Part 2 of a 5-part series commemorating nurse executives who have led through the pandemic.
HealthLeaders is celebrating National Nurses Week, May 6-12, by highlighting nurse leaders each day throughout the week who were among healthcare workers nominated by a colleague for HealthLeaders' "Leading Through the Pandemic" sweepstakes.
Each nomination included comments from the colleague, which are featured here.
As frontline nurses treated and comforted critically ill and dying COVID-19 patients, their nurse leaders focused on keeping the staff safe from the effects of the highly contagious, deadly virus.
From securing adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to making sure frontline nurses were correctly informed about COVID to providing empathy when it was needed, these three nurse leaders have supported and taken care of their staff during the most trying of times.
Kimberly Blanton, MSN, MHA, RN, NE-BC
Enterprise Nursing Operations Director, University of Kentucky Healthcare, Lexington, Kentucky
Kim was already the enterprise director of an extremely busy cardiac service line when COVID-19 hit. She assisted with the coordination of the hospital, university campus, and regional COVID site.
Kim was a key figure within the university in assisting to keep us safe and informed. Her diligence to work with other key individuals kept the staff up to date and prepared for an everchanging pandemic.
Cori Loescher, BSN, MM, RN, NEA-BC
Chief nursing officer and vice president for Patient Care Services, Brigham & Women's Faulkner Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Cori led the entire organization in a multi-disciplinary response to the pandemic in our hospital, as well as representing us across a large and complex, world-renowned health system.
Cori made sure that our entire hospital team had the equipment and knowledge to safely care for very sick and complicated patients. Cori was able to communicate effectively with the entire organization to coordinate staff redeployments and assure that patients received the competent, compassionate care they deserved.
Cori also went above and beyond to provide compassionate support and understanding to colleagues who needed to recover from traumatic events during this crisis. She is a true leader, in every sense of the word!
Renea Smith, MSN, BSN, RN
Chief nursing officer, Indiana University Health White Memorial Hospital, Monticello, Indiana
Renea provided exemplary leadership to all of our nurse leaders through COVID-19. She did this through her commitment to each of us, and ensuring we had all the tools we needed to care for our teams.
She kept each one of us ahead of our game and made sure we had balance and support. Often as leaders, we feel the weight of the world on our shoulders, and it was so meaningful to feel the support from above that allowed us to remain strong and resilient through such uncertain times.
Be sure to visit HealthLeaders each day to see new stories recognizing dedicated nurse leaders who have made sacrifices as they've led their nursing staffs through unprecedented and difficult times.
Don't miss the first installment: Honoring 3 Nurse Leaders Who Worked Tirelessly
Carol Davis is the Nursing Editor at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.