The Nightingale Award
This awards nurses for their contributions to nursing practice and patient outcomes. As servant leaders, nurses who are selected to receive the Nightingale Award provide compassionate and holistic care. They are innovative and mentor others in ways to provide care in a team environment. They consistently exceed patient and family expectations. Additionally, they are respected by co-workers for their work ethic and their dedication to quality improvement, reliability and perseverance. These qualities align with the organizational priorities related to provision of excellent care, tailoring a personal health journey, and demonstrating world class teamwork.
2022 Nightingale Award Winners
Jenny Dougal, MSN, RNC-OB, NP-C
PPG – Maternal-Fetal Medicine
“Jenny's approach to caring for patients includes far more than treating them clinically. Jenny consistently meets patients where they’re at and offers a calm and judgement-free space. This gentle approach has allowed patients to open up to Jenny, in turn improving clinical outcomes. Jenny has been crucial in improving prenatal outcomes/prenatal education over her 44-year career here at Parkview.
“Jenny has developed excellent relationships with all of her coworkers, peers and collaborating physicians. She is fueled by seeing patients and often states, ‘it fills her cup.’ Jenny is also seen by peers as a go-to for their needs, even if it’s not work-related, she is always available to lend an ear and gives calm and gentle advice. She is able to provide clear, concise communication and works with our Maternal-Fetal Medicine physicians, other APPs and staff to develop and maintain exceptional patient care.
“In her 44-year career at Parkview, Jenny has worked in many roles, including process initiatives, quality improvement, bedside nursing, nursing manager, nursing director, nursing educator, clinical nurse specialist, OBGYN nurse practitioner and a Maternal-Fetal Medicine nurse practitioner. She is now prn in our PPG – Maternal-Fetal Medicine office as part fo the Emeritus Nursing program. Since retirement, she has worked weekly in our office and is also helping with protocols in the Family Birth Center.
“If you walk through Labor and Delivery, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, OB/GYN and/or most of the women's specialty areas, it’s rare to meet someone who hasn't been positively impacted by Jenny. I have met several nurses who told me that Jenny was their mentor or trained them when they first started, or that they worked on developing education for staff together.
“My first encounter with Jenny was assumably similar to others. I was in awe. Her knowledge, her passion to drive improvement, her work ethic and overall demeanor are so inspiring. I have only briefly worked with Jenny, in comparison to her Parkview career, and I can't write down all of her accomplishments because there are just too many.” – Rose Romich
Judith Wagoner, BSN, RN
Operating Room
“Judy looks at patients and family members in a holistic manner to promote healing and wellness. She learns and uses their names in conversation, and sincerely cares for each individual by asking how they are feeling and how she might make their experience at Parkview better. She always has a smile on her face and has been told on numerous occasions that her presence and touch help ease patients’ anxiety and fear. Judy works to help patients improve their overall well-being, and is never afraid to go the extra mile to make that happen.
“There are very few people at Parkview Randallia who don’t know Judy. She has worked at Parkview for 45 years and maintains open communication with all of her coworkers, always lending a helping hand or passing along wisdom to newer nurses. She is constantly working with different departments to achieve the highest level of care possible. She is encouraging in difficult situations and lends an open ear for nurses when they are having a bad day.
“Over the course of her 45-year career at Parkview, Judy has built bag of tips and tricks so deep that it’s hard to find a problem she has not already solved. Judy is a champion for learning new information and supporting the latest evidence-based practices.
“Judy is constantly leading by example on how nurses should behave and the ideal work ethic. She volunteers for difficult assignments and handles them with grace and patience that only years of experience can teach. Judy is a mentor to all nurses, and I can honestly say that I believe every person has learned some meaningful lesson from either talking or working directly with Judy.
“For as long as I have known Judy, she has volunteered every Wednesday at the local food bank in Fort Wayne. I can only imagine the difference she has made in the community as a servant leader.
“Judy is deserving of this award because of her commitment to providing excellent patient care. I have never met another person who cares so deeply for every single patient she has come into contact with during her career. When you watch Judy with patients, it inspires you to be a better nurse and to want to make a difference like she makes in each life she touches.” – Brock Worden
Lori Getts, BSN, RN, CIC
Infection Control
“Over the course of her 23 years at Parkview, Lori has been a leader to her coworkers and other staff members. Excellent communication skills is one of the keys to being an amazing nurse and providing wonderful care to patients and their families. She has recognized that it takes a community, not just one individual, to care for patients and includes her other clinical and nonclinical staff in decision making processes to determine the best path for each patient.
