Welcome to the 2022 Friends of Nursing Awards presented by Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Good evening, I'm Stacey Stauffer.

Tonight, we honor the strength of nurses at LV H. Chen's annual Friends of Nursing Awards gala, broadcast live for the very first time right here at PBS 39.

I know.

Exciting.

Yes.

Tonight, we also invite you to watch the premiere of a special documentary highlighting the stories of four Lehigh Valley Health Network nurses during the pandemic.

LV Chen has a long history of serving the community and educating nurses.

And through the years, philanthropic support has helped create a legacy of nursing excellence.

More than 35 years ago, two very special pillars of our community recognized high quality nursing care at LV Chen by donating $100,000 to promote excellence in nursing practice, education and research.

This generous gift from Richard and Peggy Fleming started a legacy of philanthropic support for LV and nurses, which we still known today as Friends of Nursing.

Philanthropic dollars from thousands of donors have been utilized to promote and advocate for the nursing profession through friends of Nursing.

These gifts come from patients and families, community members, nurses, physicians and other health care professionals to support activities that impact and advance professional excellence and quality care.

Tonight, we gather to hear stories of strength, honor award recipients and reflect on the incredible impact nurses make each day.

And to get started, please welcome LV NS Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer John Piro.

Thank you, Stacey.

At Lehigh Valley Health Network.

We are committed to nursing excellence.

We believe there is no better place to spend an entire career.

During this Friends of Nursing Awards program.

We recognize nurses at every stage of their career, from students to those that has been spending more than 30 years caring for our community.

To each of you, I extend my most sincere gratitude.

Thanks and congratulations.

LV Again, nurses are leaders.

They're empowered to grow their profession and they help shape the future of patient care.

We provide compassionate evidence based care today across our health care network.

We take pride in support of our nurses and their professional growth and advancement.

And through friends of nursing, our colleagues do just that.

These awards give nurses an opportunity to attend seminars to further their education and participate in research projects at LV.

And opportunities like this exist for nurses from day one.

LDH NS Nurse Residency Program provides an environment for newly licensed nurses to grow as professionals who are empowered to be our clinical leaders.

Our program is the first ever nurse residency program in Pennsylvania to receive a prestigious recognition as an accreditation with distinction from the American nurses Credentialing Center.

We are proud to offer this unique opportunity to the next generation of nurses, and we are honored when they choose to stay at LV as they begin their professional career.

To say more about nurses at LV H. I'd like to introduce our Senior Vice President, Patient Care Services Chief Nursing Officer, and my esteemed colleague, Kim Jong.

Thank you, John.

Good evening, everybody.

After more than two years of navigating the challenges of a global health crisis and certainly national staffing shortages, LV and nurses dedication to patient care has not wavered.

My respect and admiration for your strength and commitment grows by the day.

Tonight, we honor world class nurses for making a difference in every moment, with every patient.

Every day nurses make a difference as caregivers, advocates, mentors and leaders in our community.

LV And nurses are without a doubt the most exceptional caregivers around.

What does it take to provide world class nursing care?

The American nurses credentialing Center Magnet Recognition Program distinguishes health care organizations that demonstrate excellence in nursing services.

Magnet recognition is the highest national designation for nursing excellence.

It is the gold standard in 2020.

LV Chen's Lehigh Valley based Hospitals and Services earned magnet designation for the fifth consecutive time, an achievement that has only been earned by 31 hospitals in the world.

That means you and your loved ones receive care from the world's best nurses at our community's only magnet hospitals.

It means we empower nurses to reach their true potential through education and development during every career stage.

Magnet recognition demonstrates to the world that we recognize the invaluable potential of nurses to lead health care change.

Each Friends of Nursing award considers one or more components of the magnet model, which includes structural empowerment, exemplary professional practice, transformational leadership, new knowledge, innovations and improvements and empirical outcomes.

Through the Friends of Nursing Awards.

We honor the legacy of those who have devoted their lives to the nursing profession, and we celebrate the next generation who will carry that legacy forward.

Each one of our award recipients here tonight exemplar is what it means to be a nurse at elevation, and I certainly can't wait one minute longer to hear their stories.

So I thank you all so much and enjoy the evening.

Tonight is all about celebrating the nursing profession.

So I'd like to begin by honoring honoring to future nurses.

Our first award is the John and Isenberg, M.D.

Award for Excellence as a student nurse.

