12 Colorado Nurses Are Honored As Nightingale Recipients From 47 Selected As 2022 Luminaries During The Event On Saturday, Aug. 13

DENVER, Colo. -- Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022 -- Forty-seven Colorado nurses from across Colorado were honored as Nightingale Luminaries at a live event held on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022, at the Hilton Denver Inverness.

The Nightingale Luminaries represent the best of more than 60,000 registered nurses in Colorado and are recognized for their leadership, advocacy, and innovation. What the nurses have in common is their commitment to actions and outcomes in caring for their patients, their profession, and their communities.

Twelve of the luminaries were selected by the CNF state committee to receive the highest honor of Nightingale Award recipient. They are:

NIGHTINGALE AWARD FOR ADVOCACY IN CLINICAL PRACTICE:

• Andrea Himmelberger, RN, BSN: During the height of the Pandemic, pediatric hospitals were not seeing the majority of COVID cases. However, this pediatric nurse knew her adult care nursing colleagues were in crisis. In order to advocate for her colleagues as well as decrease the loss of lives in the community, she wanted to get involved and be part of the solution for eradicating COVID. While working full-time in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Andrea led one of the largest vaccination clinics in Colorado. She trained staff on administration, dosing and managing adverse reactions while collaborating with the state and sponsoring hospitals. Andrea’s site delivered over 90,000 vaccines between February and June of 2021 and was recognized by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the CDC as one of most efficient and well-run vaccine clinics they had seen.  

• Sonya Hirsch, RN, BSN: Individuals who are registered tissue and organ donors and family members who decide to consent for donation make a significant decision to positively impact the lives of others, often during a very emotional and tragic time. Additionally, hospital staff suffers emotional distress when transitioning from full care to care of a potential donor. Honor Walks have been found to benefit family members as well as hospital staff. Honor Walks take place when a donor patient, who is on life support, is transferred from the nursing unit to the operating room for organ retrieval. During the walk, caregivers quietly line the hallways. Sonya recognized that there was not a guideline or procedure for performing Honor Walks at her hospital. Through her advocacy, a guideline for performance of Honor Walks was established at University of Colorado Hospital. She also secured American Flags to blanket veterans for their Honor Walks. Since implementation, nearly every organ donor has received an Honor Walk.

NIGHTINGALE AWARD FOR INNOVATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE:

• Lindsay Rettke, RN, MSN: Delays in seeking medical care during the pandemic, changes in the course of diabetes secondary to COVID 19 infection, and use of steroids to treat the infection resulted in an increase in hospitalizations for new-onset and unmanaged diabetes across the country. Three smaller hospitals in the Centura system experienced this rise in diabetes admissions, and these facilities did not have access to a Diabetes Educator to support patients, physicians, and nursing staff. Lindsey was already managing a robust population of diabetic patients in two facilities and innovated to utilize telehealth technology to provide diabetes education to inpatients and to make recommendations for treatment to providers in these smaller hospitals. She developed a program to remotely provide Diabetes Education to outlying facilities in a timely, patient focused fashion. Improved patient management has resulted in a significant decrease in patient readmissions.

• Jill Rozynski, RN, BSN: Wound care is an extremely important part of the care of burn patients. It is painful, anxiety producing and traumatizing for patients, and they may receive opioids or benzodiazepine medications prior to and during the procedure. These medications come with side effects such as over sedation, respiratory depression, physical dependence, and tolerance. Jill implemented an intervention that made wound care more tolerable for burn patients while reducing the amount of opioids and benzodiazepines needed. She investigated the use of oral ketamine, and a study was carried out to determine if it could be used for wound care. Jill was able to demonstrate that burn patients who received oral ketamine as a premedication to wound care utilized less IV opioids and benzodiazepines, had improved pain scores, less anxiety, and an improved experience with wound care overall. Due to her innovation, oral ketamine continues to be utilized in the Burn Center as premedication to wound care.

NIGHTINGALE AWARD FOR LEADERSHIP IN CLINICAL PRACTICE:

• Dana Justus, RN, MSN: The nursing profession has not escaped burnout, frustration, inadequate voice, and lack of professional engagement. Dana provided leadership to address these issues in both formal and informal ways. After the pandemic began and the nursing profession was so impacted, her drive to improve nursing only strengthened. She identified that nurses who were not actively engaged in practice improvements struggled more. She begins building nursing engagement pre-licensure by visiting nursing schools to talk with future nurses about practical nursing concerns and tools for success. In her hospital role, Dana empowers nurses to engage meaningfully in their practice by coaching them to develop and grow unit-based governance councils, mentoring quality improvement and evidence-based practice projects, inviting participation in nursing research, and providing support through formal recognition and informal celebrations. She is an approachable, judgement free leader who prioritizes others’ success.

• Cassie Lang, RN, MSN: Offering monoclonal antibody infusions to high-risk patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 was important to support the response to COVID-19 in the Pediatric Population. Action was needed when there was a lack of access for pediatric patients to these medications. Cassie provided the leadership to ensure safe administration of monoclonal antibody infusions at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She played a key role in the development of a new program to provide these infusions including processes for drug procurement, screening, scheduling, billing, operational capacity, nursing education and clinical support. Under Cassie’s leadership, the program was extended to meet the needs of children in Southern Colorado with the addition of Colorado Springs Children's Hospital as a site.