“Lori has spent many hours learning about new developments in the healthcare world, more specifically in her work in Infection Prevention. She attends conferences to learn about new and upcoming care models and products to better align healthcare standards with Parkview's goals). She is open to change and jumps at the chance to assist if needed to better Parkview and patient care.
“In her roles as a nurse and nurse supervisor/house supervisor in the first half of her career with Parkview Health, Lori mentored numerous student nurses, nurse technicians, and new nurses to help them identify and adjust to their role. She guided them in decision making processes and techniques needed to provide the best care possible to individuals and their families. In her more recent roles in Infection Prevention and Control, she has taken on much responsibility in her position. Lori strives to do her best in every task and meet every goal and deadline, while still being a pillar and role model to her coworkers.
“Earlier in her nursing career, in the mid-‘80s, Lori participated with other clinicians to intensify the isolation unit and made guidelines and policies as they admitted the first AIDS patient in Allen County. She was instrumental in the development of the initial diabetes education unit at Parkview Randallia. Lori currently manages the policies for Infection Control and has been overseeing those in the last several years. She has helped update many components of the APIC Indiana Chapter of Infection Preventionists, which had not been addressed in over a decade prior. Her biggest accomplishment of her professional career was being the Infection Preventionist who oversaw the transition to Parkview Regional Medical Center, from reviewing blueprints to welcoming the first patient into the new hospital. In 2020, Lori received the National APIC Leadership Award and was nominated by the president of the APIC Indiana Chapter.
“There are many reasons why I believe Lori is deserving of this award. First and foremost, her dedication to the healthcare field. Her desire to provide patients with the best care possible is invaluable. Since starting her career as an RN caring for patients on the frontlines, she has advanced to continue caring for not only her own patients, but all patients. She seeks to mentor others as they begin their journey in the medical field. In training others, she seeks to instill the values, kindness, beliefs and skills that have become invaluable to her in her almost 43-year career. Nursing is not just a career to her; it is her life.” – Melissa Crabill
“As an Infection Preventionist, Lori works in the background to help keep patients, their family members, and our staff safe when it comes to communicable disease outbreaks and day-to-day prevention of infection transmission. She is often the front line in preventing the spread of diseases from possible exposures.
“Lori incorporates and embodies teamwork in her everyday practice by working alongside her team when situations arise related to infection prevention and control. She works with the education teams for the inpatient setting along with Parkview Physician’s Group to provide infection prevention education to new hires. She works collaboratively with many different offices and inpatient units when they have questions regarding any communicable diseases, isolation precautions, construction and cleaning practices, always with poise, professionalism and a positive attitude.
“Lori utilizes evidence-based practices as she keeps her department policies up to date in her role as Invention Prevention library policy owner. She continues to use resources available to answer questions that may arise on a day- to-day basis. Most of these resources, she put together with her team during her tenure as an Infection Preventionist. In many cases she has had to pull multiple resources to gather one answer due to the complexity of the situation.
“Lori is a mentor and valuable source of nursing expertise. She is more than happy to explain processes and procedures to anyone who needs the education. Per a previous colleague, Cecelia ‘Jane’ Sims, ‘I watched as Lori threw herself into acquiring as much knowledge as she could in that specialized field (Infection Prevention) to make herself even more valuable to our patients, staff and hospital system. I routinely collaborated with Lori on knotty patient issues and was able to observe her interacting with staff, management, and laboratory staff throughout the hospital system, as well as with the local and state agencies that interact with our Infection Control Department. Lori is universally recognized for her nursing and medical knowledge expertise and is seen as an effective resource of problem-solving and patient management issues. I came to know I could count on Lori as a reliable, honest, knowledgeable nurse and partner throughout our long association. Staff knew they could approach Lori with any problem, and she would handle it with efficiency, empathy and expert care.’
