everyday exercise truly helps the soul.
In order for Moani to have accomplished such great deeds for her unit, she had to put her personal education on the back burner. She decided that the unit was more important than obtaining her Bachelors in Nursing. She did, however, obtain her Clin II in May 2017 and has decided to restart her program.
I believe that she deserves this award and much more. She is by definition an extraordinary human being and deserves to be recognized.