NIGHTINGALE AWARD FOR ADVOCACY IN ADMINISTRATION, EDUCATION, RESEARCH, AND/OR NONTRADITIONAL NURSING PRACTICE:

• Maria Milagros Kneusel, RN, DNP: Early in the pandemic, it was recognized that the Hispanic population had a disproportionately higher rate of cases than white/non-Hispanic populations in Colorado, resulting in a higher risk of death. Misinformation surrounding COVID was pervasive, and as vaccines became available, the Hispanic population was the most underrepresented group to receive vaccines. Traditional models of vaccine delivery did not meet the needs of this community. Maria stepped in to make a system change needed to bring accurate information and immunization to the Hispanic population in the Denver metro area. Through her advocacy, many Hispanic/Latino individuals gained knowledge about COVID and the importance of vaccination in a culturally inclusive manner. She organized 45 clinics where over 10,000 individuals were vaccinated for COVID and Influenza in 2021. Her advocacy decreased the vaccination hesitancy in a target population with language and cultural barriers, thereby reducing infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.

• Kathleen McInnis, RN, BSN: Previously licensed nurses in rural and underserved communities need equal access to quality nursing education. Refresher nurses compete with pre-licensure students for clinical site placement. The challenge of a lack of clinical preceptors was exacerbated by the pandemic. Emergency orders were issued by the Governor to allow 100% simulated clinicals for pre- licensure students, but refresher students were not included. Kathleen immediately became an advocate for refresher nurses to not only be included, but to be considered as the high priority return to work candidates the Governor was seeking. As a result of her data collection, presentation and ardent advocacy, a permanent rule change now allows nurses with an inactive license of 5-10 years to complete up to 100% simulated clinicals in their refresher programs.

NIGHTINGALE AWARD FOR INNOVATION IN ADMINISTRATION, EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND/OR NONTRADITIONAL NURSING PRACTICE:

• Lucy Graham, RN, PhD: Western Colorado faces significant challenges caring for vulnerable populations, particularly the homeless. Lucy obtained a grant to establish a nurse-led wellness center that encompasses behavioral health on site in a new women and family homeless shelter. Barriers to care were reduced for a population that struggles with transportation, trust, stigma, mental illness, substance abuse and other chronic problems. Through her innovative work , men, women, teens and children struggling with homelessness can now access behaviorally integrated primary care in an environment that is known, safe and trusted. In addition, nursing, social work , psychology, and physician assistant students are receiving training in nurse led innovative care delivery and students are being recruited and retained into a much-needed workforce.

• Rachel Sabolish, RN, MSN: Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 often had rapid clinical decline, and many of them had not expressed to others or documented their wishes for care. This was accompanied by visitor restrictions and patient social isolation during a time of stress and uncertainty. Rachel led the development of innovative practices and processes to deliver early palliative care consultation for all patients hospitalized with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection. She helped develop health system pandemic palliative care services, including a triage algorithm, care goals, conversation strategies and symptom management resources. Her work supported optimization of scarce hospital resources, avoidance of potential patient suffering with undesired medical care, and helped families understand their loved one’s care preferences.

NIGHTINGALE AWARD FOR LEADERSHIP IN ADMINISTRATION, EDUCATION, RESEARCH, AND/OR NONTRADITIONAL NURSING PRACTICE:

• Marissa Maxwell-Kaime, RN, ASN: American Indian and Alaska Native Communities suffer from health disparities across a wide spectrum of health conditions but are historically more affected by pandemic illness than other racial or ethnic groups. Data indicates that these populations are more likely to suffer severe illness and death from COVID. Marissa recognized the risk in the Ute Mountain Tribal Community and took the lead to mitigate this risk. She established public health protocols to promote social distancing, contact tracing and isolation, symptom based and surveillance testing, and effective immunization. She worked tirelessly to educate, inform and advise tribal leadership. She developed and implemented a community COVID testing strategy that set the standard for test and trace efforts in the Indian Health Service. Her leadership resulted in measurable reductions in both risk and adverse outcomes due to COVID in the Ute Mountain tribal community.

• Mark Vickers, RN, BSN: Like many communities in Colorado, hospitals and other health care facilities in El Paso County experienced a critical shortage of nurses and Certified Nursing Assistants. In addition, the School District wanted curriculum for health care careers for High School Students. In response to these needs, Mark developed a satellite Certified Nurse Assistant Program at Liberty High School. He created the curriculum, obtained the necessary accreditation, credentialing, licensure, and program certifications, and worked closely with students to ensure the program fit their needs. Mark’s creation, coordination and maintenance of the High School Nursing Assistant Program supplied more Certified Nursing Assistants to help meet the community need and prepared young people to enter the healthcare workforce earlier in their career paths.

Congratulations to all 47 of the State's Luminaries

Hannah Antista
Marsha Bagby
Diane Banta
Kristin Bentley
Allison Boerner
Arlene Bravo
Khrystynn Cano
Deborah Clarke
Renee DeMontreux
Michelle Deuto
Katrina Einhellig
Bryan Garcia
Debra Gardner
Shannon Goldsberry
Lucy Graham
Andrea Himmelberger
Sonya Hirsch
Meredith Jones
Dana Justus
Lindsay Kidd
Maria Kneusel
Cassie Lang
Figaro Loresto, Jr.
Dana Martin
Marissa Maxwell-Kaime
Emily McGarvey
Jennifer Miller
Angela Pal
Sean Reed
Megan Rentel
Lindsey Rettke
Jesus Rivera
Jennifer Roth
Jill Rozynski
Denise Rush
Rachel Sabolish
Melanie Schwindt
Brooke Sixta
Beverly Strnad
Jennifer Thistle
Joelle Valdez
Mark Vickers