Friends and coworkers describe Jennifer as a knowledgeable and kind nurse, who treats all her patients like family. When she’s not saving lives as an ER Nurse, Jen is a volunteer firefighter and EMT. She spends a great deal of her time teaching firefighter training classes, even in the late hours of the night if needed. She is the first female Fire Chief in Calvert County and has run unopposed for the last 4 years. Her motto is “Pride is our Pay” – and much of her department’s pride comes from her training. Jen’s family often joins her at the fire station, where she sets an example of someone whose life revolves around helping others.
We are excited to announce our June Nominate a Hero winner is…
Beth Miles!
Beth is a Registered Nurse working in the ambulatory surgery unit of an Illinois hospital. Beth was nominated by friend and fellow nurse, Terri, for her exceptional patient care and overall admirable attitude. After Terri first nominated Beth, the letters began to flood in. When all was said and done, we received more than 14 individual letters about Beth- more than any other Nominate a Hero candidate thus far-from patients, coworkers (Nurses and Doctors), and even the Mayor. To highlight Beth and show you some of the reasons our audiences voted her our July Nominate a Hero winner, I have included some excerpts from her nomination letters here:
I have experienced firsthand… that she is an extremely caring and dedicated nurse always going above and beyond the call of duty in all aspects of her professions. Beth contributes significantly her knowledge and experience to nursing colleagues and other care givers and is well-respected by all members of the healthcare team. She is a great people person and shares laughter throughout the working day, all while maintaining a professional atmosphere and putting the patient first. -Mayor Ezard, City of Jacksonville
Beth’s official title is “Registered Nurse” but to those who know her she is much more than that. She is a friend, a confidante, a staunch supporter of patient safety and an unyielding opponent of poor or apathetic care. -Peter R., M.D.
Beth is a constant example of the positive attitude and upbeat personality we all aspire to display. -S. Ford, R.N.
I am the nurse I am today because of her mentoring and role modeling… Beth’s ability to relate and communicate with patients and families had the biggest impact on me. -Leanne W., Clinical Director and Manager
Rarely have I met someone of Beth’s caliber… Our deaf patients adore her because she interacts with them directly and treats them with respect… Beth’s sense of humor and experience put the patient at ease. Each patient feels like they are getting undivided attention. She is successful at all of her endeavors and a leader among her colleagues. -Joan O., Colleague
Here is why her coworker, Terri, chose to nominate Beth in the first place:
Congratulations, Beth!
Check back in on Beth in November, and help her become our Grand Nominate a Hero Winner!
Please note – we’ve changed the voting requirements this month. In order to vote, you’ll have to create an account and log in to vote. Once you register, you’ll be taken directly to the voting page.
Don’t want to register? You can still see the voting results – just click here.
Fran C. | Pennsylvania Firefighter & Nurse
On July 4, 2012, Fran entered a smoke-filled home and heard a woman in distress on the 2nd floor. When Fran found her, she was trapped, panicked and out of breathe from breathing in too much smoke. In a split-second decision, Fran took a big breath, removed his tank and put it on the woman. Both got out safely, although Fran was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. Fran later met the woman he saved, and presented her with about $500 of his own overtime pay to help her and her family. Fran became a firefighter after following in the footsteps of his retired Fire Captain father.
When Fran isn’t fighting fires, he works as a part time Nurse at Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Before becoming a full time firefighter, he worked as a Paramedic.
Nancy J. | Wisconsin Educator
Nancy J. has been enthusiastically servings as the Arrowhead High School Choir Director for almost 30 years. Known for her passion and motivation, Nancy works to make each and every student a part of the team. She uses creativity in her teaching to keep her high school students engaged and enthusiastic about the fine arts. Her hard work shows. Every year, choir performances pack the house and lines to buy performance tickets stretch out the door. Nancy goes above and beyond to highlight her students’ achievements: decorating the halls for their performances, taking headshots so they feel like stars, and accompanying them to weekend contests. Due to Nancy’s unceasing hard work, her high school’s choir and theatre programs have a reputation for greatness.
