Lisa began her career at MGSH in 1991, and most of those years were spent in various nursing leadership roles. For the past 3 years, Lisa has been managing the Rehab Nursing Units during an unprecedented time.  The COVID pandemic has sparked challenges never seen before, and Lisa has faced them head-on.  

Lisa has created a reputation for being a strong leader and holding her team and herself accountable, thus improving patient and staff outcomes.  Lisa is certified in rehabilitation nursing and serves as a role model for her team.  When staffing challenges arise, Lisa is the first to lend a hand and jump in to support the team. She spends countless hours striving for adequate staffing amidst a nursing shortage and is creative in solving staffing problems.  

Lisa has built a team of nurses who are creative, accountable, and dedicated as well.  She ensures that her team has the time and resources to attend educational events, council meetings, and pursue professional growth.  This dedication is seen in her low turnover rates and increasing associate engagement scores.   Other leaders turn to Lisa for advice, mentorship, and support.  She is currently mentoring another nurse manager.

Associate retention and wellness are paramount to Lisa.  She celebrates every birthday, engagement, marriage, birth, graduation, certification, and quality achievement.  She makes a point to get to know every associate personally (and she manages 100 people). She knows about their family members, professional goals, and even their favorite candy.  She has recently converted a consult room on each of her units to a respite/relaxation room for staff to go and take a break and decompress.  

During the staffing challenges over the past year, the rehab nurses have been pulled on a consistent basis to med-surg units to help provide care.  Working on another unit with unfamiliar people, patients, and physicians can be stressful for the nurses.  

Understanding that pulling staff is necessary, Lisa has worked diligently to make the experience as safe and comfortable as possible for her nurses.  Lisa and her Patient Care Coordinator will call to check on each nurse during their pulled shift and if necessary, will go to the unit to assist them.  Lisa has worked with the nurse managers on the medical-surgical units to provide the rehab nurses with shared time so they are more comfortable working on these units.  She implemented a new pulling structure on rehab to reduce the frequency that each nurse is pulled off the rehab units.  All these measures have helped to make the experience better for her team and thus improved associate engagement.

The quality measures on rehab excel and are in part due to the leadership and expectations set by Lisa. She follows through on all issues, concerns, and variances in standard practice to ensure consistency and resolution.  Lisa was an integral part of our successful CARF survey, in which there were ZERO recommendations/violations.  Only 3% of those facilities surveyed by CARF achieve these results.

I can go on and on about the accomplishments Lisa has achieved and the ways in which she goes above and beyond every day. I truly believe she is deserving of this award.