For more than a decade, St. Louis Magazine has spotlighted the remarkable efforts of nurses across the region through the Excellence in Nursing Awards, presented by BJC HealthCare and Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College. We do this each year in the May issue to coincide with National Nurses Week, which concludes on Florence Nightingale’s birthday, May 12.
These professionals consistently exhibit selfless care, compassion, and service, but this year, as the COVID-19 crisis is challenging the medical community and altering the very fabric of our lives, it’s a particularly appropriate time to acknowledge their inspiring work. These oft-unsung heroes of health care rise to their best when patients are at their worst, treating St. Louisans facing a wide range of conditions and circumstances and providing comfort at a particularly trying time.
So this year, beyond recognizing the honorees, we encourage you to share a simple message with nurses and other local heroes across the region: Thank you.
BJC HealthCare
A finalist in the Medical-Surgical category, Ashley Comeau with Missouri Baptist Medical Center is just one of the nurses making a difference across St. Louis.
WOMEN’S HEALTH
Kelly Lovan-Gold
Saint Louis University School of Nursing
On March 20, Judy Wilson-Griffin, a perinatal nurse specialist at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital, became the first person in St. Louis County to die from the novel coronavirus.
“Judy was an amazing person and such a dedicated nurse,” says Lovan-Gold, who worked with her in women’s services at St. Mary’s for years. “Her contribution to our patients and to the nursing profession cannot be overstated… She was truly an inspiration to all of us, and we are all heartbroken over her loss.”
Since COVID-19 began taking its toll on the St. Louis community, Lovan-Gold has noticed a stark contrast at the hospital: new screening procedures, guidelines for preserving PPE (personal protective equipment), and strict visitor guidelines.
“The last time I worked, it was kind of eerie and felt like a different place, a place I didn’t recognize,” she says. “I think that was when it really sank in for me that this was something really serious and things were going to be very different.”
An instructor at SLU School of Nursing, she’s spent much of her time teaching virtually “to help prepare the next generation of women’s health nurses to jump into action in a few short weeks.”
The experience has also caused her to reflect on her own choice to become a nurse. “When you are a nurse, you feel it in your soul,” she says. “We know there are risks to our health, but our desire to provide care is still there despite the risks.” Nurses are wearing N95 masks so much, she says, they are starting to get bruising and irritation on their faces from the tight-fitting masks. Yet they continue to serve patients, “regardless of the toll it is taking on them,” she says. “I am in awe of them.”
At the same time, she understands the urgent need to be there for patients, including patients in her unit who are admitted for pregnancy complications and would normally draw on a support network that can’t currently be there because of precautionary visitor guidelines. “These are scary times,” Lovan-Gold says. “We need to lean on each other, metaphorically speaking, for support.”
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
Lashonda Walton
St. Luke’s Hospital
While life has changed dramatically around her during the COVID-19 crisis, Walton’s routine in many ways has remained the same. “I still come in, change into my scrubs, and go to the charge nurse desk to get my assignment,” says Walton, who works in the emergency department at St. Luke’s Hospital. “I have to wear my PPE every day now, which includes goggles or a face shield, a surgical mask, and my N95 mask. I used to work in trauma, so I used to wear this all the time; now I need to wear it every day.”
Many patients are anxious, she says of the present moment. She’s sometimes able to help calm them by introducing herself as Boots, a nickname she got for her love of boots and shoes. “I’ve been doing this for a while now,” she says. “The more calm you are, the better you can take care of a patient. It comes with experience. I come in and do what I love to do.”
At the same time, she’s noticed a greater appreciation for nurses. “People who I wouldn’t expect to get calls from call to check in on me or just say thank you,” she says.
Her advice to patients and colleagues? “People should stay home. If you don’t need to go to a hospital, stay home,” she says. “Colleagues, come to work with your game face on. We’re all in it together. This too shall pass.”
ORTHOPEDICS
Jean Kiburz
SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
Kiburz, who decided to become a nurse while in high school, chose to specialize in pediatrics after spending a rotation at Cardinal Glennon 37 years ago. Today, as a pediatric orthopedic nurse, she treats everything from broken bones to scoliosis.
On her job’s greatest reward: “It’s not always something really impressive. It’s more the collective little things you do every day that help your team, help a family, and help a child that really make a difference.”
On caring for children: “Kids are such little barometers of truth, and they know when you like them. It is an honor and a privilege to get to work with children and their families and have them bond with you, work with you, and allow you to care for them in their vulnerability.”
