Photography by Ann White
Tori Boyer, 2023 Excellence in Nursing Awards winner
Tori Boyer
PEDIATRICS: NON-NEONATAL
Tori Boyer
Boyer graduated summa cum laude from her nursing program, earned her doctor of nursing practice degree at age 25, and served on the Alumni Advisory Council at Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College. Today, Boyer works as a hospitalist pediatric nurse practitioner at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Why nursing is rewarding: “Nursing can be physically and emotionally demanding but an incredibly meaningful and very rewarding job. Nurses have the opportunity to make a difference in patients’ lives every day. With pediatrics, specifically, you have the opportunity to make the most of a really frightening experience, to make it a little less daunting for them.”
What she learned as a nurse: “You play a vital role. We’ve been named throughout the pandemic as one of the ‘health care heroes,’ and nurses can serve in a variety of capacities. So regardless of your specialty or field, you have the opportunity to connect with patients and build trusting relationships. It’s more than just aiding those who are unwell or doing certain tasks—it’s building a partnership and providing patient- and family-centered care.”
EDUCATOR
Karen Cuvar
Saint Louis University School of Nursing
“Mama Karen” is how some students refer to Cuvar, the coordinator of the traditional undergraduate nursing program at SLU School of Nursing. As she says, “Students need that loving support where they can feel comfortable to come and talk about anything that’s bothering them.” In recent years, Cuvar has been instrumental in helping students struggling with mental health issues. She is known for providing “excellent nursing education and holistic caring support beyond the call of duty for undergraduate nursing students.”
On what she’d like more people to know about nursing: “The nursing profession is not what they see on social media and television. It is truly a loving, caring, compassionate profession. It’s truly an art form. And nurses work really hard and are exceptionally smart.”
Photography by Ann White
Candace Love, 2023 Excellence in Nursing Awards winner
Candace Love
ONCOLOGY
Candace Love
For two decades, Love has cared for oncology patients and their families, often going the extra mile, whether waiting for patients to be picked up after hours, offering to buy groceries for a patient, or paying for her patient’s medicine.
On patient advocacy: “Listen to your patients. They know best what’s going on with them. Notice subtle changes, and just really listen because they’ll tell you what’s going on.”
On a memorable story about a patient: “We had a patient who lived really far away. When she was recently diagnosed with cancer, she didn’t have money to get to her appointment. So me and my team leader went half and half, and gave her a $50 gift card so we could get her here and back home.”
ADMINISTRATION
Dawn Strautmann
SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
Each day presents a new challenge for Strautmann, nursing operations manager at SLU Hospital, where her team strives to ensure things are moving along at the hospital. She credits her team for helping make it happen.
On helping a fellow nurse during the pandemic: “She was really struggling with heavy things during the height of the pandemic and some of the decisions and positions she was put in. She said she was really struggling to [remember] why she became a nurse, so I sat down with her, and we talked about how nursing is a wonderfully wide world, and if right now this is not working for you, I bet there’s something else. And so we got her involved with other things, and she ended up moving into a new position, and she’s very happy.”
On the rewards of being a nurse: “The rewards of being a bedside nurse are being able to see someone overcome a hardship and be whole again. Also, from a leadership standpoint, I really enjoy seeing the growth of other nurses. You know, when nurses come in and as a newer nurse, you’re excited and scared and worried…and then you just slowly see them come on the other side and get that confidence.”
Photography by Ann White
Christopher Hemmer, 2023 Excellence in Nursing Award winner
Christopher Hemmer
ORTHOPEDICS
Christopher Hemmer
Saint Louis University School of Nursing
Hemmer likes the instant gratification that comes from working in the emergency department. “If something’s wrong, you have a lot of tools and can fix the problem and almost immediately get them where they need to be,” he says. Hemmer has invited nursing students to work alongside him in the clinic when they struggled to find a clinical preceptor, and he’s accompanied students to Honduras to work in primary care. “His willingness to serve and his enthusiasm while providing care truly set him apart,” says a colleague.
On a challenge of the job: “The misuse of the emergency department. We see patients who come in with a cough that they’ve had for six months. If we didn’t have the people who didn’t need to be there, we could see patients a lot quicker. It would be a better use of the system.”
RESEARCH
Karen Moore
Saint Louis University School of Nursing
With a background in oncology, acute medicine, and infectious disease, Moore was especially concerned about minority populations when the pandemic began. “We’ve known for a long time that patients without [a lot of] resources have higher levels of infectious disease,” says Moore. This concern motivated her to develop a qualitative study to learn more about Mexican Americans. The study exemplifies Moore’s commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Moore’s work is guided by her commitment to health care as a basic right and her desire to improve the lives of people living in under-resourced communities.
