Northern Arizona Healthcare colleagues doing outstanding work are nominated for the L.O.V., or Living Our Values, Award. A committee of NAH colleagues from across the system reviews all nominations to select monthly honorees and quarterly champions.
The following L.O.V. honorees distinguished themselves by living NAH Values — Show Compassion, Do Amazing Work, Respect Differences, Build Community and Be better together.
- Glen Green, lead biomedical tech at Verde Valley Medical Center, was honored for the values of Build Community and Be Better Together.
Green spent more than seven months working on a project to donate 17- year-old, but still usable, automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, to the Cottonwood Police Department.
He was inspired to do this after reading a newspaper article about the Sedona Police Department putting AEDs in their patrol cruisers and thought Cottonwood deserved the same invaluable technology.
When police officers have access to AEDs, they are able to save lives as first responders rather than waiting for emergency medical services.
Knowing this, Green worked with all appropriate parties both at NAH and the police department to make it happen.
A local reporter was there to capture the story the day the AEDs were donated, so the community was able to learn all about the project.
- Marilyn Johnson, medical assistant in Neurology at Verde Valley Medical Center, was honored for the value of Do Amazing Work.
Johnson decided that people don’t hear “you are important” nearly often enough, so she took it upon herself to send that message.
For over a year, she has been writing quick, individualized notes on small cards to each and every patient she sees in her clinic, giving them an inspiration for the day.
Patients who return to the clinic often say things like, “Do I get another card from you today?” and “I kept the message you gave me last time and read it every day” or “Do you mind if I give the card to someone else having a rough time?” Johnson takes great joy in giving others a reason to smile because, as she said, “It takes very little effort and is free.”
- Also honored were five Flagstaff Medical Center personnel. Kim Angelo, senior purchasing specialist, was cited for the value of Build Community.
For the 10th year, she led the Flagstaff Medical Center blood drives and in February, was honored with the Vitalant HERO Award for outstanding leadership in blood drive coordination.
Karen Duran, NNP; Carley Hill, RN; Beth Thomas-Schildgen, charge RN; and Elise Hansen, RN, were honored for values of Show Compassion and Be Better Together.
After a patient arriving at the Emergency Department in critical care needing neurosurgical care had to undergo an emergency C-section to protect her unborn baby, the four nurses stepped up to provide skin-to-skin time, or Kangaroo Care.
They understood this care for premature babies means better attachment, reduced anxiety and enhanced cognitive development.
They coordinated a road trip to the mother’s ICU bed so the baby could be reunited with her mother for the first time since birth.
The baby was placed on her sleeping mother’s chest and both were able to relax and bond.
The staff took pictures so that when the mother woke up, she could look back at those first precious moments with her daughter.
Without the compassion and tenacity of these four nurses, it might have been weeks or months before this mother was able to hold her baby.