And it goes to details university student, hours centric.

Allison is an exemplary student and leader on her campus.

She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society of Nursing, and serves as a tutor for nursing peers.

She gives back by volunteering with Special Olympics and Girls on the Run programs she plays for the Disabled University Women's Soccer Team and serves as a coach for the university's youth camp.

Allison's nomination reflects her leadership commitment to the nursing profession and selfless contributions to community programs.

Congratulations, Allison.

Next, we'd like to recognize the recipient of the Award for Excellence as the student nurse.

And it goes to Cedar Crest College student Genevieve Ashley.

Genevieve's professors say she is ethical, compassionate and caring.

During her clinical rotations, you will always find her at the patient's bedside, completing assessments, providing care, teaching, or just holding a patient's hand while listening to their story.

Genevieve is very involved with the Discipleship and Evangelism Fellowship at Cedar Crest College, a group for which she is president elect.

Congratulations, Genevieve.

You deserve this award.

And best wishes to both Genevieve and Allison as they begin their nursing careers.

So exciting.

The Flemming Nursing Caring Award recognizes a nurse who demonstrates exceptionally caring behaviors.

Marion Nyhan is one such nurse.

According to her colleagues, Marion is the embodiment of a caring nurse.

Watch this video and you'll see why.

My career has been a long one and it's been wonderful.

My name is Marion Nyhan.

I work at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Muhlenberg.

I must say, I've always wanted to be a nurse.

From childhood on, I began as a medical surgical nurse.

For about three years, I worked med search.

I had the opportunity to become a labor and delivery nurse and that is where I found my love.

I was a labor and delivery nurse for about 25 years.

My career then took some turns.

You take whatever experiences come your way.

You get a broad base.

And again, it was all involving all the patients, which has been really my love.

Then again, things took a turn and I went back to clinical nursing, which is where it all started.

So it has been wonderful.

I think what is most rewarding about taking care of patients is when you see, you see them grow right before your eyes.

There are patients who have brought back their their new family.

I feel like I have a lot of extended grandchildren.

It's wonderful.

I work with a lot of special people and obviously they care.

And that's what makes the difference.

It really does.

Strings means drawing on all of your experience, things that I never would have dreamed I was doing.

All of a sudden I was doing.

You just have to make sure that you pull from all of those people around you and all of the tools that they've given you all your life.

And that's your your base, that's your strength.

It's just amazing.

Thank you, Marion, for all you do.

And let's now take a look at more Friends of Nursing award recipients.

Elizabeth Sector, the Auxiliary of Lehigh Valley Hospital, Muhlenberg Administrative Partner Award.

Nancy Fischer Advanced Practice Clinician Award.

Nicole Smith's Award for Excellence in the Delivery of Ambulatory Care.

Malgorzata Harlot Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Nursing.

Mackenzie Doherty The Flemming Nursing Caring Award.

Melissa Thomas Care Management Continuum Award.

Lee Holden Award for Excellence in Critical Care Nursing.

Madeline Glick The Florence Nightingale Exemplary Professional Practice Award.

Jonathan Boudreau, the Joseph and Judith Kaminsky Award for Excellence as a Float Nurse.

Sarah Paige the Dr. Fred Pfister Award for Excellence in Hospice Nursing.

And congratulations to each of these award winners.

White Roses.

They honor nurses service and symbolize the endearment and appreciation of their colleagues.

These roses are part of the Nightingale tribute, which is a ceremony conducted and a nurse's funeral or memorial service.

The tradition to have a floral arrangement at each Friends of Nursing Awards gala started in memory of Dick and Peggy Fleming, the founders of the Friends of Nursing program.

The tradition continues this year, not only in memory of Dick and Peggy, but to honor all Alva and nurses who have passed away in the last year.

Their names are listed in your program.

Please join me in a moment of remembrance as we honor these nurses.

We would like to share a special remembrance of one nurse who impacted countless lives throughout her 74 year nursing career.

Amazing.

Josephine Mitchell Read graduated from Allentown Hospital School of Nursing in 1947.

She was a steadfast champion of nursing education as an educator at the Allentown Hospital School of Nursing.

She touched the lives of more than 2500 students, remembering each one by name.

Over her 27 year tenure.

She modeled how to be a compassionate, professional.

She is beloved for her caring heart and generous spirit.

