I have been working with Wendy since 2014 and have always been in awe of her reliability, consistency, and compassion. She leads by example in our clinical area, as she demonstrates outstanding follow-through and is frequently relied upon to cover for or train other nurse coordinators given the breadth of her knowledge. She is a colleague I trust and rely on when I have difficult decisions to make. She coordinates our baclofen pump patients making sure they get their pumps refilled on time as well as helping to troubleshoot issues.

We recently had a case where a COVID-19 positive outpatient needed to come in for an urgent baclofen pump refill. She did a tremendous amount of coordinating to facilitate the veteran's arrival by ambulance, ride home, clinic spot in the hot clinic, and team coverage for other clinics and activities that day- all at the last second.

This is not unusual for Wendy who routinely takes charge on complicated issues. I frequently get praise about her from her patients. "Wendy is the best. What would I do without her?" She is well known for her tenacity and stick-to-it-ness when ordering items for patients and then continuing to follow up to make sure veterans get their equipment such as hospital beds, air conditioners, or bladder care supplies. She advocates for her patients in clinic and in rounds speaking to their psychosocial needs and making sure they get the best care possible.

She always knows the veteran's goals and takes these into account when advocating for a rehab plan. You can count on Wendy to be straightforward with patients, focusing on their safety and their personal goals while maintaining a compassionate demeanor. She is truly a team player. We recently lost one of our MS team nurse coordinators and for multiple weeks Wendy carried the nursing burden of the entire MS clinic with grace and consistency.

One of the traits I like most about Wendy is that she takes the time to look ahead, troubleshoot, and address potential problems before they arise. She is committed to providing excellent care and is proactive. For example, multiple times she has had the foresight to look ahead in the clinic schedule. She has found multiple major problems in our clinic schedule grid of patients scheduled in the wrong clinic or the wrong clinics open. Rather than finding out the day of, she heads things off and prevents chaos. Again, spending extra time coordinating multiple people frequently from different silos. Wendy is an amazing gift to health care with her strong work ethic, compassion, and team player spirit. She is an amazing nurse and a wonderful colleague!