EMERGING LEADER
Kerry Zimmerman
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
When international nurses were integrated into the team, Zimmerman was selected to help train them. She not only did research on their home countries but also helped the nurses acclimate by taking them to the zoo and other cultural attractions. Zimmerman is recognized for the care she provides. When one long-term patient without any family was placed in a nursing home, Zimmerman regularly visited her. “Kerry is an amazing person who excels at work,” notes one colleague, “but also devotes much of her off time to helping others.”
Biggest rewards: “Helping people understand what is happening with their health, medication, and bodies can empower them to take better care of themselves.”
How COVID-19 has affected her routine: “The typical day has not changed except for increased background stress. The nurses I work with continue to be generous and thoughtful. We continue to help each other with patient care and logistics.”
COMMUNITY CARE/AMBULATORY CARE
Kimberly Ewing
St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Ewing works tirelessly to help refugee families. In one instance, a colleague recalls, Ewing received a call from a school asking for help in providing immunizations to more than 80 children. Ewing made calls until she found a location that could accommodate the children and their families. She even secured translators so the families could understand information on the vaccines that each child needed. “Kim became an expert in working with these refugee families,” a colleague notes, and “has contributed to the mission of doing what’s right for kids in the community.”
On providing care to refugee families: “It’s really important for us to be able to talk to the family. We want to be able to explain what the vaccines mean, why their children need them, and what they are protecting them against.”
The importance of giving back: “When you’re working to improve health care disparities in the community, everybody benefits.”
RESEARCH
Cynthia Copeland
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Copeland’s research focused on ways to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers in patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, who are confined to bedrest and often sedated. Copeland not only researched bed types, product use, and turning standards but also took it upon herself to educate operating room personnel. She spent months planning the training and making sure that it became standard practice on the floor. “She is a valuable resource,” says a colleague. “She can draw on a huge amount of data that she follows and collects. We continue to benefit from her efforts as they become our successes.”
Advice for new nurses: “Education, education, education. Take advantage of every education opportunity that is available to you to build your practice. Nursing is always evolving, improving, and growing.”
The rewards of the job: “Since I work with numbers so much, it’s nice when the numbers go my way and I see positive results. It’s also rewarding working with a team.”
EDUCATOR
Deirdre Schweiss
Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College
“The only reason that patients are in the hospital is for 24/7 nursing care, because the rest of the disciplines are not there on a continuous basis,” Schweiss, an assistant professor at Goldfarb who’s also worked in pediatrics, often tells her students. “We’re the ones at the bedside. That’s an important role.”
What she hopes to teach her students: “To always be inquisitive, always to seek out the best practice. The most important lesson—and I stress this over and over again—is to listen to the child, or just watch them. And, listen to the parents. The parents or caregivers are the experts on their children. If we don’t listen, we could miss things and the child could potentially suffer.”
The greatest challenge of nursing: “Not getting burned out and emotionally drained. But I’ve often said if I stop having things touch me, I have to get out of the profession. We have children in the hospital who are dependent on breathing machines and have all kinds of equipment on them and keep coming back for different reasons. It’s hard not to wonder, Are we making a difference? Not that all ages don’t pull on your heartstrings, but the little guys tend to pull just a little bit harder.”
CARDIOVASCULAR
Anastasia Schmidt
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Family members often ask if Schmidt can be their loved one’s nurse again, after they’ve witnessed her care, a colleague says. When Schmidt started at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, her eagerness to learn, unassuming demeanor, and her care for patients set her apart. A fellow nurse recalls Schmidt’s care of a patient who experienced many setbacks after bypass surgery. “Anna developed a bond and took care of them as often as possible,” the colleague remembers. “Anna tried to include the wife as often as possible in the daily care routine; she made her feel needed and important, not a bystander.”
The profession’s challenges: “We work with the sickest people in the hospital, and people don’t always leave our unit alive, which is really difficult, but there’s also real value in giving someone a meaningful, peaceful death with their loved ones surrounding them.”
The importance of patient care: “Working in pediatrics has made me realize that everyone is someone’s family member, so applying that to adults has been beneficial for me and the families I work with.”
HOSPICE/HOME HEALTH/PALLIATIVE CARE
Flora Badra
BJC Hospice
Badra’s father was a doctor, and her mother was a nurse. “I felt that they gave to others, and I just wanted to follow suit,” she says. A former patient’s daughter recalls, “In the midst of the greatest storm imaginable, Flora came in and restored peace to my mom—and our family—in a way in which we would have never imagined with a terminal diagnosis hanging over our heads.” Badra made more visits, says the daughter, even after her mother was moved during the last week of her life. “Flora’s gentle kiss on my mom’s forehead is something that will stay in my heart forever.”
