NYC Health + Hospitals Honors Nurses for Unwavering Dedication to Patients
Oct 24, 2017
NYC Health + Hospitals hosted its annual awards celebration honoring six nurse professionals from various locations across the health care system. Awardees are nurse leaders who demonstrate leadership by putting their talents to good use in various capacities. Awards were given to nurses in six categories. The celebration also honored the DAISY Foundation, earning the health system’s “Nursing Champion” award for demonstrating support for nurses and the nursing profession.
“Today NYC Health + Hospitals celebrates the Nursing Excellence winners and nominees who show unwavering dedication to our patients, countless times each day, in every corner of our essential health care system,” said Stanley Brezenoff, interim president and CEO, NYC Health + Hospitals. “Our annual awards recognize a small group of nurses who represent thousands within our health system at the frontlines of delivering patient-centered care, with skill and compassion.”
More than 150 nurses from across the health system were nominated by their colleagues in recognition of their exceptional achievements and commitment to providing the best possible care and experience for patients. The nurses honored today are among the 8,000 nurses at NYC Health + Hospitals – women and men who provide care each day for New York City in hospitals, post-acute care centers, neighborhood health centers, nursing homes, and home care, across the five boroughs.
“Nurses across NYC Health + Hospitals are devoted to providing outstanding care to our many patients, and it is my honor to celebrate today’s winners,” said Kim Mendez, EdD, RN, ANP, system chief nurse executive, senior vice president, patient centered care, NYC Health + Hospitals. “By celebrating today’s winners, we hope to illuminate the talent and passion we see in action every day across our health system. It is an honor to be a nurse among this group, and I thank you for the extraordinary work you do each day.”
2017 Nursing Excellence Award winners:
Excellence in Clinical Nursing, Inpatient
Dorothy McIntosh-Waddy, RN, CRRN, Head Nurse, NYC Health + Hospitals/Sea View (16 years of service): Ms. McIntosh-Waddy has been a catalyst for change by transforming not only quality improvement processes but interpersonal interactions as well, in her role managing the NYC Health + Hospitals/Sea View Brain Injury Unit. Her supervisors salute her for leading by example, with a focused and unwavering quest to produce positive resident outcomes. Approachability and reliability are her hallmarks in the daily challenge of nursing for long-term care patients. Her leadership has earned for her an Excellence in Clinical Leadership award, and the Sea View Applause and Sea View Above & Beyond awards. She shares her encyclopedic experience by conducting Brain Injury seminars at nearby Wagner High School and the College of Staten Island. Ms. McIntosh-Waddy’s entire nursing career has been at NYC Health + Hospitals/Sea View. Her experience has made her an invaluable member of assessment teams, internally and externally. Her work with Brain Injury patients has been published in collaboration with the Association for Rehabilitation. Ms. McIntosh-Woody is a member of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses. She earned her BSN from Long Island University-School of Nursing.
Excellence in Management
Esmie Morris-Taylor, RN, MSN, GNP-BC, Associate Director of Nursing, Behavioral Health, NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx (10 years of service): In her leadership role, Ms. Morris-Taylor works with the Medical Director and Director of Nursing to develop policies and procedures for long-term care. Expert in geriatric nursing, Ms. Morris-Taylor is responsible for the administration and direction of all nursing services for Behavioral Healthcare Services. She establishes standards of nursing practice for the clinical division, constantly evaluating quality and effectiveness based on the latest standards. Prior to joining NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx, Ms. Morris-Taylor honed her management skills at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, where she had been Nursing Supervisor-Ambulatory Care Services, one of the busiest out-patient units within our health system. Ms. Morris-Taylor also is a member of the Nurse Practitioner Association. She earned her master’s degree as a geriatric nurse practitioner from Hunter College-CUNY, and her BSN from New York University.
Excellence in Education and Mentorship
Sabina Wood, RN, MSN, Assistant Director Nursing-Education and Research, NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull (5 years of service): Ms. Wood’s clear communication, compassion, and attention to new nurses and assistants are her hallmarks. She has evaluated, planned, organized, revamped, taught, and reevaluated the orientation program to meet the needs of newly hired, transferred, returning, and promoted NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull professional and unlicensed personnel as well as agency staff, and BMCC Externs. Her enthusiasm and devotion to nursing education is boundless. Emphasizing a humanistic approach, Ms. Wood has developed curricula based on educational principles that incorporate NYC Health + Hospitals’ philosophy and mission, regulatory requirements, evidence-based nursing, and health trends. Ms. Wood’s supervisors praise her methodology that fosters critical thinking, accountability, and appropriate clinical decision-making, while promoting social and cultural diversity. Ms. Wood is a featured lecturer in several of the Department of Nursing Education’s regular offerings, which have been approved for contact hours by the NYC Health + Hospitals Continuing Nursing Education Review Committee. These include NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull’s Empathy & Caring Communication and Preceptor Courses. As an oncology, chemotherapy and biotherapy nurse, Ms. Wood also serves as a consult to the team caring for patients with cancer and as an expert for oncological breakthrough projects and policies/procedures. She earned her ADN from the Long Island Hospital School of Nursing, Brooklyn, and her MSN from Walden University, Baltimore, Md.