Josephine was a teacher, a leader, a mentor, an inspiration, and a friend to so many.

She leaves a remarkable legacy and will always be remembered and loved for her outstanding support and dedication to the nursing profession.

The Award for Excellence in Cancer Care is our next award that we'd like to recognize and recognizing an exceptional professional caregiver in the delivery of cancer services.

It does take a special nurse to care for people with cancer and by all accounts, Maura Price is as special as they come.

We have another video for you to watch so you can see why.

I always loved the oncology patients to something so special about them and their perspective on life and making sure that you don't take any day for granted.

My name is Moore appraised.

I'm an oncology clinical nurse specialist.

I knew that I wanted to be a nurse or a teacher.

So in my current role, I'm able to do both.

I'm a nurse educator, so I'm able to have some patient care, help with staff education, patient education, and also, you know, utilize some nursing skills as well.

And as as a nurse, you always have patients that, you know, patients that will stick with you or stand out that you'll never forget.

Tom was one of my favorite patients.

I was his first nurse and the cancer center the first day for his chemotherapy treatment.

And one of my colleagues, one of our medical secretaries, was the medic that checked him in that day.

Every time that he came to us for chemo.

He only wanted Amon Mora.

Amon mora.

So prior to his death, one of his last wishes was to go to Disney World with his two youngest foster children.

And he told Amini before, you know, he said, Can I bring you something special?

So when he returned, he got us each a Tinker Bell pin because he said, You girls, you know, you're always happy.

You're always happy.

And these Tinker Bell pins made me think of you.

And they will be a memento for you to remember me.

We both still have the Tinker Bell pin, and to this day, I think I learned over the years working in oncology again to not take any day for granted.

You know, life can change an instant in a heartbeat and a second.

So really just enjoying each day to its fullest, enjoying your friends and your family and almost living like it's like it's your last day.

Thank you, Laura, for.

Treating patients like family.

Let's meet now some more Friends of Nursing award recipients.

Alyssa sur Costa, the Legal Services Risk Management Award for exemplary care and professionalism in a critical and challenging situation.

Janelle Souder The Medical Surgical Nursing Award.

Sandra Gentile The Edward and Anne Davis Award for Excellence as a Nurse.

Preceptor.

Rachel Barletta Scarcella.

The Fleming Award for Exemplary Performance Associated with the Nurse Residency Program.

Eileen Wasson The Josephine Rich in Nursing Award for Excellence in Patient and Family Engagement.

Kimberly Zayas The Magnani M.D.

Award for Excellence in Pediatric Nursing.

Linda Russell Award for Excellence as a Pharmacist.

Dr. Laurie Alfonse, the Edward and Davis Physician Friends of Nursing Award Jadwiga and Tossing Award for Excellence in Rehabilitation Nursing.

Jean Roche The Bill and Nancy Mason Award for Excellence in the Delivery of Rehabilitation Services.

Congratulations to every one of our award winners.

The Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurses is a worldwide recognition program honoring the superhuman work nurses do for patients and families every day.

Nurses are nominated by anyone who experiences or observes extraordinarily compassionate care provided by a nurse.

The daisy Team Award recognizes collaboration between two or more caregivers, led by a direct care nurse resulting in compassionate care.

This year, the award is extra special because it recognizes not one but three extraordinary teams.

Indeed, compassion and collaborate Nation are beautifully illustrated in this story.

There was a patient receiving care at the inpatient rehabilitation center at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Cedar Crest.

She was admitted to the hospital for therapy and she was pregnant with twins.

The morning after she arrived at the hospital, her health quickly declined and she became unresponsive.

When a patient experiences a medical emergency in the hospital, a Code Blue announcement is made hospital wide, indicating the critical status of a patient.

The inpatient rehabilitation team immediately called a code blue when this pregnant patient became unresponsive.

A rapid response team rushed to the patient's location, assessed her needs and provided lifesaving care, acting quickly.

The labor and delivery team stepped in to deliver the babies and when the babies were successfully delivered and the new mom was being cared for.

The team from the neonatal intensive care unit at Lehigh Valley Raleigh Children's Hospital took over the care of the newborns.

These three exceptional groups undeniably demonstrated expertize, communication and collaboration as they work to save one precious life.

And welcome to new, precious lives into the world that day.

Congratulations to these amazing team.

Amazing.

That's teamwork right there.

Right.

Ask any nurse you know.