Corporal Stan P | Georgia Police Officer
When Officer Phillips answered a call about an aggressive dog, he arrived at the scene to find a vicious attack in progress. The dog was biting the victim, a 5-year-old little girl named Lilly, on the face and neck. Officer Phillips rushed to her aid and was able to free her from the dog. The girl was immediately airlifted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, including a missing ear. After saving the girl’s life, Officer Phillips continued to go visit her in the hospital, despite the hour drive each way, and even arranged for donations to pay for her reconstructive surgery. After she was released from the hospital, Officer Phillips helped work with churches and charities to raise money for her continued recovery. Stan has worked on a crime suppression units, SWAT, and road patrols (among others) and coworkers note his dedication and noteworthy impact on high crime areas- calling him a ‘go to’ guy in the field.
When shots rang out in the hospital where Robert works, his first thought was the victim’s safety. As others dropped to the floor, Robert ran to aid of the gunshot victim- a physician who worked at the hospital. After rushing to get his patient to a safe location to receive medical attention, Robert took cover and provided comfort to distraught nursing students. Robert’s coworkers say this kind of heroic action is not out of character for a man who cares deeply about his patients. Robert is an integral member of the Haiti Outreach Mission (HOM). HOM works to bring mobile clinics to distant mountain locations where Robert helps triage patients in need. Closer to home, Robert also speaks out on behalf of his patients, many of whom are victims of violence, by speaking at anti-violence rallies.
Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon. – Dag Hammarskjold
Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription. -Val Saintsbury
To do what nobody else will do, a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; is to be a nurse. – Rawsi Williams
Nurses are a unique kind. They have this insatiable need to care for others, which is both their biggest strength and fatal flaw. –Dr. Jean Watson
Our job as Nurses is to cushion the sorrow and celebrate the joy, every day, while we are ‘just doing our jobs.’ -Christine Belle
Healing yourself is connected with healing others. -Yoko Ono
The door that nobody else will go in at, seems always to swing open widely for me. -Clara Barton
To make a difference in someone’s life, you don’t have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful or perfect. You just have to care. -Mandy Hale
You don’t build a house without its foundation. You don’t build a hospital without its Nurses. –Anonymous
Nurses Know: The mind can only look. The heart can truly see. -Carol Gino
Nurses quietly go about their work in a noble profession, uncelebrated soldiers toiling through the days and nights in service to the sick, the injured and the dying. -Steve Lopez
You’re going to be there when a lot of people are born, and when a lot of people die. In most every culture, such moments are regarded as sacred and private, made special by a divine presence. No one on Earth would be welcomed, but you’re personally invited. What an honor that is. -Thom Dick
They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou
America’s nurses are the beating heart of our medical system. – President Barack Obama
The best cure for the body is a quiet mind. – Napoleon
The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed. It blesses him that gives and him that takes. – Unknown
The heart that gives, gathers. -Tao Te Ching
Nine-tenths of our sickness can be prevented by right thinking plus right hygiene–nine-tenths of it! -Henry Miller
The nurse who can smile when things go wrong is probably going off duty.
We’re armored against our own troubles. We can’t afford to give in to despair. Then you see someone else struggling, and it breaks your… heart. – Sean Stewart
Diagnosis is not the end, but the beginning of practice. – Martin H. Fischer
Medicine is the only profession that labours incessantly to destroy the reason for its own existence. – James Bryce
The patient does not care about your science; what he wants to know is, can you cure him? -Martin H. Fischer
It is not a case we are treating; it is a living, palpitating, alas, too often suffering fellow creature. – John Brown
Disease is war with the laws of our being, and all war, as a great general has said, is hell. – Lewis G. Janes
It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions but hard to get one single remedy. – Chinese Proverb
Despite all our toil and progress, the art of medicine still falls somewhere between trout casting and spook writing. – Ben Hecht
Cancer is a word, not a sentence. – John Diamond
Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts. – Charles Dickens
Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter’s or sculptor’s work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God’s spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts. – Florence Nightingale
The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest. – William Osler
Nursing is not for everyone. It takes a very strong, intelligent, and compassionate person to take on the ills of the world with passion and purpose and work to maintain the health and well-being of the planet. No wonder we’re exhausted at the end of the day! – Donna Wilk Cardillo
A nurse will always give us hope, an angel with a stethoscope. – Terri Guillemets
