Nurse of the Week 2020: A Year of Extraordinary Nurses

Nurse of the Week 2020: A Year of Extraordinary Nurses

In a year in which so many nurses displayed bravery, suffered hardships, and shone in countless ways, DailyNurse might easily have featured a “Nurse of the Day” instead of a Nurse of the Week.

Nurses have always gone the extra mile to communicate with patients and make them feel more comfortable and cared for, and we all know former patients who were so inspired by their nurses that they decided to enter the profession themselves. As 2020 raised the curtain on the Year of the Nurse, though, no one could have anticipated it would be a watershed year in which nurses became global icons of hope and courage.

Whether You’re a Hero, or Merely Awesome, Take a Bow…

Boston HCWs celebrate arrival of Covid-19 vaccine in December.

The public has long admired nurses, but this year, the world has watched nurses brave the pandemic to work in seemingly impossible conditions, act as stand-ins for patients’ absent families, and leave home to speed to the relief of overwhelmed hospitals all over the US.

Nonetheless, many of our 2020 Nurses of the Week (NotW) eschewed the word “hero.” If you glance at remarks from our 2020 Nurses of the Week, you might note that while they take pride in their work, few sound like they are ready to accessorize their mask with a Superman cape. Naturally, they are happy to see their work recognized, but nurses constantly go out of their way to make patients feel less frightened and alone. As frontliner Tabatha Kentner said, “This is what we do. This is why we’re here.” Nurses save lives—and when they cannot, they comfort patients in their final hours and console distraught families. It’s not an occasional phenomenon; it is an everyday occurrence. The name and photo in Wednesday’s NotW feature could easily be your own because your expertise and empathy make you a Nurse of the Week every day of the year.

On the last Wednesday of 2020, DailyNurse salutes the Nurses of the Week who made their mark during the Year of the Nurse!

Great (and Caring) Communicators

Nurse of the Week Emily Fawcett is an RN at Lenox Hill Hospital
RN Emily Fawcett, Lenox Hill Hospital, NYC.

A recurring theme is nurses who use their unique talents to raise patients’ and staff members’ spirits. Some, like Marc Perreault and Lori Marie Kay, shared their musical gifts. At Lenox Hill Hospital during the height of the New York City outbreak, Emily Fawcett helped boost morale in her ICU by meeting with staff for positive-thinking “hope huddles” before starting their shifts.

Danielle Fenn applied her language skills to comfort non-English speaking Covid patients. Others, like Tabatha Kentner, have been acting as “angels” (the word angel comes from the Greek angelos, which means “messenger”) and facilitating virtual visits so patients and their loved ones can commune even in isolation (and when necessary, say their final goodbyes).

Advocates and Public Servants

RN Andrea Dalzell on Good Morning America.

2020 was a year in which nurses stepped forward, spoke up, and got involved in public and civic health. Expect to see more of this in 2021 and years to come (we hope!). Metastatic breast cancer survivor Stephanie Walker is tirelessly advocating for cancer patients and patient education in North Carolina. Another indefatigable advocate, Andrea Dalzell, is on a mission to invite wheelchair-bound people to enter the nursing profession.

NYPD’s new Special Victims Unit head Michael King is a veteran SANE—and he is determined to improve the treatment of rape victims by police and other first responders. American Academy of Nursing (AAN) “Living Legend” Mary Wakefield is sharing her public health expertise and experience in the Obama administration with the Biden-Harris transition team.

Another AAN “Living Legend,” 85-year-old Marie Manthey, is promoting frank, open dialogues between Black and White nurses, and calling upon all White allies to combat structural racism and unconscious bias.

Frontline Troopers

Nurse Anna Slayton
Anna Slayton, BSN, RN-BC

Tens of thousands of nurses this year packed their bags and took off to lend a hand in the nation’s hotspots. Reports on horrific conditions in hard-hit city hospitals were a virtual Bat-Signal for many nurses. They stashed extra masks in their suitcases, said goodbye to their loved ones, and flew to the most dangerous hotspots in the country (even nurses who had never been on a plane before!).

