After another year of COVID-19 demands, local nurses recognized for good work
Among the many things Natalie Ashby, nurse administrator for Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital, loves about her job, one of the highlights is the chance to work alongside other nurses, and she takes pleasure in any opportunity to honor them.
So naturally, she loves Nurse Appreciation Week.
“I’m biased, but we have the best nurses around,” Ashby said.
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ashby said nursing, and others in the healthcare industry were on the receiving end of a lot of recognition for their tireless efforts. In many cases, nurses have earned the title of “heroes,” which Ashby said they “definitely deserve.”
“Our patient experience scores have been in the 90th percentile in our inpatient units, which is unprecedented to keep those scores so high,” Ashby said. “That speaks to how dedicated our nurses really are. And of course, we can’t do it without our partner physicians, technicians, food services, housekeeping, etc. It takes everyone to give patient’s the best experience.”
When Ashby asks fellow nurses why they chose this career, most people tell her they love people and they want to make an impact.
“They feel it as a calling,” Ashby said. “They have a desire to make a difference in the world and nursing is a way to do that.”
It’s also a career with a wide range of opportunities; from bedside care to leadership, legal nurses, critical care, advanced nursing, teaching and more.
Ashby said there are many people in the community who have stepped into the role of nursing for their loved ones, and that is a powerful way to impact a person’s life.
“I call them ‘honorary nurses’,” Ashby said, adding that when her dad had cancer, her mom took on many responsibilities similar to nursing.
Even still, Ashby said, it is one thing to take on those responsibilities for a family member. It’s quite another to do the same for strangers. Which is exactly what nurses do.
“We had one pediatric nurse working with a patient who came in with severe asthma,” Ashby said. “Mom was nervous, but the nurse had such a great way of speaking to the son. That, and the knowledge the nurse had, just took away the mom’s anxiety.”
Another example Ashby recalled was one of the nurses working with an ICU patient who had not been able to see his teenage sons for 30 days, due to visitor restrictions.
“Using some creativity, this nurse got the patient outside where he could see his family members safely,” Ashby said. “That touched my heart to see how caring the nurses are, and how willing they are to think outside the box and to recognize how important family is in the role of healing.”
Nurse Appreciation Week is an opportunity for Ashby and others at St. George Regional to highlight these and many other stories of outstanding nurses with special messages, treats and awards.
“I hope it makes them feel valued in the work they do, knowing that the leaders in Intermountain are aware of and appreciate all they do,” Ashby said. “I’m just so proud of our nursing team.”
This Live Well column represents collaboration between healthcare professionals from the medical staffs of our not-for-profit Intermountain Healthcare hospitals and The Spectrum & Daily News.
This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Live Well: Local nurses recognized for good work
