...Anna received her nursing education in Poland and worked at a Blood Bank there for two years. She was able to get out of a communist country and arrived in the United States without knowing any English. It took Anna almost twelve years to learn the language and to believe in herself enough to even think that she could be a Registered Nurse in a foreign country.

Anna first started by getting her CNA certification and worked in home health care. She believed that the best experience and knowledge that she would get would be working in a hospital at the patient's bedside. Memorial Hospital hired Anna and she started working full-time for 23/33 Medical Surgical (later to become 75 Digestive Medicine). As she was working as a CNA, she started studying for the exams and also continued working part-time in home health care. Surrounding her in this endeavor, were her husband and two children, who cheered her on and encouraged her to persevere through the tough times of studying. It took her two years on her own studying to learn nursing in English so she could take her NCLEX. After passing, she continued working on 23/33 MedSurg unit as a registered nurse.

What is so evident about Anna is that she loves what she does and she always gives her best. She is constantly learning new things and applying them to her care or helping others to learn. I personally have watched Anna grow and bloom from a RN who was not always confident about herself, to one who now sees that she has gifts and abilities that will not only help her patients and families, but other staff members. Anna is co-chair of the Unit Practice Council (UPC) and we have used her organizational skills to LEAN our floor both on 23/33 and then 75. Since she has the experience as both a CNA and RN, she was able to organize the med room and our clean room to make it efficient for our staff.

Anna is one of our preceptors on our floor and she is able to encourage and help students, new graduates, and veteran nurses to succeed there. She works hard to train the staff and is always willing to help. She lives Relationship-based care for her patients, families and co-workers. Anna is also one of our "skin champions" for our floor and has made a difference in our skin care by writing huddle information on new treatments, encouraging staff to critically think about a patient to make sure that they have the proper mattress, are being turned, using ointments/creams, etc. This past year she has been given the opportunity to grow even more by taking on another leadership role of charge nurse. With her organizational skills, she is able to juggle the different tasks of charge nurse, but always reaching out to staff, helping them to get through the day, starting IVs, helping with discharges, and making rounds.

Last month as I worked alongside Anna on the floor, I witnessed her care that just moved my heart and I remember thinking what compassionate care that Anna was giving. She was taking care of a 92 year old woman from Medallion who was VERY hard of hearing. The patient was very nice, but could not understand anything being said to her. Anna took the time to write everything out for this patient, including assessments. Late Friday, Dr. P wrote discharge orders but MHS did not have transportation available and neither did the Medallion. Because it was so late, the decision was made to discharge the patient the next day. The patient did not have any family in town to help her out. Anna knew she could probably work on getting AMR to transport this patient but she was hoping to find another way to make the move back to the facility a better experience for her patient. Saturday morning, when Anna came back to work, she communicated to the patient in writing about wanting to know if she had any friends around who would be able to help with her transportation. The patient knew some names and addresses, but no phone numbers. Anna did some research and was able to find some phone numbers and called one of the friends. They were delighted to hear from Anna and were willing to come help out. That afternoon, the friends arrived and the patient was so happy to see them. They gathered up all her belongings and Anna helped to take her out to the friend's car. What a beautiful ending to a hospitalization. Anna took the time to make something happen for her elderly, hard of hearing patient that I know the patient and friends were both impacted in such a positive and caring way.

There are people who come into your life that inspire you to be a better person and Anna is one of these people for me. She incorporates every aspect of the T.R.U.S.T.E.D. colleague model and radiates all that the DAISY Award stands for.