I have had the honor of working with Deena for 4 years. She was one of my initial mentors and continues to be an imperative piece of my position at Schneck. She brings vast knowledge and experience to our team. She is the first one I call with questions, suggestions, ideas, etc. Often she will stop what she is doing to demonstrate a skill, discuss ideas or come to a home to assist. She does not criticize and is constantly building us up. Since I have worked with her, she has walked through trials in her personal life with strength and courage, showed emotion, and leaned on us for support at times, but always has provided great quality and compassionate care to her patients. We often share hospice patients as she is primarily home care and several of her patients have transitioned to hospice. I may be assigned as their case manager, but she stays active in assisting with care, often helping with discussions of symptom management and supporting the family. She will often volunteer to make visits and there are many phone calls between us communicating status, concerns, and patient or family needs. As she talks about retiring in the next few years, I feel it is extremely important for her to know now that she is a great nurse and that she has and is making each of us that work with her better nurses. She may retire (if we let her) but her legacy will live on. You don’t stop being a nurse when you retire the badge, for those nurses like Deena it is instilled in her, part of her. I hope she feels like she has done a great job because we know she has.