I wanted to reach out to recognize Kayla Benhardus. She started off working with me when I was a brand-new NP. Kayla knows the ins and outs of this clinic, this organization, and clinic nursing in general. She is an incredible asset. She is incredible at prepping the schedule and making sure the provider's day goes as smoothly as possible. She is so helpful when assisting during clinic procedures or a pap test. She is always on top of everything. Nothing gets by her. She always thinks ahead and has everything prepared. She is amazing at patient education, such as when to follow up for vaccines. She is an incredible leader. I always hear nurses asking her questions or saying, “I don’t know, ask Kayla,” and I am still constantly asking her questions. She does so many behind-the-scenes things that make the clinic day go by so smoothly. 

She goes above and beyond. One morning, she was bringing her sick kid in to be seen. I had a question about what swab to use for a test I wanted to perform. No one else could answer it for me. She went out of her way with her sick kiddo in her arms and found me the correct swab I needed without even being on the clock. When she was working with me, we had a difficult patient case. We had a middle-aged male patient who had reached out for mental health support and was suicidal. The ball kind of got dropped previously, and he was not given the proper time or care he needed. Kayla went out of her way, called him multiple times, communicated via MyChart, connected him with mobile mental health and other needed services, all without me asking her to do any of that. She very well could have saved this man’s life.

I wanted to bring her extraordinary efforts and work ethic to light. I sometimes feel that those who are exceptional at their jobs get punished by having to do more work to make up for others or because they have the reputation of being so wonderful, rather than getting acknowledged and rewarded for their efforts.