On the best part of being a researcher: “To me, it’s conceptualizing something that you see as a problem. You’re thinking about it, figuring it out, looking at what the research or the literature says about it, and then what does it say that you don’t know. To me, it all comes back to patient outcomes. This research I’m doing is going to help someone, somewhere, maybe not tomorrow, but maybe years from now.”
Photography by Ann White
Caitlin Sailor, 2023 Excellence in Nursing Award winner
Caitlin Sailor
INTENSIVE CARE
Caitlin Sailor
SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
When Sailor was in middle school, her brother had a chronic kidney disease and spent a lot of time in the hospital. There, she was exposed to what it meant to be a caretaker. Today, she’s an RN program specialist at Cardinal Glennon.
On taking care of the staff during the pandemic: “We worry a lot about supporting patients and their families, but COVID was hard on everybody. So we implemented some debriefs and extra staff support to make sure that our employees felt like they were getting the assistance they needed.”
On advice to new nurses: “Be open to everything: Be open to learning new things. Be open to being challenged—it’s scary, but that’s how we learn the most. And lean on your team; none of us do this alone. It can be hard when you’re a new nurse to feel like you’re part of that team and get to know everybody, but the one thing about nurses is we have each other’s backs.”
NEUROLOGY / PSYCHOLOGY / BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
Amber Malcolm
Washington University School of Medicine
In high school, Malcolm wrote a paper on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), informed by her knowledge of a family member who had the disease. Now, as an acute care nurse practitioner, Malcolm works with ALS patients every day. She serves as a sub-investigator on ALS clinical research studies, works to plan individualized treatments, and approaches care with a “patient first” mentality.
On navigating difficult conversations: “The whole process [to test for ALS] can be really frustrating and confusing for the patient. A lot of what I do is to sit them down and figure out what they know and what they understood from their conversation with our physician colleagues. I try to put that together in a way that they can understand and feel comfortable with. When a patient, or someone in their family, says, ‘This makes more sense now,’ that’s really rewarding.”
On her nursing philosophy: “For someone with ALS, the patient and their family are the experts on what they need. I’m the expert on figuring out how to help in a way that is safe, makes sense, and is something that we can do.”
Photography by Ann White
Elizabeth Schappe, 2023 Excellence in Nursing Award winner
Elizabeth Schappe
ADVANCED PRACTICE
Elizabeth Schappe
Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
As a certified registered nurse anesthetist, Schappe works long shifts and must be alert to potential emergencies. To help colleagues cope with daily stressors, Schappe brought her passion for wellness to work, receiving a grant to create fitness rooms for her department. A champion of sustainability, Schappe is also a member of Wash. U. School of Medicine’s Climate Action Plan committee.
On the new fitness areas: “We were able to organize two fitness areas that providers can use during long shifts. It’s important, because there’s a high rate of burnout in health care, especially in anesthesia. Anything we can do to help our providers increase their well-being—both mentally and physically—helps patients get better care.”
On pre-operative care: “[The patient] has a lot of anxiety and so does their family. In that moment, we’re able to offer them reassurance that our goal is to provide them with safe, effective anesthesia to keep them comfortable and to take care of them while they’re having surgery.”
ACUTE CARE / FAMILY PRACTICE / GENERAL MEDICINE
Brandy Holthaus
Holthaus has been educating the community ever since she began working with children at the Christian Activity Center in East St. Louis in 2013. Under a grant, she taught the children and their families about obesity and hypertension. “One of my big passions is doing community projects,” she says. Just last year, she made period packs for students attending six different middle schools. Holthaus has also been known to buy insulin for a man who is diabetic and had his backpack stolen, and she organized clothing drives to help a young man with cancer whose home caught fire.
On some of the biggest challenges in her career: “I work for a federally qualified health center, so we’re a community health center. I take care of a lot of people who don't have a lot of resources. They don’t have a lot of health literacy. So, some of my work is just breaking barriers and making sure I can get my patients what they need.”
Photography by Ann White
Nina Arnold, 2023 Excellence in Nursing Award winner
Nina Arnold
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
Nina Arnold
Missouri Baptist Medical Center
Growing up, both of Arnold’s parents worked in an emergency department. Although Arnold wasn’t initially planning on following in their footsteps, that changed once she began volunteering in the ER as a teenager. Today, she serves as an emergency department assistant nurse manager and director-at-large for Missouri’s Emergency Nurses Association.
On overcoming obstacles during the pandemic: “We were working with one another and saying, ‘OK, we don’t have a policy for this, so we’re going to have to make our own rules together to keep one another safe.’ It was amazing how quickly everybody unified and said, ‘This is what we’re going to do, and we’ll just have to shift as things change.’”
On her passion for nursing: “Even though you don’t get to see what happens long-term for the patients, you know that what you’re doing really does impact the community. You’re helping people sometimes on the worst day of their lives, but you’re there to try and make it better.”