And I bet you would hear that they can't do what they do without the support of the team around them.

The Award for Excellence in the Promotion of Patient Care recognizes a staff member in a support function who demonstrates exceptional contributions to support patient care.

Watch this video and you will see why Bernese V2 Dog is known as the sunshine in her office.

Since I was a kid, I grew up in Philippines and the health care there is not as good as the United States.

So my passion for health care began when I was a little kid.

My name is Britney, and I work for population health.

I like to help people.

I like to take care of people.

While I was doing a medical assisting school, I always drive by Lehigh Valley Health Network, the big hospital in I-78.

And every time I pass by there, I said, This is the hospital that I'm going to work with and I'm LV and proud for 12 years.

I'm a transition of care associate and the population Health Department.

I'm responsible for following up with patients after their discharge home from the hospital.

I make sure that they're doing well.

I make sure that they have everything they need from their medications.

After having any issues, I coordinate their care between the patients and doctors offices.

In health care, we work with people we serve people in our region at home.

Developed during the pandemic.

The doctors.

I've developed this program.

That way they can still provide hospital quality care for the patients, even when they're at home being safe.

My role at the Elevation at Home program is I make sure that the patient get connected with a doctor by scheduling them an appointment with the hospital.

Is that appointment is like the visit?

It's a virtual visit, a video visit that the doctor use.

So they can check on patients while they're at home.

My favorite part of my job is a lot of it.

I go to work every day with a goal to make sure that the patients are safe and while they're recovering at home.

I want to be here where I'm at today without this collaborating with my nurses and my doctors.

They just call me, you know, sunshine in the office everyday because I love to them.

What a smile.

Thank you, Bernie.

For your dedication to patients and your team.

Let's now take a look at our next group of Friends of Nursing award recipients, Jamie's Inouye.

The Kim Jordan Transformational Leadership Award, Lindsay Heidel, Mark the Auxiliary of Lehigh Valley Hospital Technical Partner Award.

Gail Fiji's The Auxiliary of Lehigh Valley Hospital Technical Partner Award.

Angela Strasser The Trauma Nursing Award, Transitions of Care Program, Population Health, the Fleming Award to recognize new knowledge, innovations and Improvements.

Brigham Family Children's E.R.

at LV H. Cedar Crest.

The Fleming Award to recognize a unit or department which demonstrates a commitment to structural empowerment for case LDH Cedar Crest Patient Satisfaction Award for Inpatient Care Radiation Oncology, LV H Muhlenberg Patient Satisfaction Award for Ambulatory Services 6ph Cedar Crest Award for Professional Nursing Certification Department Greater than 15 staff members ASU LV H Muhlenberg Award for Professional Nursing Certification Department less than 15 staff members.

Congratulations to all of this year's award recipients.

And now it is my pleasure to welcome the President and CEO of Lehigh Valley Health Network, Dr. Brian Nester, thanking.

So good evening, everyone.

I just can't tell you how humbled I am to call all of tonight's award recipients my colleagues.

So congratulations to all of you.

Rooted in strength, that's the theme for this year's Friends of Nursing Awards celebration.

You will not meet a stronger group of nurses than those who sit here before me this evening or are, whether they're colleagues that are online watching this this evening or working a shift as we speak each year during this program, I find myself reflecting on the idea that the foundation of all great medical care is nursing.

This rings true again tonight.

Excellent nursing is the foundation of Lehigh Valley Health Network.

A round of applause for yourself, in fact.

And nurses and health care professionals are among the best you will find anywhere in the world.

Has Kim appropriately noted earlier.

For more than two long and challenging years during this pandemic, we have been working together to create better days for our colleagues and for the communities we serve.

In the midst of this health crisis, our community turned to Lehigh Valley Health Network.

They trusted the Lehigh Valley Health Network nurses that they would be there bedside to provide extraordinary world class care, compassion and emotional support.

The strength, resilience and commitment to practice patients in the face of uncertainty every day demonstrated by our nurses is nothing short of heroic.

Coping with the challenges associated with this pandemic has been physically and emotionally draining.

It has been one of the most difficult things our organization has ever had to face together.

Yet, day after day, Elvia and nurses persevere and remain committed to creating those better days for all.

The nursing profession has certainly been altered by this pandemic forever.

No one can dispute that.

But at this crossroads we have an opportunity to pause and reflect on our shared experience and find meaning in what we will carry forward together.

