Interim HealthCare Awards Three Nurse Of The Year Awards
Sunrise, Florida, December 13, 2007 - Three Interim HealthCare employees received the distinction of Nurse of the Year by Interim HealthCare Inc. This honor is given to those individuals whose talents distinguish them as outstanding nurses in the scope of our business. The honorees have each been nominated by peers in their home offices. Each winner represents the best of Interim HealthCare nursing.
Heather Welsh, RN (Spokane, WA):
Heather is a nurse who has learned that doing the right thing is not always the easiest choice, but she consistently chooses the right way anyway in providing care to her patients and their families. As we know, families of pediatric patients can present challenges to the nurse who is trying to carry out the doctor's orders and follow the plan of care. Heather has been successful in pointing out to the families the beneficial outcomes of following the plan of care and then listening to their concerns. She has also become the face of Interim HealthCare by showing the home care staff the proper way to dress and interact with client, families and other team members. Her customer focus is demonstrated daily; she even created a personal training video for one of her patient's families who were being relocated to another area of the country-just so the care could be delivered in a consistent way that the family and patient were familiar with. In addition to her integrity and creativity, Heather also keeps current with payor requirements and ensures that her documentation addresses those requirements and is turned in on time.
Lisa Gager, RN, DHCS (Rapid City, SD)
The Rapid City office was eager to nominate Lisa for nurse of the year in order to recognize her contribution to TRIPLING weekly billings since her arrival. Apparently one of Lisa's approaches for achieving and sustaining such growth is staff development and support. She has developed and implemented an Aide of the Month program as well as a Case Manager Bonus contest. She is also personally involved in that growth. Some of her activities include giving home health talks to the Senior Information Network, elderly high rise facilities, local hospital rehab facilities and the senior citizen centers. One might be concerned that so much marketing activity might detract from her clinical duties, but no. The Rapid City office has been recognized in the state of South Dakota for being the top 10% of the nation for reduced hospitalization rates and the top 25% of the nation for improvement in transferring. They have also had 2 Medicare certification surveys since Lisa's hire, and both surveys had zero deficiencies. Quite impressive accomplishments!
Julia Lester, RN (Morgantown, WV)
It's an interesting story how Julia became interested in homecare. When Julia first joined the Morgantown team 2 years ago, she had no visit background except she knew that she liked to drive. In those 2 years of driving she has grown into a powerful home care clinician. In addition to striving for positive patient outcomes, she has demonstrated practices in also being very efficient by scheduling patients so she is not constantly crisscrossing her 5 county territories daily and by consistently following standards of nursing practice to improve patient outcomes with a minimum of nursing visits. She has learned how to contact manufacturers directly for samples of necessary products that patients need but cannot afford. An endearing quality of Julia's is her ability to see the best in everyone and bring out that quality in each person. For example, Julia was attempting to draw blood on a child who had experienced many difficulties in her short life and was pretty fed up with being stuck. While the child was attempting to have a tantrum, Julia noticed a "Princess Power" sticker on the child's clothing. She used this as a cue to create a connection to the child and calm her down. Now both Julia and the child are members of a special "Princess Club". She has made a difference in the child's life and is now a positive force to facilitate healing on many different levels for this child.
"All winners and nominees deserve recognition for the hard work, compassion and dedication they bring to this position, their clients and the families they serve every day," said Barbara McCann, Chief Clinical Officer of Interim HealthCare, Inc. "Nurses consistently go beyond what is required, in order to accomplish their job, and these winners are no different. We salute and recognize their outstanding contributions to improving people's lives."
Founded in 1966, Interim HealthCare is the nation's oldest proprietary national organization providing health care personnel at all skill levels in all settings. Through one of the country's most comprehensive network of 300 offices (franchise and affiliates). Interim HealthCare provides diverse services including hospice, home care, medical staffing, occupational health and pharmaceutical support services. Interim employs more than 75,000 health care workers and provides services to approximately 50,000 people each day. For more information, visit www.interimhealthcare.com.
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