Why she chose hospice work: “When I was 13, my dad was sick. He had heart issues. I guess he was my first hospice patient. He was in the bed next to me. Mom was kind of tired and said, ‘I’m going to go sleep. Dad is going to be with you, because you can hear him better than I can and you sleep light.’ He died...while I was lying next to him. It kind of triggered that caring for hospice, for dying patients.”
How she connects with patients: “They tell me their story. I try to reach them on a human level before I take care of them so I understand their pain, something they like, something they don’t. My patient is not just a disease; my patient is a person with life stories and families, unique in their own way.”
ADVANCED PRACTICE
Mary Sullivan
Washington University School of Medicine
As a nurse practitioner, Sullivan is constantly updating herself on the most recent literature and sharing that knowledge with others. She was selected to lead a new fellowship program that will provide educational opportunities and experiences for new advanced-practice providers with limited experience in the ICU setting. “We had an ECMO [extracorporeal membrane oxygenation] patient who was decompensating. No one could determine what the problem was. Mary jumped in and made some necessary changes, and the ECMO circuit became fully functional again,” recalls a colleague. “She literally saved the patient’s life.”
Advice for new nurses: “Never be afraid to ask questions. You have a huge responsibility, and someone’s life depends on you. Identify a person on each shift whose opinion and expertise you trust. I have been a nurse for 22 years, and I still do that every shift.”
SCHOOL
Heather Christman
Clayton School District
Known to students as Nurse Heather, Christman has been a nurse for 16 years and a school nurse at Glenridge Elementary for four. She sees roughly 50 students in kindergarten through fifth grade in a nine-hour workday. Christman takes on a new challenge every day—no two kids’ cases are the same. On top of treating kids, she teaches nursing students at Saint Louis University how to conduct vision and hearing tests.
The job’s greatest challenge: “You have to think outside the box, because you’re not in a hospital setting. I had a student last year break his nose on the playground. I immediately just took off my vest, put it on the kid’s little nose, picked him up, and walked him into the office.”
The job’s rewards: “I now have roughly 350 students that I happily call all of my own children.”
PEDIATRICS: NEONATAL
Lisa Silverman
Washington University School of Medicine
A leader in the newborn nursery, Silverman is committed to offering the best evidence-based care. “Both physicians and nurses feel comfortable going to Lisa to ask questions,” says a colleague. She’s known for clearly answering questions with thoughtful explanation. Recently, she was asked about lab results indicating that a baby with jaundice didn’t need immediate action. Instead, “Lisa explained to the nurse what she thought those results meant and what her plan was for following up.” That attention to detail can make a big difference for the smallest patients.
Biggest challenges: “Trying to educate parents from all walks of life, while respecting their cultures and beliefs, especially those who don’t vaccinate their children.”
Greatest rewards: “I have the opportunity to teach new parents about their newborns and what to expect. If they take one thing from what I tell them, create a safe environment, and have a healthy infant, then I’ve done my job.”
ADMINISTRATION
Becky Allen
Mercy Hospital St. Louis
As a NICU nurse manager at Mercy Hospital St. Louis, Allen often has to divide her time between budgetary and care issues. “If I find a day where I am spending a lot of time doing the administrative stuff, I can feel that I’m missing the day-to-day touch-bases with the nurses and families,” she says. Allen also looks for ways to improve processes—for instance, she researched and advocated for a new breastfeeding system in the NICU that involved a barcode tracking system, a new milk room, and software to streamline the procedure.
How she approaches leadership: “Connection. I think collaboration is a strong way to connect with people. I like to connect in an authentic way as a leader. I think that’s really important, because all these interpersonal relationships that we have, it makes them more meaningful to come from trust, authenticity.”
Understanding a nurse’s impact: “I was cleaning out a drawer of my home, and I found an old card from a mom who had written me a thank-you note. She wrote, ‘You came to work like it was just another day. You made such a difference in my life.’ I want new nurses to understand: You might be looking at it like it’s just another day, clocking in and clocking out, but you have the opportunity to make a difference in the life of a family.”
MEDICAL-SURGICAL NURSING
Julia Williams
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College
Williams had dreamed of becoming a nurse since she was a child in Liberia. Now she’s a registered medical-surgical nurse with Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a focus she chose because she “can really be involved in the patient care, from the time they come through the door until they can leave.” While helping a patient who did not want treatment, for instance, Williams sat down at his bedside and told him that he’d never improve if he ignored those who were trying to help him. “Her tone was no-nonsense, but her face was kind and understanding,” a colleague noted. “Her impact and connection with the patient and his family truly made a difference.”