We know that sharing stories helps us, helps all of us by telling our stories and listening to others.

We ease the cycle, logical and emotional burden of the experiences we've been through together.

Tonight, it's time to start healing.

At this time, I invite you to watch the premiere of a documentary featuring four nurses who tell their stories about what they experienced during the pandemic.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is the strength to heal.

During the peak of the pandemic, I made a connection to one of the patients who was not doing well.

So this one one day walked into his room, you know, my usual bubbly self.

Hey, he put his head down and he said, Pull in.

I don't have good news for you.

And he said, I thought I was doing better.

But the doctors just told me this morning, I've been on oxy for for so long.

It's time.

On January 15th, 2021, I was admitted to LV H and with COVID on my second day in the hospital.

Pauline was assigned to be miners.

Our first meeting was during one of those moments when I was so overwhelmed with fear in my eyes, retiring.

Pauline intuitively recognized my distress.

I do believe God intervened and chose Pauline to be my nurse.

That day.

You are blessed to have Pauline on your staff as she portrays the epitome of what an LV nurse should strive to emulate.

I'm sorry.

So every time I listen to that, or every time I read that letter, it's very emotional.

You know, I'm glad I'm.

I met that patient.

And I'm also glad that I was one of the reasons why he kept faith and he kept you know, he stayed strong.

The.

And this afternoon, we're announcing new guidelines for every American to follow over the next 15 days as we combat the virus.

So each and every one of us has a critical role to play.

Play by play.

By play.

I'm Andrea Kushner.

I work for Lehigh Valley Health Network.

I am a registered nurse.

Matt Feller Medevac as a flight nurse.

My name is Nicole Pursing Nursing Director and Patient Care Services for LBA Chen.

Hello.

My name is Paul UnionPay.

I've been with LV Chen for four plus years.

Almost five.

Been a nurse before the pandemic.

Was.

Was definitely.

It's too beautiful.

Now, don't get me wrong, it was way, way different.

We found humor in things.

We were able to live our day to day lives and not, you know, go home with so much of what we saw each day.

We had our routines and we knew how to handle things as they happened.

I could see my my colleagues faces.

You know, we could see who was home, we could talk with to sit in the break room and have lunch together.

Before COVID, the atmosphere was very I don't want to say laid back the pressure.

The tension was different.

They leave work and don't remember, like don't think about it when you leave, regardless.

Of what the treatment was, you had a pretty good path of what was going to work and what didn't.

And you could you kind of knew this was going to go well or it was not.

We now need to appeal to every single American so that they can have their.

Role in stopping the spread of.

This virus.

If you are sick.

Please stay home.

Realistically, we are going to be exposed to this unknown new disease every time we go to work.

Picking up my baby was hard.

Peacefully.

My chat was difficult because I was always thinking, what if there's a tiny virus somewhere and I'm going to get it to?

My son was only three months old.

What if he gets sick?

What if?

What if?

It was very, very difficult?

I have twins with type one diabetes, so I was extremely fearful of bringing that home to them because I had no idea if they would get sick and how sick they would really get.

I think it's the first time I felt like I could be this person.

Like, I'm not immune to getting this either.

Every single patient's from your walk in show, there's a chance you can contract the virus.

I used to just be afraid to come to work knowing that coming to work, I put myself at risk and put my family at risk.

Am I going to bring this home?

Have I been exposed?

How long before I start to have symptoms?

I was I was scared myself.

I remember, like getting ready the night before and I, like, said a really big goodbye to, like, my husband and my kids because I didn't want to bring whatever was happening back to them.

I actually stayed away from my kids for the whole time because it was still so unknown.

I lived in fear for such a long time.

Fear of bringing COVID home to my kids.

What if I get sick and I don't make it?

And that type of time I had to talk myself out of the fear and just pray to God and just leave it in his hands.

And that's it.

It's what it is.

We had a patient actively dying in their loved ones, their heads, kids.

His wife said goodbye with our phone via FaceTime.

That was a very intimate moment that I don't even know.

Like I didn't even know how to process that because it's a very intimate moment and we're doing it virtually.

Exercise is really important to me.

I have been an endurance athlete since my early thirties.

Exercise is a big component for me to remain emotionally and mentally stable through nursing in general.

I have completed two Ironman and I feel like COVID has been very comparable to training for an Ironman.