Texas nurse Anna Slayton, who parted from her family to spend 77 days on the New York frontlines, felt compelled to help, telling DailyNurse, “I ultimately knew it was my duty.” And in April, after flying from Tennessee to a desolate—but noisily grateful—NYC, ED nurse Kirsten Flanery declared , “I made the right decision on coming up here. I’m ready to make a difference!”​

Difficult Takes a Day, Impossible Takes a Week

Nurse of the Week Felicia Shaner with her two daughters.
LPN Felicia Shaner and daughters.

Many nurses combine massive multitasking efforts with hard work to pursue their studies, and some fight to overcome dire health and financial obstacles in their quest to start a nursing career. Felicia Shaner was so drawn to the profession that she embarked on her nursing studies while living in a homeless shelter… with a toddler and a baby on board! degrees while working as hospital custodians. Rebel Nurse Jalil Johnson (of Show me Your Stethoscope fame) had spent his last $5 when he enrolled in an LPN program. And Brianna Fogelman had a lung transplant in her junior year of nursing school and took her nursing finals with a tube in her chest.​

Is There a Nurse in the House?

Former CCN/Cardiac Care nurse Hollyanne Milley and spouse.
Former CCN/Cardiac Care nurse Hollyanne Milley and spouse.

2020 was also a year in which nurses acted as first responders in unexpected times and places. Pamela Zeinoun saved the lives of three premature infants after the devastating August 4 explosions in Beirut. Indiana trauma nurse Colby Snyder rushed to the assistance of two people who collapsed in public within a 3-week period: the first had a seizure at her grocery store, and the second fell while Snyder was volunteering at the polls on Election Day. ​​ ​

Former CCN/cardiac care nurse Hollyanne Miley (whose husband is Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley) is also a good person to have at hand when out-of-the-blue seizures occur. And VA nurse Maria VanHart impressed “official” first responders by her swift, efficient, and empathic treatment of survivors at the scene of a fatal highway accident.

DailyNurse salutes all of its readers, and all nurses. If you know of someone who warrants a Nurse of the Week nod, send your suggestion to [email protected]. Best wishes for a happier, healthier, evidence-based New Year!

Nurse of the Week Danielle Fenn Reached Out to Latin-American COVID Patients

Nurse of the Week Danielle Fenn Reached Out to Latin-American COVID Patients

Nurse of the Week Danielle Fenn understands the vital role of communication in nursing.

Fenn, an RN at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, is originally from Brazil, and during the COVID crisis she used her knowledge of Portuguese to make the hospital space more inviting for non-English speaking COVID patients.

It began, she told ABC News, when a co-worker told her, “we were getting a COVID patient that was from Brazil that didn’t speak very much English. They had trouble communicating with him and he was scared. Fenn swooped in to soothe the frightened man as she “walked him through simple questions and gave him my cell number. I told him if he needed anything to call me.” She also left a friendly “Good Morning” message in Portuguese to greet the patient the next morning.

The positive effect inspired her to reach out to other non-English speakers who were being treated, she says. “I developed a relationship with them and decided to create signs around the hospital to help other patients and health care workers. Signs are very important for patients who can’t speak English very well… For the little simple things, it’s nice to be able to use these signs.”

Like many nurses, Fenn’s dedication to the profession was reinforced by personal experience as a caregiver; in this case the patient was her late husband. “I made a promise to myself that if anyone that ever needed my care or any loved one would need something, I would be there. Little did I know that was going to be my husband. My husband was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. It was very hard. Our children were aged 5 and 3.” Of losing her spouse, Fenn says, ”That was definitely the hardest.” Her loss has failed to dampen her enthusiasm for caregiving, though: “But still, being a nurse is just my favorite. I love to come in and be able to bring a smile to their faces.”

To see a video featuring Danielle Fenn’s story, visit this ABC News page .