The actions taken by Megan Shoop during Hurricane Helene left a major impact on me as her employee.  Working in her dual role of NM and ANM, she arrived to work on the day of the Hurricane and immediately began working to coordinate chaos. She spent hours with the night shift Nursing Coordinator trying to organize call outs and coordinate staffing for the hospital before the impact of the storm was fully known. As the storm progressed and we lost power, cell service, and internet, we grew more anxious and worried about what was happening in the world outside of the hospital. Megan did not miss a beat. She started organizing paper charts for downtime and planning for what she could with what little information we had access to. Megan came to work ten days in a row to be a support for not only the staff on her unit, but the entire hospital.

She transitioned to night shift to work incident command, stayed overnight to ensure safe patient ratios, donated food/water/scrubs to staff in need, coordinated with DEMPs nurses when they arrived, advocated for hazard pay, and even drove to places with known cell service to call family members of nurses that were stuck at the hospital to tell them we were safe. She went above and beyond to take care of her staff. She even offered her home as a place of shelter and did laundry for staff who did not have water. What made Megan stand out during the storm was that she wasn’t just our manager during this time; she was our friend. She supported us by making sure we had the supplies necessary to take care of our patients, but she was also there with us during the fear, exhaustion, anxiety, and recovery. The support felt by Megan during this time is immeasurable. We could not have gotten through it without her hard work and empathetic support.

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Megan has done a phenomenal job since transitioning to interim manager. With the ever-changing needs, wants, and desires of the SICU nursing team, Megan has been an active presence for both night and day shift staff members. She has been diligent in her responsibilities as a supervisor while being an attentive leader in all aspects of nurse management.  Megan has emulated amazing leadership qualities since I joined the SICU team, and it has been a joy to watch her graciously navigate this new role. Given the recent events of Hurricane Helene, without hesitation, Megan worked tirelessly to meet the needs of the unit, all while prioritizing and ensuring her staff and their families were safe, fed, showered, and watered. After nine years of nursing experience, I can comfortably say it is rare to find a nurse leader with the tenacity, leadership, and grace that Megan possesses.  What a positive impact Megan has had!
 
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During Hurricane Helene there was a group of about 5 RNs in our unit who worked through that first weekend (on days), and Megan, our acting Nurse Manager (NM) was here throughout.  She stayed all day long and even slept here at night.  She had our backs the whole time.  She filled in as coordinator.  She helped us figure out the paper charting.  She is always so organized, and this quality really shone during Hurricane Helene.  But more important than her being organized is her authentic caring. She was there to support us emotionally. One afternoon, she left with a list of phone numbers for our loved ones and messages to give to them if she was able to make contact.  She was able to get through or leave messages with several people’s family members, helping calm our loved ones' fears about their Asheville family members.  She also stopped at my home that afternoon to deliver a message and some bottled water to my three little kids and my husband.  I’m so grateful to work with Megan.  She’s a solid, steady, fair, and caring NM during normal times, and these qualities only became stronger during this crisis.