When I trained for my first Ironman.

A lot goes into that.

It's like another having another full time job.

And it's not just the running or the swimming or the biking, you know, all that has to go into it.

But it's also the the mental strength and the mental endurance you have to have to really build.

March of 2020, it was utter chaos.

Check your temperature.

Don't touch your face.

To refrain from travel outdoors.

Always better.

Stay home.

Don't forget about cleaning your food.

Experts saying there's no need to wipe down your groceries.

There were so many changes happening quickly.

We had to be adaptable to that.

We just go, go, go, go.

Every day it was changing.

You be receiving emails and notices.

This has changed.

That has changed this updated.

Do this today.

No, no, no.

Don't do that.

Now, what's going to work for this person?

Because we don't know.

Nobody knows.

And it was so challenging to keep up with that.

And people on the outside thought, well, everyone's at home.

It seems so quiet and peaceful and no one's doing anything.

When the hospital, a completely different story was happening, people are in denial.

It's not real.

Like it'll be gone in a few weeks.

And people weren't seeing what we were seeing and we couldn't even we could shout it from the rooftops and no one would believe us.

So that's frustrating.

Actually, the circumstances have changed.

My most challenging there was day one of my colleagues who we worked side by, who I worked side by side with, passed away from COVID fairly, fairly young, later thirties.

Prior to vaccinations becoming available, his brother had already passed and he was in the ICU and not able to have visitors, including his own colleagues, who were being told no, that you cannot see your your colleague in the ICU.

You know why, but you're not willing to accept why.

And then several months later, we had another colleague of ours who in his early sixties also passed from COVID in the ICU.

I feel like we had we just all kind of had a breaking point where we walk in just looking exhausted every day, just thought we're tired.

The mask we have to wear 95 a regular mask if we should.

We had so gone of every single patient's room.

Some families, family members took their anger out on us.

We were, you know, emotionally beat up every day.

They didn't want to act that way.

But we were the person that they were taking their anger out on because they were upset about the situation.

Honestly for a while.

And I really didn't wish anyone, but for a while it really bothered me because all that were in my head is my day at work on Sundays were really bad with your so you just go room to room call bell to call bell.

I can breathe.

Sure.

Get them already.

Get instead get them to breathe.

Right.

But I'm walking out I'm going to next from the same thing.

I think I'm trying to move on from it.

It's not it's not playing as much.

But I still have memories of some of those scenes areas and I'm like, Oh my God.

On four C, we had a patient who was with us for a while and it was at a time where she couldn't have any visitors.

It was her birthday.

She was so sad to be in the hospital on her birthday and she said that her husband would always sing to her happy Birthday.

The Beatles version.

If anybody knows me, I kind of have a trunk full of dress up things for these types of occasions, and I gathered all the staff together and were like, I was like, We have to learn this.

We have to do it for her.

We all dressed up, came in, got her balloons and everything, and sang her happy birthday.

And it was the first time that I saw a patient in a long time smile and laugh because we danced too.

And it wasn't pretty.

But that was one of my best days, I think, because we all came together for, you know, a great cause and we videoed it and sent it to her daughter and just made them made their day.

I feel like every day was about COVID.

It's put nursing into the limelight.

I had people that I haven't talked to in years even reaching out to me, telling me that I was a hero and they were so thankful for what I was doing.

I don't feel like a hero.

I mean, I just feel like this is my job and this is what we're meant to do and why not do it?

You know in the middle of a pandemic?

I mean, this is kind of in one sense what we signed up for.

We didn't know we none of us knew that this was going to happen.

None of us expected it to happen.

But we care for sick patients.

We care for sick people.

We care for our community, too.

As much as we're perceived as heroes, there's a whole lot of weight that goes with that perception.

It's really a moment that we want to call on every American to.

Increase their vigilance.

I wanted to.

Show you the difference in slopes between the spring surge, the summer surge and the fall surge.

So the American people know that this is more cases more rapidly than what we had seen before.

The second wave was November of 2020, going into the winter of 2021.

So patients doing well during the pandemic, as we all know, was a a rare case by the time I was transporting them, they were on the cusp of death.

As each wave came through, the anxiety and the anticipation got harder and harder to deal with for all of us, the hardest day for me and patient that I had actually was coming in to help one of my coworkers.

I took over her shift.

This patient was she came from another hospital.

