Windsor Regional Hospital and Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare are celebrating nurses who go above and beyond for patient care and family support.
Awards were handed out Wednesday to nurses who were nominated by patients and their families, or by co-workers in honour of Nurses Week.
Nicole Crozier nominated Neonatal Intensive Care nurse Stacey Sorrentino for the Daisy Award. Sorrentino took care of Crozier's son Landon when he was born seven weeks early and experienced unexplained complications.
"She was there for any question we had. She made us laugh at times we wanted to cry and she was just a wonderful nurse that we're very grateful for," says Crozier.
Sorrentino says she tries to take care of the whole family while taking care of a patient and she's happy to hear the families appreciate it.
"I truly love this career. I love this job and I hope that it shines through the way Nicole is telling me it does. I have a huge sense of humour, but that's how I show my love to my patients and my families," says Sorrentino.
Executives at Windsor Regional Hospital and Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare say the nurses recognized Wednesday are only sample of the excellent staff they have in their facilities.
"They are representative of a larger group. We have wonderful staff and I think we have compassion and passion. The values of our organization are respect, teamwork, social responsibility, and all of our staff share those values, especially nurses because they are at the front line 24/7," says Ester Lipnicki, chief nursing officer at Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare.
A Daisy Award was also given to Shady Sleiman who works in surgery at Ouellette campus. Jeanne Mance Extraordinary Nursing Care Awards were given to Lisa Gawdunyk and Shannon Siwek of WRH, and Kim O'Keefe and Jillian Grant at HDGH. Four nurses also received the Lori Dupont Bursary for continuing education. They were Jo-Dee Brown and Valeriya Pavlova of HDGH and Amy Lynn and Kaitlyn Mazzanti of WRH.