A challenge of nursing: “Sometimes, when patients and families have to make a decision, they ask, ‘What do you think about this?’ Sometimes they’re trying to make a decision to withdraw care or a decision not to have certain surgeries. You have to put yourself in that position. You wonder what goes through their mind and ask yourself, ‘Am I going to give them the right answer?’”
Her job’s best moments: “To see patients go home, then come back to find us and say, ‘Thank you.’”
PEDIATRICS: NON-NEONATAL
Renée Davis
Saint Louis University School of Nursing
Davis is an assistant professor at SLU School of Nursing and a pediatric nurse practitioner at Memorial Hospital Belleville. Growing up, she wanted to be a doctor, but when she reached high school, she started to consider becoming a nurse instead. One of the core principles that has stuck with her is cura personalis, a Latin term she learned in nursing school that means caring for the person as a whole.
Why she loves nursing: “I found that I could work with the science part, the people part, the child part, with families—the whole picture—and to be able to care holistically for patients.”
On being a nurse: “It’s not something you leave at the door whenever you leave work. It’s with us all the time. It’s not only a job or a profession; it is the type of person you are and the way that you approach everything in your life, the way that you plan, you assess. It’s not what you are; it’s who you are.”
ACUTE CARE/FAMILY PRACTICE
Janice Meyer
Mercy Clinic
Meyer’s colleagues describe her as compassionate and the resident cheerleader for patients and staff. A nurse practitioner at Mercy Clinic Primary Care, Meyer “invests in her patients not only professionally but on a personal level, and that is why they are so fond of her,” says a colleague. Even during hectic days, colleagues say, she makes sure to slow down and be present, whether she’s diagnosing a patient’s rare spinal tumor (to the amazement of doctors specializing in that type of tumor) or ensuring that patients with wheelchairs can get out of their cars and get into the building.
A challenge of the job: “Access to care for some patients is troubling—the cost of that care. We try our hardest to use medications that are affordable… I want to be cognizant that many of our elderly patients are on a limited income.”
Advice for new nurses: “Recognize that it’s a big learning curve. You have to allow yourself to not know everything, to maybe not make the right decision. We’ve all been there. You learn from it.”
NEUROLOGY/PSYCHOLOGY/BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
Nicholas Bauer
Missouri Baptist Medical Center
While leading a team of nurses, Bauer follows the philosophy “Leave it better than how you found it.” Bauer is the manager of patient care for neurology and inpatient rehab and the manager of the MS Infusion Center at Missouri Baptist Medical Center. He’s always thinking of new ways to keep the team enthusiastic—for example, by giving staff members their own Disney character names.
On building a healthy team: “If I know how to do something, then I should be willing to share that information with anyone, because it’s not going to do me any good to keep that knowledge to myself. There should always be some level of turnover, because people are growing and learning.”
On bonding with patients: “We truly try to get to know you as a person—not just as a room number.”
INTENSIVE CARE
Mary McCoy
Mercy Hospital St. Louis
What’s the most interesting part of being a trauma and neuro ICU nurse manager? Studying the brain, McCoy says. “What a brain injury looks like in this patient looks completely different in a patient with the same exact injury,” she says. “The way the brain responds, how different a fever in the body can impact your brain function—it’s really fascinating to me.” Her job also demands oversight of a fast-paced department. For instance, during a recent time when the ICU was busier than usual, McCoy helped fill positions beyond her own responsibilities as needed. Then, when another nurse was falling behind on other duties because a patient required constant attention, McCoy gave the patient a wheelchair tour of the hospital.
On what people might not know about nursing: “The nurse is really the eyes and ears of physicians… Often it’s the nurse who notices that very minute change and is communicating it to the physician team so the interventions can happen.”
On a curse of retaining so much medical knowledge: “I always think I have every disease. [Laughs.]”
ONCOLOGY
Ashley Morton
Washington University School of Medicine
Morton often goes far beyond the call of duty, whether it’s taking an active role in clinical trial research at Washington University, participating in a Surviving & Thriving workshop for patients with pancreatic cancer, or spending long periods visiting with patients and their families during trying times. As a colleague notes, Morton “understands that patients and families can often feel lost, scared, and angry when faced with situations out of their control. Ashley brings her comforting presence to them in the moments they need her the most.” She’s there for her peers, too. “When we are faced with difficult days, she is the calming force that keeps us all pushing forward,” the colleague says. “She is simply the nurse that others strive to become.”
Challenges of the job: “I have the benefit of seeing patients in the office on a rather frequent basis, which allows for the development of fast-formed relationships. Discussing or delivering news that is not of a positive nature with those whom you’ve developed a connection is a challenge. Even when meeting patients for the first time, it can be difficult to discuss a diagnosis of stage IV cancer that likely is not curable.”
