Tuer-Hodes Family Nursing Recognition Award for Exceptional Care Nominees
May 10, 2022
The Tuer-Hodes & Family Nursing Recognition Award for Exceptional Care is awarded annually to a nurse within HPHA in recognition for his/her ongoing commitment to nursing practice and the provision of quality patient care.
The winner will be announced at a virtual presentation on May 11, 2022.
Janine, RN, Team Leader
Inpatient Unit & Emergency Department, Clinton Public Hospital
Janine’s colleagues describe her as an amazing support and Team Leader. She is able to think critically and analyze situations at hand, making appropriate judgments and decisions. She ensures her work is taken care of and leaves supporting information to oncoming staff about what needs to be done.
She is pivotal in the running of the Emergency Department, as well as the Inpatient Unit. She works collaboratively with all members and allied professionals to ensure improvement to current functions and has made many suggestions on how the team can improve individually, as well as collectively.
Janine is a key stakeholder in collaborating with all members of the interdisciplinary team, not only during bed management and rounds, but also is a key influence with physicians on the directions patients should have and should take as it pertains to their health.
Janine has been a mentor to all new and existing RNs and RPNS. She's an advocate and support to the unit in times of need.
Janine has prioritized patient and family-centered care in many ways. In advocating for patients to be with their families and loved ones prior to a terminal diagnosis and/or being a liaison between the patient, family and community to ensure they have the proper supports before discharge.
Janine has been a member of the HPHA Team since 2011.
Colleen, RN, Team Leader
Integrated Stroke Unit (ISU) / Telemetry – Stratford General Hospital
Colleen is known as a valuable resource to her peers due to her clinical expertise to achieve excellence. Colleen participates on all of the Working Groups for Stroke Distinction.
She recognizes when processes need to be reviewed and is quick to volunteer to move them forward. She publishes a weekly newsletter, keeping staff up-to-date on HPHA quality improvement initiatives and unit initiatives. She listens to staff and reaches out to other colleagues to tap their expertise in order to consistently move new ideas forward. Colleen easily develops relationships with people, cultivates important partnerships and demonstrates performance excellence.
Colleen has an easygoing but professional relationship with colleagues. On the ISU the team of nurses and allied staff that work very closely together and Colleen is a source of expertise for all. She is not afraid to reach out for help or to offer help when needed. She is respectful in her conversations with staff and with patients and their families. She creates trust by being open and honest. Patient care is enhanced on the unit because she takes the time to know about all the patients and advocates for their care.
Colleen has always encouraged family involvement in the patient care journey. She gets to know the patients and has reached out to families to provide clarification on the information they have been given. She manages morning interdisciplinary rounds and understands the current and future needs of the patients. She co-hosts stroke rounds twice per week and is actively involved in ensuring that the patients understand their care needs and that family are involved as desired by the patient. She is transparent with her information and advocates for their care at each step in their journey. An example of this involved a patient with significant behavioural issues due to stroke. She advocated to the manager, the need for the family to be present both for the safety and well-being of the patient. A plan was put in place to allow a family member to visit during periods in the day when the patient was most agitated. The desired outcome was achieved, the patient was less agitated when the family member was present.
Colleen is active outside of work, making a difference in the lives of other through an annual Tree of Angels, campaign which she founded following the death of her son. The tree is affiliated with the Salvation Army in St Marys and pre-COVID, the donations were collected at the St. Marys Memorial Hospital site. This will be Colleen's 8th year organizing the giving tree. All gifts are donated and given to the Salvation Army to distribute to families within the St Marys area who are in need at Christmas time. Last year a local pharmacy partnered with a group from St Marys and a large quantity of household essentials were donated helping many families in need.
Colleen has been a member of the HPHA Team since 2007.
Tiffany, RN
Emergency Department, Stratford General Hospital
Tiffany's calm disposition is highly respected and is a standard that new, and many experienced, colleagues strive for.
Tiffany is described by her peers as being very efficient. The way she performs each task and procedure is done fluidly. Even during times of stress, Tiffany remains calm, working quickly while upholding best practice guidelines. Working alongside Tiffany allows staff to perform better, as she demonstrates how to effectively and efficiently act as a nurse.
