By 
ansellhero.com + Scrubs
Every year, the Ansell H.E.R.O. [Heal, Educate, Reach, Overcome] Nurse Service award recognizes nurses who have made lasting impressions on their peers, their patients, their profession and their community.
What’s it like to win an award for your hard work and dedication? We spoke with a few of the award winners from previous years to find out.
Tell us a bit about your experience when you were nominated for the H.E.R.O. Nurse Service award last year – your reaction?
Sarah Plunkett PhD, RNC-NIC, APRN-CNS, CNE – It is truly an honor and a wonderful opportunity to showcase the interprofessional service leadership of our local f.a.c.e.s. organization in Tulsa, Okla., to increase awareness and prevention of intimate partner violence, which is a national/global health priority according to Futures Without Violence, Healthy People 2020 and the World Health Organization.
Sailor Dobbins – I was very surprised and in awe about this wonderful award. I have displayed it proudly. I will continually work hard to do great patient care to honor this award.
Donald W. Brant CRNA, CH – I was so honored, and humbled at the same time, at being nominated for the Ansell H.E.R.O Nurse Service Award last year.
Ashley Burke – I was SO honored and humbled to have been nominated and then to win was, for lack of a better word, amazing!
Do you know who nominated you? If you do, can you tell us about them? If not, were you surprised that you were nominated?
Ashley Burke – When I was nominated last year for this award, I had been a nurse for about three years, and about six months of that in the ICU. I had been trained on therapeutic hypothermia in the ICU and the patient I had was in the beginning stages of the therapeutic hypothermia protocol. I subsequently had the patient for weeks after and got very close with her sister throughout the process. I paid extra special care and attention to the small details, like washing her hair and fixing it, as well as making sure the TV was on and she was comfortable. The person who nominated me for this award was my patient’s half-sister Kim, who is an amazingly strong and dedicated sister and strong in her faith.
Sailor Dobbins – The wonderful person who nominated me is Lucy VanVolkinburg, our materials management manager at our hospital. Her thoughtfulness and kindness are unmatched. Lucy compliments me on good patient care, but we should never forget the people behind the scenes who really make things work and come together, because without them, nothing would work.
What does getting a H.E.R.O. Nurse Service award mean to you, in both your profession and personal life?
Sarah Plunkett – It is very refreshing to be appreciated for doing service leadership and to know that my work makes a difference to others in the healthcare professions and ultimately, to the patients and families we serve!
Ashley Burke – By being nominated for this award, many of my fellow coworkers and friends were made aware of what I had been doing with my patient and the impact that I had made.
Donald W. Brant CRNA, CH – So many great events go unnoticed each year across this country in the nursing profession, and I thank Ansell Healthcare for all that they do to search for, and for the honor they bestow on, these great professionals. I have been a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist for 40 years and will be winding my career down in next couple of years. I am truly honored to have received Ansell H.E.R.O. Nurse Service award and am happy to know that I made a difference in my profession.
Who would you nominate? You can still nominate your hero–the nominations for 2014 are open until April 26th at ansellhero.com.
