Here are the finalists in the 2016 Health Care Heroes Nurse category.
Honors a nurse whose performance is considered exemplary by patients, peers and other health care providers.
Johnsie Davis
TITLE: Director of patient safety
ORGANIZATION: New Hanover Regional Medical Center
WHAT THE NOMINATOR SAID: “Throughout her more than 40-year career in nursing at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Johnsie Davis … has always asked, ‘What can we do better for our patients?’
An innovator, Johnsie led her staff to do bedside shift reporting, weekly care conferences to facilitate discharges and charting at the bedside long before those activities became the norm.
She also implemented a fall prevention program on her units. She initiated Daily Safety Check-In calls, designed to inform the organization’s leaders of any potential safety or quality concerns that could impact patient care. The call is a direct positive impact on patient care by bringing leaders throughout the organization together every day to identify, discuss and address current and potential concerns.
Johnsie also implemented rounding on patients to ensure we are focusing on what matters to them, and supporting innovations such as the telesitter program.
Her other community activities include Weekend Meals on Wheels and mentoring fourth- and fifth-grade girls at Gregory and Bellamy elementary schools, among many others.”
-Iris Baker, NHRMC
Cindy Edgell
TITLE: Director of nursing
ORGANIZATION: The Davis Community
WHAT THE NOMINATOR SAID: “Seven years ago Cindy brought her heart for the elderly and passion for learning and teaching to the Davis campus.
Even her most experienced nurses say they learn from her each day. Cindy knows each of the 150+ nursing employees by name and ability.
At her request for a ‘Skinny Minute’ with an employee, she guides them in making informed decisions. Her thoughtful and compassionate conversations with residents and family members have helped them through the rough waters of aging and transition...
Her skillful leadership has guided the nursing department through five, straight years of deficiency-free state surveys.
Cindy welcomes nursing students from area community colleges and universities to earn their practicum hours at the Davis campus and encourages them to consider geriatric care as their career specialty.
She also serves on the Community Advisory Council with UNCW’s Department of Nursing. A lifelong learner, Cindy is a champion for combining traditional and integrative medicine in residential elder care.”
-Julie Rehder, The Davis Community
Stephanie Herron
TITLE: Manager of clinical improvement
ORGANIZATION: Novant Health
WHAT THE NOMINATOR SAID: “Stephanie genuinely loves our facility, the nurses who she shepherds, the patients she helps care for and the job she has mastered so well.
As leader of the emergency department and med/surg department, Stephanie started her day the same each day. When she woke up, one of the first things she would do is call the night shift nurses to see how their shift went.
We recently had a nurse with 25 years’ experience who was new to our facility, and she was floored to hear that her manager called on a daily basis to check in on the night shift staff.
Stephanie led her emergency department team in maintaining a strategic and diligent focus on patient satisfaction.
The team set lofty goals and with her leadership. They not only obtained them, but maintained ranking among the top three ERs within our hospital system throughout the entire year! Stephanie ensures that her staff members have the tools, supplies and education necessary for the job – but she wants them to know that she cares about them as people too.”
-Amy Myers, Novant Health