I believe Trish exemplifies our core values: caring community, humble expertise, generous service and boundless creativity.
Humble Expertise-Trish started in the Emergency Department as a new graduate nurse in 1998. I was her preceptor. I knew right from the start we had a special person on our staff. She is a smart, compassionate nurse, with a quick wit and a huge heart. She quickly rose through the ranks to become a CNIII, trauma nurse, and charge nurse for the ED. She is a strong team leader, respected by her colleagues, and a dedicated patient advocate. Ten years into her career as an RN, Trish was silently struggling to find purpose, to reconcile the tragedies she witnessed every day in the ED. She kept this to herself because of the belief it was weak to admit the heartbreak she was feeling. Trish left the ED in 2008.
In 2010 Trish returned to the ED in a "call to service" to care for her colleagues. In the two years, away from nursing, she worked through her struggles and realized she was not alone in these feelings. She came to realize if she was feeling this way, others were too and there had to be a support system created to help her co-workers. She returned as a staff RN with time allowed for resiliency work with our team. She has accomplished so much in the last 7 years. She is a member of the R.E.S.T. team facilitating debriefings for teams in crisis. She regularly rounds with staff after difficult events or stressful periods of time just to check-in and listen. She drops everything to organize our team debriefings as soon as the need arises. It is with a genuine heart she is a true champion for our team.
Caring Community-Trish is the steward of the Dakota Solomon Endowed Fund. I have the pleasure of working with her to plan our annual Dakota Solomon ED/PICU Education Days. For the last 7 years, Trish has spearheaded the planning of 29 resiliency seminars for our ED/PICU staff members. The goal is always to offer our staff time for sharing and rejuvenation, time to learn they are not alone in their feelings and they have support. The seminars offer tools for resiliency in the workplace. Last year, one of the exercises we did in the seminar, was to write down the 2-3 people we know we can always count on to listen and hear our story. Without hesitation, I wrote "Trish". Before that exercise, I didn't realize how much I count on her generous gift of friendship. This year will be the 8th year of the seminars and because of the heart and soul she pours into the event, I am sure they will be a huge success.
Boundless Creativity-Trish is the chair of our ED Resiliency committee. This committee organizes staff outings and recognition events. These events include the annual golf tournament and the annual "Golden Urinal" awards. The Golden Urinals are fun, peer recognition awards given on Emergency Nurses day each year. She also organizes our Christmas giving tree/toy drive and "Fill a Backpack" each year.
Generous Service -Trish is a champion for reducing workplace violence in the ED. She worked diligently to educate staff that disrespectful behaviors by visitors/families is unacceptable and should not be tolerated. She worked with an interdisciplinary team to create the Behavioral Standards for patients and families and posted these in every exam room. Trish leads the work on ED safeTeam, keeping staff safe with a process in place to support them after an event. She reviews incidents reported through QSRS related to workplace violence and advocates for changes to policies and procedures based on trends and high-risk events.
Trish is an exemplary nurse who cares for patients, families and our staff.