She was pregnant and she got COVID and she had deteriorated quickly to where she had to get intubated and they had to do a C-section.

This was at the Ironside Hospital and baby was sent to the nick there.

But Mom continued to get worse and they sent her to Lehigh Valley for more acute care and she ended up having to go on Echo, which is pretty much like a heart lung machine at the bedside.

It's like your full life support.

And unfortunately, while she was on chemo, she suffered a massive brain bleed.

And then the rest of my shift was bringing her family back, including her 15 year old son, her sister, her mom, her husband, and taking her off all of life support.

I was the first time that I actually came home and cried.

I usually don't bring home any stories to my husband and cry about it, but that one and it still sticks with me.

Since baby made it home.

Baby was fine.

The baby was okay.

We are humans and that we do have emotion.

As much as we tried to talk them away and pretend that they don't exist, they're there.

Getting into flying became something I always had an interest in.

It wasn't something that I necessarily thought I would be doing as a nurse.

I started flying when I was 15 as a as a birthday gift, was a first flying lesson and eventually got my pilot's license as a rookie, as a private pilot just to fly when I wanted to.

When I fly, I either fly with friends of mine or generally I do fly just by myself.

And when I do fly by myself, it is very much mind clearing.

I am concentrating on something completely different than what I do every day.

You're not worried?

I'm really worried about anything.

You're concentrating on flying.

There's never a time that I ever land where I'm angry or upset or or frustrated or emotionally drained.

Euphoric might be a little too excessive, but it's just a state of of calming enjoyment.

We had an elderly couple that had been married for I cannot remember now how long, how many years, but it was a very long time.

They had been hanging on with it.

COLBY For a while I was caring for the wife.

My colleague was crying for the husband.

They were not doing well.

They both decided to remove everything and go comfort measures together.

So we actually put these patient, this couple together in a room and allowed them to pass comfortably with holding each other's hands.

I did bring some of their family, their children in because they were losing both their parents and it just didn't feel right for me to not allow them to see both their parents before they passed.

Right after they left the depicted the patient, a female patient said, I'll take some morphine right now, Pauline, give them morphine around 330, right at the end of my shift and showing off.

She died shortly after that.

But they got to hold hands.

They got to be together.

And yeah, that was a tough day.

I think the husband hung off a little bit, I heard.

So, like later at night.

Tired because I came back that night.

Yeah, but I was so I was tough.

We gather here today at the end of a historic week to affirm to the American people that hope is on the way.

Karen and I were more than happy to step forward to take the safe and effective coronavirus vaccine that we have secured and produced for the American people.

It's a.

Truly inspiring day.

And that was one of the best times, I think, was when we had that hope.

The vaccines were coming out.

I think we saw some kind of light.

Right, right.

And I cried.

I think that was my that was my best my best day.

It was the day I got an email saying you could could you for a vaccine.

I was one of the first people waiting.

For you and the first.

In line.

I was first in line on the set.

I said, I'm ready.

And that moment I rolled my sleeves down and took that shot.

That was the best day.

We gave our first vaccine allocation, I believe, the end of our middle of December of 2020 and I think that was the biggest glimmer of hope even when there was just talk of a vaccine.

I think it was keeping nursing going.

I felt like the vaccine to me was that finish line of an Ironman.

I felt like I made it.

We were really happy.

We we felt like was there was some kind of hope for us.

We were tired of seeing people die.

I was tired of hearing people saying, I cannot breathe.

That's traumatic.

Sometimes even in my sleep, I can hear people say, I cannot breathe.

I haven't gotten COVID yet, I've made it through and there's light.

I feel like maybe we can breathe.

We are ready to put shots in people's arms and help fight this virus.

It was extremely frustrating then when you had an entirely large group of people saying that they weren't they weren't going to get it.

Once a good amount of vaccination became available by our third wave or a third wave, very much.

And the data supports it is very much the wave of unvaccinated people.

Virtually all COVID 19 hospitalizations and deaths in the United States are now occurring among unvaccinated individuals.

14 times greater chance of dying.

If you get if you were unvaccinated, please get vaccinated, it will protect you.

It hit our younger population.

So like thirties, forties fifties, sixties.

Dealing with COVID patients, we came across a whole lot of different personalities who had different perspectives.

We had patients who did not believe COVID existed, the same patients in that believe in the vaccine.