Since 2020, with COVID-19 changing most of our practices in the ED, there has been an increase in staff burnout and frustration. Tiffany uplifts the team, allowing the team to better serve the community.
Tiffany has an unspoken leadership role in the department and is known as the “go to” nurse. She creates a safe and holistic environment for our patients. She is able to direct her focus in many different situations; she can be hyper-focused on a critically ill patient, providing the highest level of care and then transition to having departmental awareness to address the next situation. The skillset Tiffany brings to the department and the profession has a wide breadth; she is a “boots on the ground” nurse and can easily switch to leader with a forward thinking approach.
Tiffany has been involved in many different projects in the department, including documentation guidelines, ONA issues and patient flow projects. She maintains professional standards regarding education and continues to look for new opportunities.
Tiffany provides many new staff with orientation to the department and has acted as a clinical preceptor to nursing students. Tiffany advocates for her patients and provides patient and family centred care when dealing with end of life, providing support to the family during an emotional time.
Tiffany has been a member of the HPHA Team since 2006.
Pauline, RN, Team Leader
Inpatient Unit & Emergency Department, Seaforth Community Hospital
Pauline truly represents the core values of the HPHA in both her professional and personal life. She provides compassionate care in her day-to-day work life as observed in her interactions with patients and their families, building trusting relationships, and is always accountable for her actions.
Person and family – centred care are a priority for Pauline as she promotes positive patient outcomes, collaborating with patients/families, other members or our healthcare team and our external partners to ensure that our patients are receiving quality patient care, in the right location, at the right time.
Pauline is proactive in identifying impending discharges and collaborates with bed allocation to support patient flow. She is a true patient advocate which is clearly exhibited daily during patient transition rounds.
Pauline utilizes her clinical expertise to support her peers in both our Emergency Department and Inpatient Unit as needed. She is always willing to step in and lend a helping hand, fill a scheduling need, take a patient assignment, perform tasks to lighten a co-worker’s load, etc.
Her commitment to ongoing learning was recently demonstrated as she completed the Apex Innovations Canadian Hemisphere 2.0 Stroke Course.
Pauline is a true leader which is shown through her ongoing mentorship of both new and seasoned staff and by providing updates, policy reminders, and feedback to staff both daily during huddles and with her “Week in Review” communication. Pauline is calm, kind, respectful and most deserving of this award. She is the staff experience!
Pauline has been a member of the HPHA team since 1987.
Larry, RN, Infection Control Practitioner, Infection Control and Prevention (IPAC), Alliance Wide
The ongoing pandemic has required IPAC to be nimble/responsive to guidelines that are frequently being updated/modified based on new/or changing evidence. While national provincial IPAC guidelines require practitioners to stay up-to-date on evidence, this pandemic has added an extra layer of ongoing learning to already busy job, and Larry has managed to integrate this seamlessly into his roles.
Whether helping to create guidelines to ensure staff have tools and information to provide the safest and best care, or reviewing environments and practices at our sites to meet the highest health and safety requirements, he is constantly learning and applying this knowledge to allow HPHA to provide the safest and highest quality care.
He has partnered collaboratively with Huron Perth Public Health and community health providers such as Long-Term Care facilities throughout the pandemic to ensure that decisions are made with the best possible information, and best practices are employed not just at HPHA but also community health providers in our region. Done well, IPAC techniques/tools will directly support improved patient care and prevent disastrous (possibly fatal) outbreak situations.
One of the qualities that makes Larry most deserving of recognition is that he never asks for any. He works tirelessly behind the scenes–staying up to date on research, working with community partners, preparing and chairing emergency management meetings. He does all this well outside of his standard role description, working countless extra hours and all with a positive outlook and consummate professionalism. He has worked throughout the many sites/units in the HPHA ensuring that everyone has the knowledge/tools to employ best practices in infection control. We have been very successful in navigating the few outbreaks we’ve had, largely because of the hard work of Larry.
Whenever staff have questions about IPAC, they can call Larry and he always knows someone he can call to get an almost instantly. The endless list of contacts he has is a testament to the respect he garners throughout the HPHA and broader IPAC world.
