CELEBRATING NURSES
To nominate a special nurse for the 2014 ajcjobs Nursing Excellence Awards, go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/PLYVMKM. The deadline for nominations is Jan. 31, 2014. The top 10 nurses will be honored May 6 at the Celebrating Nurses event at the Cobb Galleria Centre.
It’s the season when our thoughts turn to giving. Advertisers and retailers send the message in different ways, but it all adds up to the same pitch — there are only so many shopping days until the holidays.
As if you didn’t already have enough stress in your working, parenting, carpooling, commuting, running-the-household life, now you have to find gifts for your teenage nieces, fussy Aunt Edna and your brother who has everything. Grandkids, spouse, in-laws — the list goes on and on, usually way past your budget.
Well here’s a gift you can give all of us — and it won’t cost you a thing. You can nominate an extraordinary nurse for the ninth annual ajcjobs Nursing Excellence Awards.
Every year at the luncheon honoring the winners, I’m privileged to see 10 nurses recognized for their kindness, compassion, dedication and for being outstanding examples of the nation’s most-trusted profession.
You’re not likely to see their names elsewhere in the media. They aren’t wealthy socialites, rock stars, royals or financial tycoons. Their actions are quiet, personal and don’t make headlines.
Each year, the top 10 nurses, who are selected from several hundred nominees, are surprised and humbled to be chosen for simply doing what they consider their calling — helping others. Yet to the co-workers, patients and families whose lives they touch, these nurses are unforgettable.
The family of a terminal cancer patient will never forget Sheny Hill, a nurse at WellStar Cobb Hospital who helped transport the man to Guatemala so he could be surrounded by loved ones before he died in his native country.
Nor will the parents of Frannie Geeslin, a young girl diagnosed with a brain tumor, forget Gaby Sussman, a pediatric nurse at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta who made caring for their daughter, answering questions and allaying fears her first priority.
“When a family is hurting everything else can wait,” Sussman said.
Athens Regional Medical Center nurse Christopher Pillar’s willingness to comfort family and friends after a traumatic car crash killed a loved one — standing with them as they said their last goodbyes — made a lasting impression on that family.
Elizabeth King, a nurse at Piedmont Hospital Atlanta, cared for Joanna Reid through multiple operations and procedures. She also went beyond her clinical training and medical duties, understood her patient’s sense of humor and treated her with dignity and friendship to make “an unbearable situation more bearable,” Reid said.
Although last year’s top 10 nurses taught us about giving when it matters most, there are more stories that deserve to be celebrated and shared. But we won’t hear them unless you tell us.
We invite you to take the time to nominate a special nurse for the 2014 awards. Consider it a gift to yourself.