COMMUNITY CARE / AMBULATORY CARE
Heather Wade
Saint Louis University School of Nursing, iFM Community Medicine
Ever since Wade went on an alternative spring break to MD Anderson Cancer Center during her sophomore year of college, she’s been interested in nursing. “I liked the way the nurses interfaced with the patients,” Wade recalls. It’s that same connection with patients that makes Wade love her job today. “I feel so grateful that I have a skill set that can help people,” she says. Wade spends most of her time teaching undergraduate students, but she also ran COVID-19 vaccine clinics and did community outreach during the pandemic. The most enjoyable part of this work was watching her students work in a community setting, while gaining tangible skills.
On positive aspects of helping during the pandemic: “We had this amazing community response. There was lots of pushback, of course, but mostly we had a community that was engaged in prevention efforts. It’s been really awesome to be a part of that bigger lens of what public health can look like when we all work together.”
Photography by Ann White
Daphne Clem, 2023 Excellence in Nursing Award winner
Daphne Clem
PEDIATRICS: NEONATAL
Daphne Clem
During the pandemic, the number of pediatric patients at the hospital dropped, and the unit had to adjust: Some of the nurses treated adult patients. Once vaccines became prevalent, Clem and her team dedicated extra hours on weekends to provide vaccines to children. A nurse manager for pediatrics and the special care nursery, Clem has also worked nights, weekends, and extra hours because of the nursing shortage.
On working during the pandemic and a nursing shortage: “It did require me to work a lot of nights, weekends, and extra still trying to manage my areas, too. But I also know that is one of the things that my staff appreciates. I don’t ask them to do something that I wouldn’t do. So as I was doing overtime, they were doing overtime, too.”
On advice to new nurses: “I always tell new grads, ‘Go out, and don’t silo yourself. Get a little bit of experience with everything. Feel it all out, and figure out where you want to be, expanding your horizons and investigating where you want to be.’”
MEDICAL-SURGICAL NURSING
Timothy Patrick
As an assistant nurse manager, Patrick oversees scheduling for 120 team members in the post-anesthesia care unit. He’s committed to maintaining a work-life balance for his staff, improving the handoff process between the operating room and the post-anesthesia care unit, as well as ensuring that each patient receives individualized, quality care.
On balancing schedules for staff members: “I took it upon myself to do what I could to make sure [the staff] felt like I was in their corner, especially when it came to requests for time off, or vacation, or whatever it was. I wanted them to know that, if it was important to them, I would do my best to account for them. Staffing is so important here.”
On a proud accomplishment: “I’m proud of my longevity [at BJH]. I’m going on 29 years in the same institution… And I’m proud of the relationships that I’ve helped develop. There are some people here that are very close friends.”
Photography by Ann White
Shelly Sansoucie, 2023 Excellence in Nursing Award winner
Shelly Sansoucie
WOMEN’S HEALTH
Thresa Michelle (Shelly) Sansoucie
Sansoucie went into nursing to help others, and for the past 36 years, she’s done just that in her work in OB-GYN. “Working in this field…there are so many good times, but there are also many difficult times for patients. Just to know that maybe I played a part in getting somebody through that makes it worth it,” she says. “Nursing is a beautiful profession.” One of Sansoucie’s former patients explains that Sansoucie was the person she would turn to during “some of her darkest days” when she had five miscarriages trying to conceive her first child.
On the job’s most challenging aspect: “There are so many different personalities. I work with patients from all over the world and different ages of women. Not everybody has the timeline of getting married and pregnant at 30. I have patients who are 40, 45, and 50. Being able to tell people this is your decision, and we’re here for you, but it’s challenging especially when you have someone who is older and the outcome may not be great.”
CARDIOVASCULAR
Kendra Wickline
Watching both of her parents dedicate themselves to their nursing careers inspired Wickline to pursue the profession. A natural caregiver since childhood, she works as a registered nurse, providing specialized services for dialysis patients. Her nursing philosophy centers on understanding her patients holistically.
On a memorable moment: “I had a patient who was extremely nervous about a procedure she needed to have done. She had talked with the physician for almost an hour but was still not comfortable with moving forward. I sat with her and listened to her concerns, fears, and misconceptions she’d heard from family and friends. I had been through this particular procedure myself, so I talked with her about my experience and showed her my small scars. She started crying and hugged me and said that was exactly what she needed, and thanked me for sharing my experience with her in a way that made her feel she was going to be OK. She had her procedure and did well. Sometimes, all it takes to make a difference is holding a hand and listening.”