“Lori does many things throughout the care setting and local communities as a servant leader. For many years, she has volunteered at school safety fairs. She would take her famous “bug” light and allow the children to compare their hands with others, to see who has the cleanest hands after ‘washing’ them. (She was never surprised when it was the children who cleaned their hands the best.) In doing this service to the community to bring awareness to the importance of handwashing, she has shown one of the passions she has developed from the nursing profession: A caring and intuitive approach to donating not only her time to the community, but also her skills and knowledge.
“Lori was an important link during the COVID pandemic. She expended many hours a week assisting PPG leadership, updating Sophia machines so that our clinics could test specimens for COVID, and conducting COVID surveillance tours of offices which were seeing an unusually high number of + COVID patients. Lori provided 1:1 guidance, observations, and answered numerous questions while at the clinics. Her calm and understanding manner were reassuring to our staff who were scared and had many questions. As CDC guidelines were updated, and state regulations were adjusted, Lori worked tirelessly to keep our reference guides, PPG PPE guide, and other tools up to date.
“I cannot think of someone more deserving of this award than Lori. She is a devoted, faithful, caring, and hard-working nurse, friend and mother, who seeks to help everyone in any way that she can. While being a loyal friend and co-worker, she has been a wonderful advocate for all that is true and good in the nursing profession.” – Molly Hillegass
“Lori has a very strong work ethic and has been at Parkview for most of her career. She has contributed to many of the areas that go unappreciated, including safety, preparedness, policies and process. She has been willing to assist with training and education of hospital staff for infection prevention updates as well as requests for high school students and others interested in nursing.” – Scott Stienecker, MD
Rebecca Coffelt, ASN, RN, HN-BC
“Becky is the definition of a Nightingale. She cares for our patients and their families as if they were part of hers. Becky goes above and beyond to make sure that our patients understand their treatment, have the education on new and current medications, and will literally hold their hand through appointments. She sets reminders so that she can call patients to check in. She gets birthday cards for those patients who come into clinic on their birthday because she wants them to know we are thinking about them and we care.
“At Parkview Cancer Institute, we have a cross coverage model. If her provider is out of the office, we have her work with other teams in need of assistance and she makes it a seamless transition. Becky lives by the model that all patients are her patients and that spills over into her team. She decorates the office for each team member’s birthday and celebrates them with a special gift. She does not just do this for her immediate team, she remembers our providers, our front desk and our schedulers.
“Becky knows to utilize available resources and initiates interventions. She takes on our most challenging patients, and although they have a whole team to support them, they specifically request Becky. We have patients call in to speak with her and she remembers them, their situation and will move mountains to get them what they need.
“She is forward thinking and innovative. Becky created a binder that includes clinic workflows and tips and tricks to help new and current team members get through a day in Hematology. She added contact information for multiple resources that assist us every day. She often takes on the role of a teacher and preceptor to new and current employees. She is a cheerleader to the team; she believes that everyone can contribute in some way.
“Becky loves to teach but she also loves to learn. She is board certified in holistic care and uses her training with every patient by engaging them in think beyond their disease to their overall well-being. She looks for opportunities to increase her knowledge or refresh it. She looks for education on the treatments and medications that will help her better explain to patients when they ask questions.
“Becky is a servant leader within the care setting and Parkview's community events. Prior to COVID, she was involved in supporting our providers for ‘Light the Night’, one of the many Leukemia and Lymphoma Society events. Within the care setting, Becky serves as a champion for process, excellent care and professionalism. She meets with her team and asks, "How do you want me to help today?" This is so amazing to me because as a nurse of 20+ years, she can completely run the show unassisted and delegate, but instead, she chooses to be part of a team and allow for opportunities for others to be empowered. Her team depends on her as a resource.
“I believe Becky deserves this award because of her servant's heart for the patients, her team and Parkview. She chooses to be here every day and administer top notch care.” – Lisa Snider
The Judy Boerger Excellence in Nursing Leadership Award
Former Chief Nursing Executive for Parkview Health, Judy Boerger embodies the highest professional nursing standards and is a role model for compassion and exemplary professional practice through her servant leadership.
Her leadership has advanced the professional practice and image of nursing at Parkview Health, in our community and the nursing profession.
She exhibited exceptional compassion and commitment to Parkview patients, colleagues, and the nursing profession while continually mentoring nurses to grow and advance in practice.
She empowered nurses to have a voice in the care of patients and supports the foundation for this interprofessional collaborative care environment.
