Holly has long been an advocate for simplifying treatment life for oncology patients. Over the last ten years, she has introduced several initiatives allowing patients to stay home to receive treatments instead of coming into the Children's Blood and Cancer Center (CBCC) to receive them. Unfortunately, due to system roadblocks out of our control, a few of the ideas Holly brought forth were stalled in their path. But she has always persisted, and any time one small door opened, she explored how she could make it work through that avenue.

She found success several years ago by implementing the administration of blinatumomab, a 28-day continuous IV infusion, at home instead of in the hospital. More recently, she succeeded again. With the help of our oncology pharmacy team (and struggles with insurance), she figured out the process to prescribe subcutaneous cytarabine for patients to self-administer at home instead of requiring them to come to the CBCC for 15-minute IV infusions five times a week, which equates to many weeks over the course of their treatment. While this feat may seem small, it allows families who may have transportation struggles or working parents who find it a challenge to come into the CBCC each day to stay home. In addition, the patient's central line is accessed less often, reducing the risk of central line infections. As our program grows and requirements change, I'm confident Holly will succeed again.

Due to the demand to make positive change within the CBCC, there are several multidisciplinary professional development and ethical behavior groups that meet to establish the best way to achieve this. Holly brings forth ideas, listens to feedback, and provides her own, and is the first to volunteer to draft standard operating procedures or policies. Her experience within and outside the CBCC allows her to recognize strengths in others. She encourages nurses, pharmacists, physicians, child life personnel, and social workers to submit abstracts about the crucial work we do at the CBCC for their national conferences.

At the center of Holly's professional achievements is her passion for helping oncology patients. The advancements in the industry rejuvenate her because she can see the improved outcomes in her daily work in patient care. This only motivates her to, in turn, motivate her team to do more and be more.

Holly is an Advanced Practice Provider (APP), but at her core, she is a Registered Nurse (RN). She recognizes that the RN holds so much power in making change because they're the ultimate patient advocate. She is an active member and chairperson of the Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology Nurses (APHON) at both the national and local levels. As a local chapter liaison, she encourages new nurses to be active in the field of pediatric oncology by attending national conferences, local meetings, town halls, and networking events. In addition, her involvement in the Children's Oncology Group (COG) as a Disease Committee Nurse for lymphoid diseases has made her a role model to other APPs in our department who want to grow professionally. Moreover, her volunteer time with Camp Discovery has garnered interest among nurses to volunteer because they genuinely love patient care.

In her daily work at CBCC, Holly exemplifies professional nursing practice. She is compassionate, motivated to excel, seeks out opportunities to improve her nursing practice, and lift up the APPs and RNs around her - all with the goal of improving the patient experience.