This nurse is an asset to the nursing field and we are pleased to have her at Winter Park Memorial Hospital. This candidate has a positive aura about her that is contagious. This candidate is always found to have a smile on her face and every person that comes in contact with her leaves the unit with a huge smile, and most of the time a huge laugh as well. Patients, families, fellow nurses, administrators, and physicians are all affected in an extremely positive way by the positive manner of this person. She makes her work environment fun, positive, and people actually look forward to going to work because of the great environment generated with the help of this RN. This nurse is very caring and compassionate at the same time and reflects a sense of hope and encouragement to both her patients and their families.

The following is an example of how this candidate goes above and beyond her “duties” at work to care for her patients and their families. For the past year or so, there has been a young lady who had been in and out of the hospital with cystic fibrosis with numerous complications and surgeries. This candidate developed a strong positive relationship with this young lady as well as her family. She always came into work with a smile on her face and a joke to cheer up the patient, even on her worst days. She motivated and pushed this young lady to give all she could for the fight of her life. Time after time and admission after admission this young lady looked forward to working with this RN and continued to fight and overcome obstacles. This candidate showed such an immense amount of caring and compassion during this patient’s hardest times in her life, her decision to stop fighting for her life, withdraw care, and donate her own organs for someone else to live a life she knew she never could. This RN was there for the patient to cry, to laugh, and to say her special goodbyes. This candidate, along with her awesome fellow staff members, made the final days of this young girl’s life some of her best. They got special permission to decorate the patient’s room in her favorite color: Pink! There were pink Christmas lights, pink stockings, pink candy, and pink balloons from floor to ceiling in the patient’s room. This RN held the mother’s hand while she said goodbye to her daughter for the last time. She was with the patient, holding her hand in the OR, during her final breaths of life.

To me, this is the PERFECT example of what this award is all about. Someone who LOVES being a NURSE. Someone who gives all of their heart and all of who they are to help others and who is willing to go the extra steps to make a difference in the lives that she encounters. I hope she is considered for this award and look forward to seeing the hundreds of other lives she will change in her career as a nurse.