Excellence in Advancing and Leading the Profession
Arturo E. Ceniza, RN, MSN-ANP, Nurse Practitioner, NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens (3 years of service): Mr. Ceniza began a sickle cell patient support group at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens. He was honored by the Queens Sickle Cell Advocacy Network with its Dedicated and Devoted Service Award — not only for his work at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, but for the Queens community of sickle cell patients. Nursing and medical colleagues meet regularly with the support group to enhance their understanding of sickle cell. Mr. Ceniza’s emphasis on continuity of care for patients has slashed re-admission rates for sickle cell patients by 50 percent, which has meant a savings of nearly $2 million. Under his guidance, more than 20 patients benefit from follow-up care via telephone calls. He and colleagues at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens are able to assess patients’ progress, including their responses to medications. From adolescence to adulthood, Mr. Ceniza ensures his patients take their prescriptions, follow up on appointments, assess their need for outpatient IV hydration, and are constantly told about new treatments in the field of sickle cell. One of his sickle cell patients had 20 admissions prior to the launch of the sickle cell support group. Two years later, a staff nurse approached Mr. Ceniza, inquiring about the patient, who she had not seen in more than a year. The patient, Mr. Ceniza told his colleague, was thriving as a result of the sickle cell support group. Mr. Ceniza earned a MSN from Hunter College-CUNY and a BSN from Liceo de Cagayan University, Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines.
Excellence in Home, Community, or Ambulatory Care
Rosa Borges, BSN, RN, Staff Nurse, NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan (4 years of service): Her sensitivity to her patients quickly evolved when she noticed the large Spanish-speaking population using Metropolitan. Patients had problems with instructions, pre-op and post-op. She recommended, then launched, a pre-surgical check list in Spanish, which specifies care that patients can get and expect. Borges also leads an orthopedic pre-surgical care clinic to ensure that instructions are followed. Her supervisors praise Borges’ leadership, and note that her changes “have been the catalyst for an increase in patients’ compliance and decrease in patient frustration.” Borges has a BSN from Chamberlin College of Nursing, Phoenix, Az., and an associate’s degree in nursing from Cochran School of Nursing, Yonkers, N.Y.
Excellence in Volunteerism and Service
John Huaylinos, RN-INC,CCM, Integrative Nurse Coach, NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island (17 years of service): John Huaylinos is a marathon man. Most of his nursing career has been as a charge nurse/care manager nurse coach at NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island, recently working with depression, anxiety and/or substance abuse patients. Huaylinos also has been a team leader and preceptor for new RNs. Leadership flows naturally for Huaylinos. He is a major in the U.S. Army Reserves Nurse Corps, a veteran of combat units in Iraq. Within the Army Nurse Corps, Huaylinos recruits other NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island nurses to volunteer. The NYC Marathon, Tunnels to Tower Run, and the Jet Blue Plane Pull to raise money for JACK Children Center benefit from his leadership and nursing colleagues’ volunteering. For example, at the start of the NYC Marathon at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, Huaylinos and his nursing colleagues help runners prepare for a safe run around the five boroughs, reminding them to stay hydrated and be watchful for signs of distress. He also assists nursing mothers so they have milk available for their infants at the finish line. Marathon day volunteering includes coordinating medical evacuations along the five-borough, 26-mile route. In addition to his volunteering on behalf of the Army Nurse Corps, Huaylinos is a Suicide Prevention Officer. He earned his BSN from the Long Island University School of Nursing, Brooklyn.
Nursing Champion Award
Bonnie and Mark Barnes founded the DAISY Foundation and The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses following the death of their son, Patrick, from the auto-immune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP). The nursing care they experienced during Pat’s 8-week hospitalization compelled them to express their gratitude to nurses everywhere for the clinical skill and the compassionate care nurses provide every day. Under Bonnie and Mark’s leadership, the DAISY Foundation funds grants focused on treatment of patients with auto-immune diseases and cancer. The DAISY Award is celebrated in over 2,700 healthcare facilities and colleges of nursing in all 50 United States plus 16 other countries.
The 2017 Nursing Excellence Awards program is available in its entirety at /nursing-excellence.