It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in the doing. — Mother Theresa
There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow. — Orison Swett Marden
Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy. — Chogyam Trungpa
Compassion is a call, a demand of nature, to relieve the unhappy as hunger is a natural call for food. — Joseph Butler
Nursing isn’t what you do it’s who you are. -Unknown
Character is not made in a crisis it is only exhibited. – Rose Dorothy Freeman
I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. -Mother Teresa
Do you want to speak to the Doctor in charge, or the Nurse who really knows what is going on? -Unknown
Always thank your nurse. Sometimes they’re the only one between you and a hearse. – Warren Beatty
In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation there are wounds to heal. In every heart there is the power to do it. –Marianne Williamson
Healing is a matter of time but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity. – Hippocrates
Our job is to love people. When it hurts. When it’s awkward. When it’s uncool and embarrassing. Our job is to stand together, to carry the burdens of one another and to meet each other in our questions. – Jamie Tworkowksi
Being a nurse means to hold all your own tears and start drawing smiles on people’s faces. – Dana Basem
Nursing is Sacrificing with and for Humanity! – Unknown
Every Nurse is Angel with a Key for Healthy Community! All in Caring for Patients is part of Nursing Soul! – Aleksandar Radenovi
Bound by paperwork, short on hands, sleep, and energy… nurses are rarely short on caring. – Sharon Hudacek
When I think about all the patients and their loved ones that I have worked with over the years, I know most of them don’t remember me nor I them. But I do know that I gave a little piece of myself to each of them and they to me and those threads make up the beautiful tapestry in my mind that is my career in nursing. – Donna Wilk Cardillo
Nurses: one of the few blessings of being ill. – Sara Moss-Wolfe
If love can’t cure it, nurses can. – Unknown
The most important practical lesson than can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe. – Florence Nightingale
Nurses serve their patients in the most important capacities. We know that they serve as our first lines of communication when something goes wrong or when we are concerned about health. – Lois Capps
Panic plays no part in the training of a nurse. – Elizabeth Kenny
Whether a person is a male or female, a nurse is a nurse. – Gary Veale
The character of the nurse is as important as the knowledge she possesses. – Carolyn Jarvis
You treat a disease: You win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you win—no matter the outcome. — Patch Adams
In a world where there is so much to be done, I felt strongly impressed that there must be something for me to do. — Dorothea Dix (superintendent of women nurses for the Union Army)
I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel. – Florence Nightingale
Please note – we’ve changed the voting requirements this month. In order to vote, you’ll have to create an account and log in to vote. Once you register, you’ll be taken directly to the voting page.
Don’t want to register? You can still see the voting results – just click here.
Name: Jeff B.
Profession: Volunteer Firefighter/EMT
In 2012, Jeff responded to a medical emergency. As the 34-year volunteer Firefighter and EMT loaded his patient into an ambulance, a nearby fire truck popped out of gear and started to roll. As the truck came towards them both, Jeff shoved his patient out of the way- saving her life as he took the entire brunt of the impact. The force of the hit pinned Jeff between the vehicles, breaking both femurs, two bones in one shin and his pelvis in two spots. After several surgeries and months of recovery, Jeff’s surgeon told him his injuries would prevent him from firefighting. He now continues to work full time as a director of sales.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgALcX84IpI
Name: Angela W.
Profession: EMT
Emergency Medical Technician Angela W. was diagnosed with an aggressive type of breast cancer on her birthday last year. Angela faced her diagnosis with bravery and determination, muscling through radiation and chemotherapy with resolve and an upbeat attitude. Angela even returned to work as an EMT while still undergoing treatment. Some days, she would head to work for 12 or 24-hour shifts straight from radiation therapy. Now a breast cancer survivor, Angela thanks her immediate family and her EMS family for their support and encouragement during her recovery.
Name: September S.
Profession: Registered Nurse
September is a registered nurse raising three children while her husband is deployed in Afghanistan. As her husband puts it, “If superwoman did exist on this planet, her alter ego is September.” Watch the video below to hear directly from him what makes this Nurse such a hero:
Name: Steve H.
Profession: Educator
Steve is a Special Ed Behavioral Disorders teacher working with students of all ages. His coworkers describe Steve’s effect on his students as ‘amazing.’ Fellow teachers point out that his students are prepared and confident after his classes. They note the ‘happy changes’ that Steve helps his students make- changes that stay with them long after they have left his classroom. Steve not only teaches his students, he strives to make them feel important and needed. Outside of the classroom, Steve and his wife train guide dogs for the blind. So far, they have trained ten dogs- all of whom graduated on to the next level of training!
