Honoring St. Luke’s Nurses During Nurses Week

Fun 107 joins Southcoast Health in recognizing our local outstanding nurses in the area. As part of National Nurses Week, we'll join Southcoast Health in shining the spotlight on some of the truly outstanding nurses.

Southcoast Health has awarded $10,000 in academic nursing scholarships at Saint Luke's Hospital.

The scholarships were awarded to the following:

• David Cordeiro
• Heather Cockcraft
• Sonia Leitao
• Abigail Lawrence
• Julie Deakin
• Ruth Milam
• Kylynn Barbero

The Spirit of Nursing Award goes to an outstanding nurse who demonstrates excellence in clinical skills, customer service, outstanding commitment to patients and families, acts as a professional role model for other nurses, and is an exceptional colleague, demonstrating collaboration and team work with a positive attitude.

A patient's wife wrote:  “My husband would say this nurse is a great nurse. Caring and compassionate, this nurse would talk sports with him while caring for him. This helped ease a stressful illness and situation. Always going above and beyond to connect with patients, this nurse has the ability to make patients feel like people and not their diagnosis."  This nurse’s compassion, professionalism, and value to the team does not stop with patients. The nurse manager receives emails from colleagues recognizing this individual for teamwork, respect and support of colleagues from every discipline.
You should also know there were 22 different clinical nurses nominated for this award across St Luke’s Hospital so the competition was steep.  Please join us in congratulating Charlie McCarthy from the St. Luke's Emergency Department.

The Eagle Leadership Award goes to someone who sets high standards, mentors those who follow, creates and shares a vision, makes hard choices when necessary, and is visible and out front.  This year’s winner is an employee with a long tenure at Southcoast and personifies the Southcoast values in her practice daily.  This year she led the installation of a remote video monitoring program to enhance patient safety by remotely monitor patients at risk of falls.  This program was implemented at all three sites under her leadership and with attention to detail for a successful outcome.  Congratulations to the St. Luke's Eagle Leadership Award winner, Karen Lesperance, RN Manager

The New To Practice Award is a "rookie of the year" type award.  It goes to a new to practice clinical nurse with less than one year of experience.  The nurse will have a positive attitude, a passion for customer service, and outstanding commitment for continual learning and growth.  This new to Practice nurse always greets patients with a warm welcome and saying I will be taking care of you today. You can see the pleasant reaction from our patients, their anxiety disappearing, knowing they will receive great care. Southcoast's patient satisfaction surveys often mention this particular nurse’s name and the awesome care they received from her. This nurse recently took the initiative to start a collection for a patient that lost her home in a fire. The patient and her husband were overwhelmed by the gesture of the donation.  This nurse takes the opportunity for feedback with positive enthusiasm and utilizes the feedback for continued professional development.  This nurse embodies the qualities of a true professional.  Congratulations to Deolinda Vorce, RN at the Wound Care Center

During National Nurses Week, Southcoast also acknowledges an outstanding Support Service Member. This award has been developed to recognize the valuable role of a Support Staff Member who has exhibited a commitment to quality service.  This individual always welcomes new patients and families upon arrival to the unit.  This support service member has given many years of dedication and service to Saint Luke’s and is a shining star.  Congratulations to Celeste Aresta, Bourne (pictured above)