GCVHCS Announces 2022 Nursing Awards, Wraps Up Nurses Week Celebrations
BILOXI, Miss. – The Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System (GCVHCS) announced its 2022 organization-wide nursing awards during a virtual presentation May 12 in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Coming at the end of National Nurses Week, celebrated annually May 6 through 12, GCVHCS nursing service leadership recognized Pauline White as the Nursing Assistant of the Year; Mary Harris as the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) of the Year; Sheena Strong as the Registered Nurse (RN) of the Year; and Amanda Anderson as the RN of the Year (Expanded Role) during the virtual presentation.
Additionally, GCVHCS Public Affairs Specialist Camille Weston was named Honorary Nurse of the Year.
"The GCVHCS nurses continue to respond to challenges, responding to COVID-19 surges, embracing Veterans from state facilities when their staff was unable to continue care and working short-staffed during a COVID-19 outbreak in our acute mental health facility,” said Dr. M. Christopher Saslo, a 28-year VA employee and 38-year nurse serving as the GCVHCS associate director of patient care services and organization nurse executive. “The men and women who are our nurses volunteered for DEMPS [Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System] deployments to eight other facilities, managed COVID-19 screening and testing and administered more than 65,000 COVID-19 vaccinations and more than 13,000 booster shots. These men and women are the reason the GCVHCS is so strong today, and it’s always difficult to single out the nurses who stand apart from our stellar team of nursing professionals – each and every one of them represent the strength of our chosen profession.”
The virtual awards ceremony, the culmination of a series of weeklong in-house celebrations and observances finishing with the May 12 birthday of Florence Nightingale, an English nurse credited with establishing the first nursing school in 1860, generally includes a series of conferences, appreciation events and luncheons. This year, however, as the ongoing global health crisis continues impacting health care facilities and practices around the world, celebrations and in-person gatherings were limited. GCVHCS nurses at the Biloxi VA Medical Center in Biloxi, Mississippi; the Mobile Community-based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Mobile, Alabama; the Joint Ambulatory Care Center (JACC) in Pensacola, Florida; the Eglin CBOC at Eglin Air Force Base in Crestview, Florida; and at the Panama City Beach CBOC in Panama City Beach, Florida, were able to participate in a series of ‘Blessing of the Hands’ ceremonies performed by GCVHCS Chaplain Service representatives throughout Nurses Week. The ‘Blessing of the Hands’ is a brief non-denominational act designed to recognize and unite healthcare workers and consists of pouring warm water scented with essential oil over hands as a symbol of refreshing and renewing health care professionals' spirits.
Additionally, nursing staff at each of the five GCVHCS facilities engaged in a variety of activities during the week, with some donning traditional white nursing uniforms May 12 in homage to Nightingale’s birthday.
The hour-long virtual ceremony was highlighted by addresses from Saslo as well as Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 16 Chief Nursing Officer/Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Amy Smith and Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Patient Care Services/Chief Nursing Officer Dr. Beth Taylor.
"These past two years have proven time and again that our nursing workforce is the most powerful, compassionate and determined profession ever," Taylor said. "Although we have seen losses in ways we can't imagine, I'm amazed at the ability of nurses to be the strength for our Veterans, their loved ones and each other. Without your commitment and caring spirits, VHA would not be where it is today."
White, the GCVHCS Nursing Assistant of the Year, was instrumental in the realignment of residents during COVID-19, when many residents were moved to unfamiliar units. She immediately bonded with those residents, investing time with the Veterans and providing physical, emotional and social care. According to her citation, White learned everything she could about the Veterans for whom she cared, remained flexible with rapidly changing staffing situations, and was committed to improving professionally by accepting tasks outside of her role.
Harris, the GCVHCS 2022 LPN of the Year, remained a critical part of the Mobile Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) Women’s Health Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) 7 while additionally providing coverage for the newly-formed Women's Health PACT 12. Harris also served as the Mobile CBOC Occupational Health Nurse and Mobile CBOC Strike Team, along with volunteering for numerous COVID-19 Saturday vaccination clinics. Most recently, Harris was selected for the VA’s Emerging Veterans Affairs Leader (EVAL) program.
Strong, a Biloxi VA Medical Center operating room nurse and the GCVCHS RN of the Year, was instrumental in providing both expert nursing care and exploring avenues of improving organizational an system processes, according to her citation. In addition to her duties as a nurse, Strong also served as a GCVHCS Innovation Specialist, and was involved in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Founders Institute Breaking Boundaries Braze Mobility Collaboration to make GCVHCS one of 13 areas selected for this project. Additionally, Strong coordinated the participation of the GCVHCS Community Living Center (CLC) in an innovation project; mentored and guided two employees through the Innovation Network's investment cycle on projects and was heavily involved in ensuring the GCVHCS was one of five VA facilities selected for an Employee Well-Being Center. She also created the Innovation Ecosystem GCVHCS SharePoint site and collaborated with the organization’s Whole Health department to initiate the GCVHCS Wellness Reset Challenge.
Anderson, the GCVHCS RN of the Year (Expanded Role), was detailed to a nursing home in Florida during a COVID-19 surge, where – in addition to providing care for Veterans – was critical in providing evidence-based training on the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Anderson also volunteered in processing hundreds of beneficiary emergency room claims as well as assisted the Biloxi VA Medical Center Float Pool nurse manager in hiring 20 employees. She later was selected as the Biloxi VA Medical Center Medical Surgical Unit Interim nurse manager where she developed numerous process improvements and was ultimately selected as the Biloxi VA Medical Center Float Pool Assistant Nurse Manager.
Weston, the 2022 GCVHCS Honorary Nurse of the Year, serves as a GCVHCS Public Affairs Specialist, and was cited for her unwavering support and advocacy for the nursing profession. Weston supported nurses at each GCVHCS site, highlighting nursing accomplishments through internal and external methods of communication, as well as regularly developed new methods of promoting, recognizing and engaging front-line nursing staff.
Saslo added that even though GCVHCS staff experienced significant disruptions to everyday routines, the organization’s nurses – many of them Veterans themselves – maintained both organizational and nursing standards, overcoming obstacles to ensure continuity of care for the Veterans they have volunteered to serve.
“During what has been an extremely challenging year, the GCVHCS nursing staff has persevered,” Saslo said. “The ongoing global health crisis, hurricanes and other unplanned events presented numerous obstacles for our nurses, but they leapt at the opportunity to ensure we were able to provide vaccinations to Veterans who wanted them, deployed to local communities to assist with medical care during the height of the crisis and continued providing virtual care when Veterans Affairs guidelines and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations limited in-person visits. They have continued the VA’s promise to the Veteran, and I couldn’t be more proud of the men and women who have chosen a career in nursing and caring for our nation’s heroes.”
The Biloxi Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, along with the Mobile, Pensacola, Eglin and Panama City VA Clinics are all part of the GCVHCS, which is headquartered in Biloxi, Mississippi, and provides a variety of medical outpatient services to more than 82,000 Veterans.