Anne Woerner has been in the PICU at Sunrise for over thirty years. The majority of her time here has been in leadership, as a charge nurse. Anne has grown more nurses from scratch, saved more patients, and taught more physicians than most of us can aspire to.

I could nominate Anne for so many instances of outstanding care, compassion, and guidance. However, I would like to recognize Anne for her leadership of the unit during an especially stressful and scary incident.

In the early morning, a pediatric patient committed a brutal act of violence toward a staff member. This occurred with little warning that the patient was capable of this level of aggression, and caught the entire unit off guard. Simultaneously, a young child was taking her last breaths after a compassionate extubation the prior day. This was a horrifying incident coupled with a tragic situation that Anne had to get her team through in the middle of the night.

Anne showed great calm, resilience, and focus in coordinating the safety of her staff and the patients. Attending to the injured staff member, securing the aggravated patient, comforting grieving parents, keeping the PICU team safe, and protecting our patients were some of the tasks Anne managed that night. Let's not forget the remainder of the patients and families that required her attention. Anne is an empathetic, kind, firm, and organized leader, and she backs her team up at every turn. I spoke with several family members, other nursing staff, and physicians regarding the events of that night, and everyone mentioned how well Anne managed the team. I believe she should be recognized for everything she has given to this unit. Not only on that night, but throughout her time in the PICU.