Her work to create a professional nursing environment continues to shine, through exceptional clinical outcomes and professional growth of our nursing teams.
Judy led Parkview Health to the achievement of system Magnet designation and continues to encourage our nurses to share their voice at all levels including clinical research, board appointments, national presentations, and publications.
This Award Recognizes a Nursing Leader in a Manager level and Above Role who Exemplifies the above qualities.
2022 Judy Boerger Award Winner
Jan Powers, PhD, RN, CCNS, CCRN, NE-BC, FCCN, FAAN
Patient Care Systems
“Jan is the reason I am pursuing my master's degree at an older age. I met Jan when I joined the Nursing Research and Evidenced-Based Committee as a bedside Pediatric Intensive Care nurse. Her love of research and drive to empower nurses is contagious. She is one of the most humble people I have ever met. She is an incredible leader and has positively impacted patient care across the entire Parkview system. Her commitment to Parkview and the profession of nursing is apparent in all she says and does. She sees the potential in nurses to become a better version of themselves and knows exactly how to mentor to guide them in that direction.
“Being president of the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists, Jan demonstrates her commitment to advancing nursing practice. I have never met a nurse so passionate about nursing and willing to do everything it takes to make sure the nursing voice is heard and create an exceptional nursing environment. I do not think there is another person who would be more deserving of such a prestigious award as this one is. I am proud to work for her as she continues to support and help me grow as she does for every nurse who is blessed to meet her, learn from her, and experience her contagious love of nursing.” – Rebecca Beaubien
“I have been a Parkview nurse for almost 20 years. It’s hard to describe what Jan has done for me. She is the best example of being a good role model, advocates for advancing nursing practices, supports bringing evidence-based practices to bedside nursing, and improving patient outcomes. She empowers me to be more than I ever imagined I could be and then to support the nurses on my units to do the same. Because of Jan, I have accomplished things beyond anything I ever imagined I could. When a leader like Jan impacts just one nurse such as myself, it flows down to hundreds of nurses. Thank you, Jan, for coming to Parkview and bringing the culture of exceptional nursing care that daily impacts patient outcomes!” – Lisa Smith
“Jan embodies every element of Excellence in Nursing Leadership. I have had the privilege to work with her as a bedside nurse. Upon transitioning to the CNS fellow role, Jan has been supportive in guiding me through how to help improve the outcomes of wound care patients. I have ideas but Jan has an excellent understanding of how the organization functions and what stakeholders to include to make clinical changes successful and sustainable. She builds bridges between clinical, management, safety, quality and providers. Her actions lift the voice of nursing.
“Jan is also my professor at IUPUI in my last semester of the CNS program. As a professor she stresses the importance of looking at problems through the lens of a CNS. This means to understand nursing autonomous practice scope and standards, the importance of system level change, and how to appraise the problem through bedside staff, leadership and the organization.
“Nursing literature is always the true north when validating a practice or making a process improvement. Parkview nursing care is evidence-based and if no evidence exists Jan urges nurses to conduct research to add to the body of knowledge. She promotes the practice and production of evidence-based practices at Parkview. Jan exemplifies Professional Nursing Practice and an environment that values nursing.” – Brooke Randol
“I have seen the impact on the growth of nursing science since Jan arrived. She collaborated and created a system wide standard of care, based on evidence and keeps the document updated with current evidence. Evidence-based practice classes empower nurses throughout the health system to complete research. Research by Parkview nurses has grown. Jan was also the founder for the Nursing Professional Practice Committee, which continues to examine practice by frontline nurses and other clinical nursing experts and leaders. Parkview nursing research is implemented into practice through this committee which is phenomenal. This is a wonderful example of translating evidence into practice at an accelerated pace. Grateful that Judy brought Magnet which champions empowered nurses. Knowledge empowers and Jan has grown Parkview nurses and definitely impacted the nursing science throughout our health system.” – Michele Kadenko-Monirian
“Jan exhibits every quality I would hope to see in a leader. She is intelligent, driven, an amazing advocate for our CNS team and nursing as a whole, continues to better herself through continued education, and so many more examples. She leads by example through use of evidence-based practices and professional conversation. Although a director, she continues to provide direct patient care at the bedside, which helps her to really understand the clinical struggles.
