Bergin Ericson Thanks Colleagues
Eleanor Bergin Ericson, BSN, RN, delivered the following remarks May 11 at the BWH Nursing Recognition Dinner after accepting the 2006 Mary S. Fay Essence of Nursing Award from Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN.
I begin by thanking all of you very much for this award. Thank you especially to Peggy Bernazzani for nominating me and doing the work for this nomination, and to Drs. Rogers and Frendyl for taking the time to write in support of my nomination.
About one year ago, Drs. Rogers and Frendyl and other ICU attendings met with a group of staff from 7C and 7D. They lit a fire under us by challenging all of us from the most senior (older) nurses to the newest (younger) nurses to do better for our patients.
Speaking for my colleagues, we thank you for the challenge.
Also special thanks to those nurses who wrote in support of my nomination including Kathy Boyle, a friend and colleague, Martha Griffin, Ginny DeRaney and Stefan Strojwas—each one I would call a “nurse’s nurse”.
I especially want to thank Karyl Davenport, my nurse manager on 7C 7D for the past 18 years. Karyl has a truly thankless job—she manages two ICUs, each with diverse and strong nurses, and she manages to get the job done with caring, compassion and vision. Karyl is the epitome of grace under pressure.
Finally, thank you to my family for coming tonight, and especially to my mother who told me to be a nurse! I accept this award with humility, knowing it could go to most any of the staff nurses who work at Brigham and Women’s. As a representative of the nurses on 7C 7D, I accept it on their behalf, as it could also have been any one of them standing up here tonight.
I have been a staff nurse at Brigham and Women’s for more than 24 years—most of that time on the night shift in the SICU. Working nights, nurses can feel that our contributions to care are invisible to our colleagues. I will say that for me, the work on nights is some of the most challenging, demanding and rewarding in nursing. It’s only within the past couple of years that I have been working on days.
So I stand here also representing the nurses who, shift after shift, week after week, weekend after weekend, holiday after holiday, do our best to care for our patients at Brigham and Women’s.
Over the years we have all cared for many memorable patients. We have all shared in the joy of a long-term patient getting better, and the sadness and loss of a patient too young to die. One patient that comes to my mind is a Down Syndrome adult patient waving his Red Sox pennant wildly at us as he left after a difficult two-month stay.
Another one of our most difficult and memorable patients on 7C was recently in the newspaper seven years after his death. A young man who, through no fault of his own, was poisoned and died a premature death at the young age of 26. My friends and colleagues Beth Pond, Lisa Barrett, Tracy Manzello and I will never forget the family, the patient and the impact he made and continues to make on us and his community.
These are just two examples of what happens every day not only on the seventh floor but throughout the institution. In every unit there are thank you cards and letters from patients and families whose lives have been touched by staff nurses.
I know first hand what a difference we all make. Seven and a half years ago, my sister Alice was a patient on 7D. She died after a one-week stay. My very large family and I will never forget the kindness and compassion extended to us during that difficult time. We will always remember the nurses on 7D, many of whom are still there—Diane Conboy, Paula Grant, Mary Pennington, Kim Reddington, Tom Adams, Tom Wilson and Laurie—We will never forget any of you.
On a lighter note, there is no way to do this work without a sense of humor. Some of the best laughs we’ve had have been at each other. As a nursing team, we laugh with each other and have forged a bond that seems to get stronger over the years. We have grown up together, married, divorced, celebrated the birth of children and now grandchildren and shared in each other’s everyday lives. From the newest member of our group, Sara Hood, a newly licensed nurse, in whom we see that the future of nursing is secure, to Jane O’Brien, Maureen Read and Hazel Eagan, who together have more than 100 years of critical care experience on 7C!
Come by 7C to see Jane O’Brien’s jersey (a yellow precaution gown), raised to the rafters (on a coat hanger) in our back room, with the number 33 on it . Jane has attained Larry Bird stature as well as his number for completing 33 years of service!
So unlike the rest of the country, the nurses at BWH don’t leave. So many get their start on one unit like the SICU and move on to other parts of the hospital making us all proud of them.
In closing, I would like to quote the Lansdowne to BWH shuttle driver. Every day he says the same thing and though small it makes a difference. “Have a good day. Be good to yourselves. Be good to your co-workers.”
Thank you!