Award-Nominee Nurses are Making a Difference

Meet Beverly McClary and Liz Foster -- two of eleven Boulder Community Health nurses nominated for Colorado's 2017 Nightingale Luminary Awards, the state's highest honor for practicing nurses.

Beverly (pictured in blue on the left) works as a clinical staff nurse in the intensive care unit at Foothills Hospital.

Liz (pictured in green on the right) works as a clinical educator at Foothills Hospital.

Both women are remarkable nurses making important contributions to patient care at BCH.

Beverly has been a driving force in improving how BCH manages sepsis -- a deadly condition where the body's response to infection injures its own tissues and organs.

BCH is currently the #3 hospital in the United States in meeting national core measure standards for the management of sepsis. And Beverly was instrumental in implementing a new system to identify and track sepsis through the electronic health record. She is now a sought-after resource at BCH for best practice in sepsis management.

Beverly is a role model for driving innovation and change through creativity.

Like Beverly, Liz used her creativity to make care at BCH better by helping us retain and train the best and brightest nurses.

She created a basic orientation program for new intensive care unit (ICU) nurses -- addressing the need for staff education and support. Her program is creating an internal career path for qualifying BCH nurses to become specialized ICU nurses. Thanks to Liz, new BCH nurses are more quickly developing their clinical competence -- providing safer and more effective care for patients.

Liz's program has also had a measurable effect on the rapport between new nurses and physicians. Professional bonds and collegial efforts have been greatly enhanced by the nurse's entry into a more disciplined approach to staff development.

Beverly and Liz are just two of eleven 2017 Nightingale nominees from BCH, including:

• Bob Deering, R.N., Clinical Team Lead, Ortho/Neuro
• Betsy Duckett, R.N., Manager, Integrated Clinical Services
• Liz Foster, R.N., Educator, ICU
• Kathleen King, R.N., Home Care
• Lynne McAtee-Harris, R.N., Clinical Coordinator, ICU (pictured above in black)
• Beverly McClary, R.N., ICU
• Sandra Moore, R.N., Service Coordinator, Surgical Services
• Haile Negash, R.N., Med/Surg
• Sandra Odya, R.N., Clinical Lead, PCU
• Amber Soria, R.N., Inpatient Rehab
• Sarah Wise, R.N., Manager, Clinical Education

The nominees will be recognized and celebrated during an event for the Denver region on April 1st, hosted by the Central Colorado Area Health Education Center. Twenty-four nominees from the regional event will be chosen as Luminaries and advance to the statewide Gala event on May 13th, where twelve nurses will be named final recipients of the Colorado Nightingale Award.

Thanks to Beverly and Liz for their work. And best wishes to all of the outstanding nurses nominated for this prestigious award!