Jana Weiss exemplifies what it means to be a teammate and leader amongst her coworkers.  Jana has been working for our organization for several years.  During that time, she has become the lab leader, ensuring that all supplies are QC’ed and up to date, and that we have the stock that we need, and then she makes sure to check off new and incoming staff on their competencies.  She has become responsible for ensuring the pyxis is outdated and that we preemptively order drugs that will be expiring so that we are never without.  Jana moved into the precepting and charge nurse role several years ago and takes this leadership and educator position seriously.  She has become the face of Copper Mountain EUC, welcomes new staff, and trains them to be valuable members of our team.  

This past year, she has also jumped into being the chair of our UBC council and the Co-chair of the Senate council so that she can be the voice of our facilities.  She has managed to advocate for change through this council so that our critical care techs can work up to their scope of practice in our facilities and feel more valued because they are able to use their skills.  She has also started participating in the interviewing and hiring process that is an extensive job in the fall due to the seasonal nature of our facilities.  

Jana will take on projects without prompting such as reorganizing our peds code cart and is always extremely thorough when she does so.  During her most recent audit of our code cart, she noticed that the blades of the laryngoscope do not match the handles and put together an extensive order list to request matching equipment to ensure the safety of our patients.  When we have a change to a process, she will create cheat sheets and education to give to staff without asking and distribute them to all employees, ensuring they have up-to-date information to be successful.  

Jana displays acts of kindness every day she is on the floor, and she is always calm and supportive in any circumstance when caring for her patients. We had a patient come in from the bike park over the summer who had broken ribs and was transferred up to St. Anthony Summit for CT. This patient was in a significant amount of pain, and Jana did an amazing job of talking him through the pain, coaching him on breathing, and advocating to the doctor his needs. She always leaves her patients feeling better than when they came in. It is a true honor to be able to work alongside her and see her going above and beyond for her patients!