Jeff has worked in our ED as well as the Mobile ICU. He has been a nurse since 1998 and started with Oakwood in 2008. He has an Associates Degree in Nursing.

He came to ICU this year when the MICU closed in April. He has made a significant positive impact on his patients and peers. We are very lucky to have him!

Nomination by the chaplain:

I am on call for OHMC every Tuesday and Thursday evening for a few hours, and I was called to your ICU this past Tuesday night at about 6 PM. The patient was in bed 8, dying, and the family requested support from a chaplain, so I drove over and was there until about 9 PM, after the patient expired. The patient's nurse was Jeff Czentnar. He took care of the patient and the family the whole time I was there, and he was a delight to observe as he went in and out of the room, adjusting IVs, checking on the growing number of family members who were gathering, and so forth.

As chaplains, we are trained to provide a non-anxious presence, and I can imagine that is part of what nurses learn, too, especially for situations such as the one Jeff and I shared. Jeff's body language and tone of voice were just wonderful. He could not have been any more kind in what he did or in the way he did it. I was proud to be his colleague that evening.