So when they come into the hospital and we tell them, you have COVID, it's like, okay, we don't believe in it.

Gentlemen, is sixties vaccination was not something he chose to do.

He developed COVID, developed respiratory failure.

I can remember both myself and my flight paramedic partner asking the family to come to the bedside so we could have a conversation with them.

He very well may not survive transport.

You're not going to be able to see him anymore because he is going to be in the ICU where visitors were and he is very, very sick and he may not pull through this at all to elevate it.

So he did not.

We had some patients who were not vaccinated and really expressed a lot of regret not doing that.

This particular patient, she was in ICU intubated.

She was very fortunate that she made it out because most patients that are intubated end up not making it.

So when I cared for her, she was actually close to going home and she told me the whole story and she said, I wasn't vaccinated, Pauline.

I didn't even believe in the vaccine.

I didn't even believe COVID existed, she said.

I regret all that she did.

I wish I could be on a news platform right now telling people my experience and telling them not to do what I did.

Over a year ago.

No one could have imagined what we were about to go through.

But now we're coming through it.

There is hope in light of better days ahead.

We had deaths, but we had a lot of patients who walk out of here, not COVID free, but survived COVID.

There are times where there are indeed good things that happen, and the fact that they are few and far between, I think makes them that much, that much better.

We had a music that we will play for each time a COVID patient has been discharged.

I did it a couple of times for different patients, but it was always it was always a very joyful moment.

And no call and they'll play the music.

And it was just really it was very satisfying.

Thanksgiving of 2021, we were full of COVID and we had a married couple who are both patients on our unit.

I had volunteered to actually work Thanksgiving night because we were short staffed and I came in and my heart was just like so warm because one of my lovely nurses decided that she was going to put the husband and wife together in one of their rooms, and she put their trays dance together so they could have their Thanksgiving meal, hospital meal.

And that was just so heartwarming for her to see someone just voluntarily do that.

And I think that really demonstrates how we've come a long way and we've kept it light and human on our unit throughout the entire thing.

We never lost sight of what's really important.

A nurse is someone who takes care of someone who can't take care of themselves.

The type of person who does make a good nurse is somebody who can be trusted, who is willing to continuously learn and and grow their grow their career, grow their knowledge.

We do everything from feeding options.

Being an advocate for our patients, being a listener to our patients support systems, our patients we do it all.

A nurse is someone who cares for someone else while putting their own health, their own feelings aside.

There's an interest in being not only a strong person because it does take that strong person who can adapt and overcome to the environment, but also the person who can be can be healing in not only their treatment, but in their words.

My very first postpartum experience with my first, he had low blood sugar.

He was in the nick for a week.

During that time, I was also readmitted.

I had postpartum preeclampsia and spent a day in the hospital for that.

Then at three weeks postpartum I was having a lot of abdominal pain.

I was having ten out of ten, like worse pain than labor pretty much.

They found that my entire pelvis was filled with abscesses and the infection was attached to everything is attached to all my organs.

It was horrible.

It turned into a six hour surgery and then they did not think that I could get pregnant again.

And when my son was nine months old, I got pregnant.

It was a miracle.

I actually never really wanted kids.

And then, you know, marriage happened and really figured out that I did want I did want children with my husband and he really wanted children.

And I'm very happy.

So prior to having kids, you was married, right?

Yeah.

Now I am a negative person.

Yes.

All right.

I on January 15th, 2021, I was admitted to LV H and with COVID, Pauline was assigned to be my nurse.

She portrays the epitome of what an LV and nurse should strive to emulate.

I'm sorry.

I'm glad I'm I meant that the patient he stayed strong.

I kept telling him I have faith.

I. I have hopes that he's going to be alive.

He's not going to die.

And I think that kept him going.

I'm glad that I'm I'm glad I could impact someone's life like that.

And how do you feel?

Elated.

Emotional to have this opportunity was pretty profound.

So to me, they see my job as.

You know, everyone says, I don't think I can do this again.

We will.

This is what we do.

Thank you for your bravery in sharing your story and the stories of your colleagues.

We can't thank you enough for the insight, the love and your compassion.

I think I can speak on behalf of all who've joined us this evening when I offer my deepest appreciation for all that nurses do in service of others.

And a big congratulations to the 2022 Friends of Nursing award recipients.

Thank you all for being here tonight.

Thank you.

All that are watching from home.

Please God bless and have a good night.

My.