Name: Michael D.
Profession: Law Enforcement
In September 2012, San Diego County Sheriff’s Deputies were attempting to arrest a suspect when the suspect began shooting a high-powered rifle from a 2nd story window- hitting and wounding two officers. Off-duty SWAT Officer DeWitt, a member of the department’s Gang Suppression Team, happened to be driving by the scene in his SWAT vehicle when he noticed the disturbance. He immediately donned his vest, armed himself, and offered his service. Upon learning that an injured officer was still in the line of fire, DeWitt assembled a team, gave assignments, and proceeded in to retrieve the officer. The team reached the wounded officer, but realizing they were moving too slow, Officer DeWitt slung his weapon over his back–foregoing his own safety– to give full physical assistance and lessen the team’s time in the line of fire. While the team used DeWitt’s first aid kit to attend to the officer’s injuries, DeWitt noticed a woman and two small children running from the apartment complex in panic. Realizing that they were running into the line of fire, DeWitt left his position of safety to run and pick up one child as the woman carried the other to safety. DeWitt then returned to the apartment complex to make sure the second wounded officer was being cared for. He was nominated by his fellow law enforcement officers who note his extreme bravery, leadership, and judgment skills.
Nurses save lives every single day. But here’s the thing about Nurses: They’ll tell you they’re just doing their jobs. Saving a patient in the ICU? Diligently nursing a premature baby to health? Brightening patients’ lives in nursing homes every single day? All in a day’s work. But when you ask them to describe their jobs, the stories start to come out. Nurses going above and beyond for their patients, working back-breaking hours to make a difference, juggling their own personal lives while still offering life-changing bedside care. These are the stories we wanted to hear. But most of the time, nurses are too humble to tell their own stories. So we started asking Nurses about their Nursing coworkers- their heroes. We were blown away by the responses.
Here are just a few of the Nursing heroes that we have spotlighted thus far in our Nominate a Hero program:
April Nurse Hero
Name: September S. Profession: Registered Nurse Nominated by: Johnnie S.
September is a registered nurse raising three children while her husband is deployed in Afghanistan. As her husband puts it, “If superwoman did exist on this planet, her alter ego is September.” Watch the video below to hear directly from him, in a video filmed while serving in Afghanistan, what makes this Nurse such a hero:
February Nurse Hero
Name: Jody W. Profession: Registered Nurse (Home Health Nurse) Nominated by: Stephen N.
In December 2011, Jody W. saved a complete stranger’s life. As a Nurse, this wasn’t really something new; saving lives is in the job description. But this time was different; this time Jody saved a man’s life by giving him her kidney. Growing up, Jody saw the struggle of kidney disease and the life-saving power of organ donation first hand. Her close family members battled kidney disease, and several were given a new lease on life through organ donations. In July 2011, Jody put herself on a donation transplant list as a non-directed donor. Not even 5 months later, she was cleared to donate and matched with a recipient. In December, moments before her surgery, Jody got to meet the recipient of her kidney and his family. He is now doing well and on December 8th, 2012, Jody and the recipient celebrated their 1-year transplant anniversary! Jody is also very dedicated to international health and has been on 13 mission trips in Central America. She says she plans to use any prize money from Nominate a Hero on her next trip to Honduras!
Jody, the recipient of her kidney, and their families on the day of the operation.
Jody and the recipient looking GREAT 6-months post-surgery!
December Nurse Hero
Name: Scott D. Profession: Registered Nurse Nominated by: Barbara S.
Described as an inspiration to all who know him, Scott is a Registered Nurse working as a home visitor with a hospice unit. Before going into nursing, Scott saved lives as a combat engineer & infantryman with the US Army, jump master, parachute trainer, rescue scuba diver and former Fire Chief. Scott also frequently volunteers to work with the homeless, buying them food and helping them find services and resources. He has also worked with the Veterans Association, attending military funerals and visiting homebound veterans. In his role as a hospice nurse, Scott often brings his beloved dogs with him on home visits. He even volunteered to adopt a veteran’s dog when the owner moved into an assisted living facility. Scott’s nominator, Barbara, describes him as ‘a true hero to his neighbors and friends’ who ‘has been there to help when no one else stepped up.’
