Honoring Our Nurses After a Very Difficult Year

This week is National Nurses Week (May 6 – 12), and I don’t think a week is enough time to recognize all the valiant efforts of our nurses over this past year. We are blessed to have phenomenal nurses in our inpatient units, our operating suites, our outpatient areas, our physician practices, in our hospice, and in elder care. They have stepped up every day and cared for our patients even though we were hit with a pandemic and a horrific cyber-attack.

The 2021 theme of National Nurses Week is “Frontline Warrior.” This theme recognizes how nurses have spent the last 17 months working under extremely hard conditions and have remained committed to their jobs and dedicated to their patients. 

Last night, we celebrated our nurses at our annual Art of Nursing event. Because of the pandemic, we were not able to hold a gala indoors but that did not stop us! We were decked out in 1950’s attire which, included poodle skirts, letterman’s jackets, t-shirts, and pedal pushers. Bengie’s Drive-In Theatre in Middle River was decorated in theme to celebrate our nurses. 

In addition to having some safe fun outdoors, we formally celebrated the nominees and winners of the 2021 Art of Nursing Awards. Congratulations to the winners and to all those who were nominated!  

THEY ARE LISTED HERE:
--Clinical Assistant Support Award – Inpatient: Linda Dardozzi / General Operating Room
--Clinical Assistant Support Award – Outpatient: Ronnie Goode, CMA / GBMC Health Partners Primary Care - Owings Mills
--Mrs. Norman H. Baetjer, Jr. Nursing Graduate of the Year Award: Alexandra Fockler, BSN, RN / Pediatrics
--Evidenced-Based Practice in Nursing Award: Elenor Scheide, BSN, RN and Emily McCall, RN /Labor and Delivery and Medical Oncology/Telemetry (Unit 46)
--Patient- and Family-Centered Care Award: Cate O'Connor-Devlin, BSN, RN / Patient Experience
--Diversity in Nursing Award: Mary Sebastian, BSN, RN / Medical/Telemetry (Unit 38)
--Nurse Leader Award: Roel Tiberio, BSN, RN, CGRN / Endoscopy
--Nurse Clinician of the Year Award: Tracy Hickman, CHPLN /Gilchrist Hospice Care

I want to thank everyone who attended this year’s festivities, and I would really like to thank everyone who was involved in making this year’s Art of Nursing so successful. Thank you! 

Celebrating our Advanced Practitioners
Last week, we braved the wind and celebrated the hard work of our outstanding Advanced Practitioners at an event in a tent on the South Chapman parking lot. Under the leadership of Megan Shackelford, MSN, CRNP-AC, our Advanced Practitioners play an important role on our care teams in the delivery of care to our patients in our three work systems. Their efforts do not go unnoticed – they are incredible teammates to our physicians, nurses, and other clinicians!

THE AWARD RECIPIENTS ARE LISTED HERE:
--Family Centered Care Award: Amanda Wiese, CRNP / Integrative Palliative Medicine
--Advanced Practitioner Leader of the Year: Deborah Jones-Shook MSN, CRNP, CDE / GBMC Health Partners Primary Care -- Hunt Valley
--Advanced Practitioner of the Year: Justin Kirk, PA-C / Emergency Department.
--Advanced Practitioner Team Player Award: Jooyoung Lee ACNP-BC, MS, CCRN, RNFA / Internal Medicine/Surgery
--Advanced Practitioner Diversity and Inclusion Advocacy Award: Louise Hansen DNP, MSN, CRNP-AC / NICU
--Cynthia Arnold Scholarship Award: Lindsay Klinefelter, PA-C / Labor & Delivery

On behalf of the entire GBMC HealthCare family, I want to thank our Advanced Practitioners for their hard work in service to our patients and their commitment to our community.

Happy Mother’s Day!
Mother’s Day is a day that we set aside to reflect on motherhood and thank our mothers for their love and support. So to all the mothers, within the GBMC HealthCare family, thank you and enjoy your day!