Photography by Ann White
Carol Massmann, 2023 Excellence in Nursing Award winner
Carol Massmann
HOSPICE / HOME HEALTH / PALLIATIVE CARE
Carol Massmann
On the interdisciplinary pediatric advanced care team, Massmann and her colleagues offer palliative care for patients diagnosed with complex or serious illnesses. As a pediatric nurse practitioner, Massmann provides support to patients and families, aids in difficult decision-making processes, manages symptoms, and centers the continuance of hope.
On the most challenging part of the job: “Sometimes, you can’t fix it. But you also know that your presence means something, and showing up for the family means something. There’s not always a simple answer, and I don’t always have the medicine to fix what they’re going through. That’s what’s hard about it.”
On what motivates her: “I feel like it’s a privilege to be able to come in and support a family or patient through their illness or what they’re facing. I would hope that, by listening, I can provide that for someone. It’s all that I would want for my family.”
EMERGING LEADER
Amalia Rueter
SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital
Rueter became a nurse during the pandemic after graduating in 2021. Today, as a charge nurse on the stepdown ICU unit, Rueter faces different opportunities and challenges during every shift. And at the end of each workday and despite coping with the job’s physical and emotional strain, as well as recent nursing shortages, Rueter makes sure to focus on at least one good thing.
On the rewards of nursing: “There are some patients who just touch your heart, and there are patients’ family members who really appreciate the care that you provide.”
On advice to new nurses: “Learn to focus on the good. I always try to do that on my drive home…when I have time to think about what I did today that made a difference in people’s lives.”
The Honorees
Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners
ACUTE CARE / FAMILY PRACTICE / GENERAL MEDICINE
Brandy Holthaus / SIHF Healthcare
Stacy Kuykendall / Rockwood School District
Rosanna Tochtrop / Missouri Poison Center at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
ADMINISTRATION
Emily Hazelton / SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
Dawn Strautmann / SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
Tiffany Taylor / SSM Health DePaul Hospital
ADVANCED PRACTICE
Tania Roberts / Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Elizabeth Schappe / Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Stephanie Treon / Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Children’s Hospital
CARDIOVASCULAR
Colleen Tabaka / St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Kendra Wickline / Memorial Hospital Belleville
COMMUNITY CARE / AMBULATORY CARE
Kathryn Harvath / SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
Elaine Ottenlips / SLUCare Cancer Center
Heather Wade / Saint Louis University School of Nursing, iFM Community Medicine
EDUCATOR
Karen Cuvar / Saint Louis University School of Nursing
Lisa Merritt / Fontbonne University
Bobbi Shatto / Saint Louis University School of Nursing
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
Nina Arnold / Missouri Baptist Medical Center
Michael Hartwick / Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Sara Pride / Missouri Baptist Medical Center
EMERGING LEADER
Matt Hartnett / St. Luke’s Hospital
Amalia Rueter / SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital
Jarred Silvia / Mercy Hospital St. Louis
HOSPICE / HOME HEALTH / PALLIATIVE CARE
Eileen Hedrick / Martha’s Hands Home Care Services
Carol Massmann / St. Louis Children’s Hospital
INTENSIVE CARE
Claire Colbert / SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
Sarah Ferretti / SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital
Constance Owen / SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital
Caitlin Sailor / SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
MEDICAL-SURGICAL NURSING
Amy Hanson / St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Timothy Patrick / Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Judith Stenzel / St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Jennifer Turley-Nash / SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital
NEUROLOGY / PSYCHOLOGY / BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
Becky Hopfinger / Washington University School of Medicine
Julie Luesse / Mercy Hospital St. Louis
Amber Malcolm / Washington University School of Medicine
ONCOLOGY
Sharidan Drake / Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Candace Love / SSM Health Cancer Care
Toni Rachocki / Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine
ORTHOPEDICS
Becky Fister / Washington University School of Medicine
Christopher Hemmer / Saint Louis University School of Nursing
Michele Kielar / Mercy
PEDIATRICS: NEONATAL
Daphne Clem / St. Luke's Hospital
Mary Hope / SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
Julie Vertodoulos / SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
PEDIATRICS: NON-NEONATAL
Tori Boyer / St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Sara Graves / Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Jenna Jacobsen Banks / Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Nichole Reichert / Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Laura Walker / SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital
RESEARCH
Tifuh Amba / SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
Aleksandra Klim / Washington University School of Medicine
Karen Moore / Saint Louis University School of Nursing
WOMEN’S HEALTH
Shelly Sansoucie / Mercy
Sarah Smith / Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Lori Stevenson / Barnes-Jewish Hospital
SELECTION COMMITTEE
Debra Harrison, executive coach, MEDI; former chief nursing officer, Mayo Clinic
Lola Denise Jefferson, first vice president, National Black Nurses Association
Brigit VanGraafeiland, assistant professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
Phyllis Zimmer, founder, Nurse Practitioner Healthcare Foundation
Carli Zegers, assistant professor, University of Kansas School of Nursing
