CANANDAIGUA – UR Medicine Thompson Health recently celebrated its nurses, technicians and certified nursing assistants.
Vicki Erway, a member of the Nursing Floats team who lives in Farmington, was named the F.F. Thompson Hospital Nurse of the Year. Janet Stell, of Palmyra, works on the Skilled Transitional Unit in the M.M. Ewing Continuing Care Center and was named the Long-Term Care Nurse of the Year. In addition, Thompson named Rosemarie Fiore of Canandaigua the Certified Nursing Assistant of the Year. She works on the Meadows unit in the continuing care center.
Traditionally, Thompson would hold an event to celebrate the three. Due to COVID-19 precautions, however, they were honored individually, as were the hospital’s Nurses of Distinction:
- Kristen Bloom of Macedon (Clinical Judgment)
- Barbara A. Breitsch of Macedon (Facilitation of Learning)
- Karen F. Cunningham of Geneva (Advanced Practice Practitioner)
- Amanda DeWispelaere of Wayland (Technician of Distinction)
- Amber M. Fulmer of Middlesex (System Thinking)
- Madigan R. Groff of Canandaigua (Rising Star)
- Heather Lovejoy of Rochester (Preceptor/Mentor)
- Charlene Mathes of Geneva (Advocacy)
- Kathy Vedro of Farmington (Collaboration)
- Wendy Whittaker of Shortsville (Caring Practices)
As the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, 2020 was designated by the World Health Organization as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife. Thompson Health Vice President of Patient Care Services/CNO Hazel Robertshaw noted that while many related events were canceled due to the pandemic, appreciation for nurses grew worldwide. She said she had already considered Thompson’s nurses to be “compassionate, intelligent and creative.” As a result of the many challenges they faced during 2020 – and the way they met those challenges – she added a new adjective: “Fearless.”
“They faced the unknown with courage and compassion,” she said. “The novel virus resulted in nurses working collaboratively and innovatively to create a safe environment for themselves, their colleagues and patients. I am in awe.”