Finalists
Following a call for nominations last fall, a prestigious panel of judges scored nearly 300 submissions. The 2020 selection committee included:
- Rita F. D’Aoust, Associate dean for teaching and learning at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
- Rebecca Harris-Smith, Dean of Nursing and Allied Health, South Louisiana Community College; Board of Directors, National Black Nurses Association
- Debra Harrison, Executive coach at MEDI, former chief nursing officer of Mayo Clinic
- Sarah Thompson, Dean of the University of Missouri School of Nursing
- Debra Toney, President of the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations
- Brigit Van Graafeiland, Assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
- Carli Zegers, Assistant professor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City
- Phyllis Zimmer, Founder of the Nurse Practitioner Healthcare Foundation
While all of the nominees had outstanding backgrounds in their field, the panel helped select 62 exceptional finalists across 19 categories.
ACUTE CARE/FAMILY PRACTICE
Lauren Carqueville, Mercy Clinic Primary Care
Gina Heberlie, Midwest Health Group
Michelle Jackson, St. Luke's Hospital
Janice Meyer, Mercy Clinic Primary Care
ADMINISTRATION
Becky Allen, Mercy Hospital St. Louis
Pam Golden, SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
David Potter, Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Beth Riemer, Mercy Hospital South
ADVANCED PRACTICE
Vijay Divakaran, Mercy Hospital South
Samantha Marquard, Saint Louis University School of Nursing
Mary Sullivan, Washington University School of Medicine
CARDIOVASCULAR
Brittany Ash, Mercy Hospital Washington
Amanda Cross, Progress West Hospital
Debbie Gray, Mercy Hospital St. Louis
Sonja Green, Mercy Hospital St. Louis, Maryville University
Anastasia Schmidt, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis Children's Hospital
COMMUNITY CARE/AMBULATORY
Crystal Bailey, Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers
Terra Borkowski, SSM Health St. Clare Hospital
Kimberly Ewing, St. Louis Children's Hospital
Kim Pastrana, SSM Health St. Clare Hospital
Allison Vierling, St. Louis Children's Hospital
EDUCATOR
Janelle Holthaus, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Jean Krampe, Saint Louis University School of Nursing
Deirdre Schweiss, Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
Jennifer Elbert, Mercy Hospital Washington
Rachel Hager, Mercy Hospital St. Louis, Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital
Kathryn Sanders, Missouri Baptist Medical Center
Lashonda Walton, St. Luke's Hospital
EMERGING LEADER
Connor Abts, St. Louis Altenheim
Amina Musa, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Kerry Zimmerman, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
HOSPICE/HOME HEALTH/PALLIATIVE CARE
Flora Badra, BJC Hospice
Rachel Sauer, Mercy Specialty and Home Infusion
INTENSIVE CARE
Kathleen "Kitty" Bess, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Mary McCoy, Mercy Hospital St. Louis
Jessica Tocco, St. Luke's Hospital
MEDICAL-SURGICAL NURSING
Ashley Comeau, Missouri Baptist Medical Center
Mary Moll, Mercy Hospital South
Julia Williams, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College
NEUROLOGY/PSYCHOLOGY/BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
Nicholas Bauer, Missouri Baptist Medical Center
Denelle Cordia, Mercy Hospital South
Kaitlyn Stumpe, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital
ONCOLOGY
Cristina McGroarty, Saint Louis University School of Nursing
Ashley Morton, Washington University School of Medicine
ORTHOPEDICS
Leslie Hasamear, Washington University School of Medicine
Jean Kiburz, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital
Megan Knetzer, Washington University School of Medicine
PEDIATRICS: NEONATAL
Heather Miller, Mercy Children's Hospital St. Louis
Kimmie Pacatte, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital
Lisa Silverman, Washington University School of Medicine
PEDIATRICS: NON-NEONATAL
Ellen Coates, St. Louis Children's Hospital
Renee Davis, Saint Louis University School of Nursing
Allison Faron, St. Louis Children's Hospital
Angela Kaminski, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Children's Hospital
RESEARCH
Cynthia Copeland, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
JoAnn Franklin, University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing
SCHOOL
Heather Christman, Clayton School District
Pam Holzer, Francis-Howell School District
Mary Ellen Simmons, Ladue School District
WOMEN’S HEALTH
Jody Bakameyer, Mercy Hospital Washington
Annie Lee, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Kelly Lovan-Gold, Saint Louis University School of Nursing
