Each day, we see colleagues doing amazing things that reflect our Northern Arizona Healthcare Values. Colleagues doing outstanding work are nominated for the L.O.V., or “Living Our Values,” Award. A committee of NAH colleagues from across the system reviews all nominations to select monthly honorees and quarterly champions.
The following L.O.V. honorees distinguished themselves by living NAH Values – Show compassion, Do amazing work, Respect differences, Build community; and Be better together. Thanks and congratulations to each and every one!
Glen Green, lead biomedical tech
Values: Build Community, Be Better Together
Glen spent more than seven months working on a project to donate seventeen old, but still usable, automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, to the Cottonwood Police Department. He was inspired to do this after reading a newspaper article about the Sedona Police Department putting AEDs in their patrol cruisers, and thought Cottonwood deserved the same invaluable technology. When police officers have access to AEDs, they are able to save lives as first responders rather than waiting for emergency medical services. Knowing this, Glen worked with all appropriate parties both at NAH and the police department to make it happen. A local reporter was there to capture the story the day the AEDs were donated, so the community was able to learn all about the project.
Thank you, Glen, for your diligent work in the interests of the community. You are making a huge difference.
Kim Angelo, senior purchasing specialist
Value: Build Community
Kim has been modeling and living NAH values long before they were put on paper. This is the tenth year she has led the Flagstaff Medical Center blood drives and, in February, she was honored with the Vitalant HERO Award for outstanding leadership in blood drive coordination! It is Kim’s passion and calling to volunteer and lead this effort that make the FMC blood drives a resounding success month after month.
Thank you, Kim, for your tireless efforts to serve and build community by giving the gift of yourself.
Marilyn Johnson, medical assistant
Value: Do Amazing Work
Marilyn decided that people don’t hear “you are important” nearly often enough, so she took it upon herself to send that message. For over a year, she has been writing quick, individualized notes on small cards to each and every patient she sees in her clinic, giving them an inspiration for the day. Patients who return to the clinic often say things like, “Do I get another card from you today?” “I kept the message you gave me last time and read it every day,” or, “Do you mind if I give the card to someone else having a rough time?” Marilyn takes great joy in giving others a reason to smile because, as she says, “It takes very little effort and is free.”
Thank you, Marilyn, for setting the bar so high and for being a silent hero in the patient experience.
Karen Duran, NNP; Carley Hill, RN; Beth Thomas-Schildgen, charge RN; Elise Hansen, RN
Values: Show Compassion, Better Together
One day, a patient arrived at the Emergency Department in critical condition, needing neurosurgical care. The patient was also seven months pregnant and had to undergo an emergency C-section to protect her unborn baby. The baby was born a fighter and two days later was breathing on her own. The mother, however, remained in the ICU. These four nurses understood the benefits of skin-to-skin time, or Kangaroo Care, for premature babies – it means better attachment, reduced anxiety and enhanced cognitive development – so they sprang into action to make it happen. Elise, Beth and Karen coordinated a road trip to the ICU so the baby could be reunited with her mother for the first time since birth, collaborating closely with Carley on all the details. The baby was placed on her sleeping mother’s chest and both were able to relax and bond. The staff took pictures so that when the mother woke up, she could look back at those first precious moments with her daughter. Without the compassion and tenacity of these four nurses, it might have been weeks or months before this mother was able to hold her baby.
Thank you, Elise, Beth, Karen and Carley, for thinking outside the box (and unit) to care for two vulnerable patients in their first moments as mother and child.