“She teaches through the IUPUI school of nursing, in the CNS track. She is passionate about not only supporting staff at the bedside to improve outcomes but supporting staff in improving themselves through knowledge acquisition.
“Jan leads a professional practice committee and leads an evidence-based practice class to help Parkview keep moving forward and staying up to date on evidence-based practices. Not only does this help Parkview stay current on practices but it empowers bedside staff to use and also create research where there is no data to be found. As a young CNS, I am beyond privileged to learn and grow into a CNS under her guidance.” – Jennifer Thieman
“Jan exemplifies and continues what Judy began. Jan is continually advocating for advancing professional nursing practices, empowering nurses to own their autonomous practice, and mentoring those nurses who wish to advance their career. She leads the Professional Practice Committee and the Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Committee. She started the Evidence-Based Fellowship classes and continues to ensure that nurses throughout Parkview can participate in the class and nursing research. She encouraged me to fulfill my dream to become a Clinical Nurse Specialist, offering me a fellowship to work as a CNS while complete my schooling. She continually challenges me to advocate for nursing practice and improved patient outcomes. Jan is an incredible asset to Parkview, our nurses, and our patients. I would not be where I am today without her.” – Sarah Cook
“We were blessed to thrive under Judy’s vision and while she may no longer be here with us, her spirit continues to live on and her vision continues to unfold daily. From Professional Practice to Nursing Research and Evidence Based Practice, Jan set forth to help Judy’s vision become a reality and she continues to embody and exemplify these qualities today. The breadth of her role alone demonstrates her commitment to exemplary professional practice and servant leadership. Her list of accomplishments clearly demonstrates her value to Parkview, the future of nursing, and the CNS role, but her passion to serve and elevate others – that's valued beyond measure, and I think Judy would agree.” – Lindy Bilimek
“Jan displays exceptional nursing leadership. She is the leader and is actively involved in nursing professional practice and research. She collaborates, listens and ensures the needs of each facility within Parkview is met when implementing a practice change.
“Jan is true role model and mentor. She is transformational and helps me improve my practice and step out of my comfort zone. She has encouraged me and many of my co-workers to participate in research, work on publications and to do podium presentations. Jan has an exceptional vision for nurses to work to their full potential and knows how to collaborate, communicate, and support ongoing nursing growth.
“I have never had a leader who was so actively involved and hands-on. During COVID, Jan on numerous occasions came to MICU to help place feeding tubes, help move a patient from prone to supine and vice versa when extra hands were needed, and she recognized the extra hours I was putting in and covered me so that I could have a day or afternoon off for self-care. Looking back, the support Jan provided during the most challenging time for nurses is so appreciated more than words can say. I am blessed every day to have Jan as my boss, mentor, role model, leader and friend. Her compassion for nursing is genuine and contagious.” – Jennifer Rechter
“Jan is absolutely the best leader I have ever had the privilege of working with. Jan has very high expectations from her team and uses transformational leadership to support and encourage each clinical nurse specialist to work at the highest level of the advanced practice registered nurse degree. As a clinical nurse specialist herself, Jan is a strong problem solver and critical thinker. While working on system projects, I have often gone to Jan for assistance when facing obstacles and her advice has always been thoughtful, encouraging and challenging. Jan is amazingly supportive to her CNS team, assists on the clinical units when team members need help, proofreads article submissions and critics, and always has her team’s back. I have never met anyone as committed to advancing nursing practice as Jan Powers. She is an accomplished author, past president of NACNS, has won many awards, and is really just an amazing example of what the Judy Boerger Excellence In Nursing Leadership Award should represent. I am honored to work with Jan daily and to see how a passionate advocate for professional nursing practice can elevate nursing care throughout the Parkview system.” – Andrea Conley
“I can think of no one more deserving of the Judy Boerger award than Jan Powers. Jan has brought so much to Parkview Health when it comes to advancing the practice of nursing. Whether it was bringing in the CNS Fellow role to creating the Evidence-Based Fellowship classes, her expertise, enthusiasm, and mentorship has changed nursing at Parkview. Jan is truly an example of the professional nurse. I can truly say I would not have been as successful in my role today had it not been for the investment Jan made in me and her entire team several years ago.” – Michelle Wood
