By Glenna Murdock, RN, contributor
December 17, 2010 - Since 2003, Cherokee Uniforms has honored nurses and other healthcare professionals who have demonstrated exceptional service beyond the parameters of their job descriptions by naming them Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award winners. NurseZone spoke to the three 2010 RN awardees recently, who were selected from over 1,700 nominations nationwide. Each one has been honored for their selfless and unique contributions to excellent patient care.
Samantha Abate, BS, RN, CCRN - 2010 Grand Prize Winner
Assistant Nurse Manager, Cardiac ICU and Step-down Units, South Jersey Healthcare (SJH), Vineland, N.J.
Abate’s belief in professional growth as a means to provide excellence in patient care inspired her to develop a certification program for nurses in her unit. The program was designed to utilize national standards and to foster an environment of teamwork. Six staff nurses committed to the program and all five who sat for the certification exam in November (the sixth had relocated out of state) were successful.
Abate was also honored for pioneering the idea of incorporating animal-assisted therapy into an existing ambulation program for patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).
"Patients with CHF can have good lifestyles if they are managed correctly," Abate explained. "Ambulation is an important part of that management, but the motivation to do it is often lacking when the patient isn’t feeling well."
A devoted pet lover, Abate proposed taking animal-assisted therapy to another level by designing a research project to determine whether CHF patients would be more willing to exercise if they were accompanied in the activity by a dog. It was demonstrated that offering patients the opportunity to walk with a specially trained therapy dog provided the psychological benefits of animal-assisted therapy as well as the physiologic benefits of increased physical activity. The Canine Assisted Ambulation (CAA) intervention study is awaiting publication and has been accepted as Abate’s master’s thesis by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
"I was fortunate to be supported by SJH leadership from the outset," Abate said. "I was a cardiac nurse who asked to bring my therapy dog to work, yet no one said my ideas were too abstract to be successful. So many nurses have wonderful ideas that wither and go nowhere; I urge them to find someone who believes in them and never give up."
Peggy Folgate, RN - 2010 Top National Winner
FHN Community Healthcare Center, Freeport, Ill.
When Peggy Folgate, RN, transitioned from a hospital nurse to a nurse in a community clinic three years ago, she quickly realized that the high cost of prescription medicines was having a negative effect on her patients, particularly those with chronic conditions.
The town of Freeport has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state of Illinois and the clinic primarily serves uninsured patients.
“We’ve all heard that when there’s only so much money to go around, and patients must choose between buying food or buying medicine, they will buy food because it is such a basic and immediate need,” Folgate said. “And that is the case. Many of the drugs used to treat chronic conditions are prohibitively expensive, so our patients simply can’t buy them.”
Aware that pharmaceutical companies have programs that provide medications at no cost to the uninsured, Folgate gathered information and created a database of the available medications and the patients in need of the no-cost drug service. The program tracks renewal requirements and other details for each of the 270 participants. That information enables the staff to be proactive rather than reactive and, therefore, prevent interruptions in the continuity of drug treatment.
“There is an incredible amount of red tape required to verify a patient’s eligibility for such programs and to ensure there are no gaps in the supply of medication to the patient,” Folgate explained. “All the paperwork can be very confusing to patients. To be able to simplify that process for them, to see the expressions of relief on their faces and to know we’re improving their health by providing their necessary medications is enormously gratifying.”
“By helping patients get the medications they need, along with managing their chronic health conditions, Peggy Folgate is literally having a life or death impact on their lives,” said Wendell Mobley, who directs Cherokee Uniforms’ charitable and scholarship programs. “In recognition of her outstanding work in making prescriptions accessible to this vulnerable population, she is named the Top National Winner of the 2010 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award.”
Peggy Matthews, RN - 2010 National Winner
Methodist Fayette Hospital, Somerville, Tenn.
In late 2008 Peggy Matthews’s elderly father passed away in a room in the hospice unit of a Memphis hospital. The room was typical of most hospital rooms—white walls, nondescript hard surfaces, straight-backed chairs. The sight of her mother in that sterile setting, keeping vigil at the bedside of her husband of 65 years, tugged at Matthews’ heart.
“It was just so sad to see her sitting in that cold, impersonal and uncomfortable room,” Matthews said. “After my father’s death, I couldn’t let go of the idea that I needed to create a special place for families in similar situations so they could have a more peaceful experience.”
In early 2009 Matthews asked Janet Hunt, administrative director at Methodist Fayette Hospital where Matthews is employed, if there was a room available that she could transform into an oasis of comfort for terminal patients and their families. The idea was readily embraced by hospital leadership.
“The room I chose was being used as a store room,” Matthews explained, “but it has a large picture window and a lovely view of the hospital grounds.”
Matthews envisioned the room in such detail that it took three attempts before she achieved the exact wall color she had in mind. Other than the laminate wood floor and a flat-screen television, which the hospital provided, Matthews covered the cost of all the improvements. Over the span of five months, during off-work hours, she painted the walls and doors in soothing colors, stenciled the walls with a subtle pattern of willow trees and leaves, purchased art work, lamps, end tables, a decorative shower curtain and bathroom accessories. She also donated an overstuffed leather loveseat and chair. A local quilting club joined the effort, providing a lap quilt to each family as a gift of remembrance.
The end result was everything Matthews hoped it would be, both in appearance and purpose.
“As I pass by the room, my greatest joy is seeing family members comfortably settled on the soft furniture and hearing them reminisce and share stories just as though they’re in their own living rooms,” Matthews said. “Each family that has used the room has expressed their gratitude for our having such a comforting space in which to spend the final hours with their loved one.”
Matthews was recognized with the Cherokee award in part because of the care and compassion she extends to patients and families in end-of-life situations.
“Peggy channeled the pain of her own loss into creating a supportive environment for others in the same circumstances,” said Hunt, who nominated Matthews for this year’s award.
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