A nursing manager writes . . . Janet is an excellent nurse who has received numerous compliments from her patients. She goes above and beyond in her commitment to the nursing profession with her involvement on unit initiatives. She volunteered to be on the HCAHPS committee from the Shared Leadership Education Council to help understand the front line associates perspective. She was very enthusiastic on this journey and developed a brochure to share this information with her co-workers. Also, she chairs the Oncology Standards Committee which is focusing on the needs of those patients and giving the nurses and CNA's the tools they need to effectively care for them.

A patient writes . . . In my six day stay at Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center I was lucky to have Janet as my RN for 3 of those days. In that time it was evident that the team of nurses and CNA's looked up to her for guidance and respected her immensely. "Janet is the best!" and "You are in great hands with Janet" and "She is so knowledgeable!" - not only the comments but so very often she would take calls or just answer questions when someone stopped by. Never ever did she make me feel neglected, but I really admired how she could take such great care with me and still give such great support to her team on the floor. It was also great to see the care and time she gave in mentoring another RN who was learning to do the oncology side of nursing and how she stayed over past her time off and gave him the hands on nursing time he needed to learn. What a great, patient mentor she is!

Another Patient writes . . .Janet is very highly organized, how else could she take such good care of her patients but also be so connected with her team and be such a reference point for so many. My chemo during this stay required a lot of timed activities. Every two hours my port needed to be checked. My first dosage of Rituxin had to be closed watched because I had a previous negative reaction and she was in my room every 10 minutes to be sure I was okay. To give that much time to one patient and keep up with all her other duties takes a VERY organized individual.

Chemo treatment can be a very scary procedure, especially when one is hospitalized for the first treatment. I've had chemo before but never to this degree. R-EPOCH was very new (and scary) to me. I knew that my reaction to this would be worse than any other but I can honestly say that day three of this has progressed without any negative challenges. Some things came up but Janet either had already told me or taken preventive steps so I was not impacted. All the pre meds and what they did and how they worked had been carefully and gently explained. She gave me time to ask questions and explained in an easy to understand way. When I asked her about having trouble breathing one morning, I was met with a hug and immediate action! Turns out she had me down to x-ray immediately and called in the oncology expert where we found that I just had too much liquid and we got that taken care of within an hour. Her compassion and true caring really go beyond just nurturing; Janet truly cares about her patients and treats them the way she would treat her own family. I was extremely fortunate to have been matched up with Janet on this first treatment!

Janet's quick assessment of my breathing problem and follow up really did help ease my mind when everything was restored to normal in short order. I would imagine that it takes Janet's experience to put the many pieces of the puzzle (weight gain, swollen belly, liquids in/liquids out, multiple chemo drips and saline drips) together to come up with a plan and then know who to contact to make everything happen. And "happen" it did! I was back to normal in a matter of a few short hours because of her quick thinking!

I learned a lot from Janet in my short stay. Her years of learning in the nursing field are not wasted and she shares so much helpful information. She understood the challenges of the chemo regimen that I was taking and not only recommended salt water mouth rinses to avoid mouth sores, but took the extra step to get the mouthwash for me so I could start right away. NO mouth sores! Her gentle recommendation of having a cold dinner when the tummy is a little distressed served me well and is something that I will carry with me during my chemo.

So many things Janet taught me in the past three days. I know the path ahead of me has been made easier because of Janet's words of wisdom and her gentle caring. It's always a mystery as to why some people come into your life when you need them. Here is a perfect stranger turned out to be a friend and advocate helping me during this challenging time in my life. The DAISY award is a beautiful tribute to your employees who go well beyond the daily nursing chores. Janet is a perfect recipient of this award and it is evident that it is just what she does and does it so well. Please consider her for this award as a thank you from all the patients that she has cared for and helped but many have never let you know and also from the patients like myself who will walk away on Monday and never forget her caring, sharing and love!