Throughout the pandemic Larry has worked with our patient care units, administration and patients’ families to allow loved ones be present for patients during very difficult times, in a way that maintained safety for both the families involved, and other patients on unit. Even at the peak of variant waves, when he was massively burdened with work, he always found ways to maintain humanity and compassion.
Larry has been a volunteer firefighter for the past 25 years and has acted as the District Chief for the past 10 years, where he been involved in policy and procedure development, training and the Health and Safety Committee. In his spare time, Larry has volunteers for Listowel Relay for Life (10 years), canvasses for Heart & Stroke (5 years), Listowel Minor Hockey Trainer/Manager (15 years), North Perth Lacrosse Trainer (2 years). He is also a member of IPAC Canada, Construction and Renovation Committee and the Canadian Health Care Engineering Society.
Larry has been a member of the HPHA Team since 2018.
Jaclyn, RN, Team Leader
Inpatient Mental Health, Stratford General Hospital
Compassionate, dedicated, engaged, supportive, approachable, positive, driven and accountable are words that staff and patients use to describe Jaclyn.
Jaclyn demonstrates excellence in nursing as she truly understands and upholds high standards of care as it relates to mental health care delivery. She understands the relevance of best practice standards and supports the team to uphold the same standards. Jaclyn has been a driver in policy and standard work development for the unit over the last year. She is also a key stakeholder in the development of Alliance-wide policies and standard work. Each of these directly impact/improve the quality of care our patients receive.
Jaclyn upholds the standard of care that "discharge planning begins at the time of admission." Jaclyn leads a collaborative approach and understands the importance of having the right people involved in this planning to support a smooth transition/successful discharge. By being committed to this practice Jaclyn supports patients being able to be discharged with the right supports when clinically indicated while also supporting capacity for new admissions. Jaclyn is well respected in the organization and often looked to by others for her knowledge/expertise/care planning skills. Jaclyn understands that psychological wellness needs to be addressed no matter where the patient is admitted to and is happy to support the larger team in care plan development that meets patient psychological/emotional care needs. Jaclyn is a "go to" for best practices around supporting patients who require restraints and is able to share her knowledge in least restraint practices.
Jaclyn is an advocate for having students on the Inpatient Mental Health Unit. She embraced preceptorship for years and after moving into the Team Leader role she now supports many more frontline nurses to embrace being a preceptor. Jaclyn takes an active role in mentoring all new hires to the department. She dedicates protected time with them throughout the orientation process and then checks in with them at regular intervals. Jaclyn is proactive by ensuring she has the knowledge and resources to support staff when learning needs arise. Jaclyn is trusted by her colleagues and is often looked to for support when professional and personal challenges present. Jaclyn was an active participant in the development of the Peer Support Program that was rolled out as a pilot project in 2021. While this makes Jaclyn a formal peer mentor she also does this role informally for her peers throughout the organization.
Jaclyn demonstrated exemplary leadership in the discharge planning of a recent patient who required a complex care plan upon discharge. In Inpatient Mental Health, we are often tasked organizing complex discharge planning with multiple stakeholders within a very limited time frame. In this recent case, within 48 hours Jaclyn organized and facilitated a collaborative care meeting with multiple stakeholders, produced a collaborative care plan draft for stakeholders to review, and organized follow-up with multiple care providers while also managing a fragile therapeutic alliance with the patient and providing education to overwhelmed family members and anxious outpatient care providers. Her leadership in this regard directly impacted the quality of this patient's mental health care and decreased the likelihood of readmission.
Jaclyn is actively involved in a number of organizations and programs including: Mental Health Program Council, Professional Practice Advisory Council, CAMH Echo Program. She has achieved CAN’s Specialty Certification in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. She has organized Clozapine Lunch and Learn sessions for frontline staff and has taken the lead in Collaborative Care Plans for many complex cases within the Alliance.
Jaclyn boosts morale in the department by providing individualized treats to the staff, organizing social events and coordinating gifts for staff who are off for extended time.
A natural leader, Jaclyn consistently demonstrates her passion for excellence in mental health care delivery.
Jacklyn has been a member of the HPHA Team since 2014.
Congratulations to this year's nominees!