{"id":16838,"date":"2021-10-20T01:54:47","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T01:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=16838"},"modified":"2021-10-19T20:08:48","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T20:08:48","slug":"an-overwhelming-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/20\/an-overwhelming-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"An Overwhelming Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amber Weber, four St. Luke\u2019s staffers <\/i><\/span>given recognition in virtual celebration<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: In the next issue of Wood River Weekly, we will sit down with St. Luke\u2019s nurse of the year Amber Weber and ask her about her role as a nurse and her MSN-Ed, BSN, RNC-NIC, NPD-B multi-credentialed career. Our hope is to gain an understanding about her concerns and her optimism going forward in healthcare after an overwhelming year. But for now, at least, we\u2019re just standing up to applaud. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s a sports analogy that may help you take it all in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyone voting on annual awards in healthcare during a pandemic probably feels a bit like a sportswriter trying to name the Most Valuable Player for the 1927 New York Yankees. Two players had identical .356 batting averages, but they didn\u2019t even lead their team in the category. That player was Lou Gehrig who, in addition to batting .373, walloped 47 homeruns that year. And that was nothing compared to Babe Ruth, who blasted 60 round-trippers. They also had two ace pitchers, one who led all of baseball in wins and \u2026 You get the idea. <\/span><\/p>\n

Since early 2020, the frontline healthcare worker responsible for wiping down handrails and refilling hand sanitizer bottles deserves some sort of medal along with the nurses and physicians who are more in the public eye. So, one can easily imagine how difficult it would be to pick just one nurse for nursing excellence. It\u2019s an overwhelming choice. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, that\u2019s how esteemed nurse Amber Weber is across the St. Luke\u2019s Wood River landscape, where last week she won the 2021 Carl A. Gray Memorial Award for nursing excellence, an award given annually by the St. Luke\u2019s Wood River Foundation\u2019s board of directors and the Harvey Gray family, who established the annual award in 1995 to honor Carl A. Gray, a well-known and avid Sun Valley Ski Club member.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEach year the entire hospital staff nominates a nurse who exemplifies excellence in their nursing practice. The nursing staff then votes on the colleague, whom they believe is most deserving of the recognition. This year, Amber Weber was overwhelmingly the staff\u2019s choice to receive the excellence award,\u201d St. Luke\u2019s spokesperson Betsy Mullins said. \u201cShe got 80% of the vote. That\u2019s just never happened before.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

An Overwhelming Career<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to her role as clinical educator for St. Luke\u2019s Wood River, Amber stepped up this past year as the hospital\u2019s lead for a local vaccination effort reaching out to hospital employees and the community at large\u2014a balancing act of sorts considering a portion of the population\u2019s angst toward vaccines in general and vaccine mandates in particular.<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a role that was handed to her, nor was it a role she stepped up to fill.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe spearheaded the whole thing,\u201d Mullins said. \u201cShe organized it. She did everything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on the following colleague testimonials regarding Weber, the nurse performed heroically:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAmber goes above and beyond her job and she does it remarkably well. She is very organized and always on top of what needs to be done despite having millions of irons in the fire.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAmber is never afraid to jump in at the bedside when her expertise is needed. She even comes from home when the call is critical. Wood River is so lucky to have an experienced NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) nurse in house as those emergencies are few and far between in our critical access hospital and her skills are always sharp. Amber has been an incredible addition to the (St. Luke\u2019s Wood River) team, and her excellence has touched everyone at our facility and beyond.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAmber has been a beacon of positive energy this past year. She has managed to inspire us, educate us, and organize a whirlwind of activities, not the least being an incredible effort in vaccinating our community. Amazing is not a big enough word!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

An Overwhelming Year<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

According to the American Medical Association, the pandemic has been brutal to the healthcare industry. Between May 28 and Oct. 1, 2020, using the\u202fAMA Coping with COVID-19 for Caregivers Survey, 42 healthcare organizations across the U.S. assessed their workers\u2019 stress during the pandemic. The survey of 20,947 physicians and other workers found that 61% of those surveyed felt high fear of exposing themselves or their families to COVID-19 while 38% self-reported experiencing anxiety or depression. Another 43% suffered from work overload and 49% had burnout.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stress scores were highest among nursing assistants, medical assistants, social workers and inpatient workers\u2014such as nurses, respiratory therapists, nursing assistants and housekeepers\u2014as well as among women, Black and Latinx healthcare workers, the report found. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut odds of burnout were 40% lower in those who felt valued by their organizations, which was 46% of respondents,\u201d the AMA said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs we continue to navigate challenges and a range of emotions associated with the pandemic, this was an opportunity to honor the work that our nurses do each and every day,\u201d said Megan Tanous, St. Luke\u2019s Wood River Foundation chief development officer. \u201cOur nurses exhibit integrity, compassion, accountability, respect and excellence in everything they do every single day at St. Luke\u2019s Wood River. Their dedication, perseverance and resilience has been exemplary throughout the pandemic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Other Annual Healthcare Awards<\/b><\/p>\n

Awards of distinction were also given in specific areas of St. Luke\u2019s core values.\u00a0 <\/span>The honorees included: <\/b><\/p>\n

Integrity\u2014Karen Stevens, R.N., Ph.D., Assistant Nurse Manager<\/b><\/p>\n

Compassion\u2014Scott Kelly, R.N., Medical\/Surgical <\/b><\/p>\n

Accountability\u2014Lauren Hoover, R.N., Emergency Department<\/b><\/p>\n

Respect\u2014Cherie Shardlow, R.N., Assistant Nurse Manager, Surgical Services <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amber Weber, four St. Luke\u2019s staffers given recognition in virtual celebration By Eric Valentine Editor\u2019s Note: In the next issue of Wood River Weekly, we will sit down with St. Luke\u2019s nurse of the year Amber Weber and ask her about her role as a nurse and her MSN-Ed, BSN, RNC-NIC, NPD-B multi-credentialed career. Our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,79,88,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hailey","8":"category-health-news","9":"category-local","10":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16838"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16841,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16838\/revisions\/16841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}