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Grant’s inspiring leadership has resulted in keeping recruitment high and turnover low, with a certification salary premium to reward excellence. She frequently holds open forums to respond to staff concerns and has developed an endowment fund for nursing education, certification, and development. Grant’s nominator, Cindy Angiulo, said she “sets the tone for an environment where nurses feel valued and respected.”

Similarly, Grant said she is “blessed to be surrounded by talented and gifted people.”

Mentoring

Lt. Col. Karen Dunlap, MSN, CNS, CNOR
Deputy Chief, Consolidated Education, U.S. Army,
Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash.

Called the “Energizer Bunny” by coworkers, Lt. Col. Karen Dunlap is always “looking for opportunities to grow and to help those around her do the same,” according to her nominator, Kristina Stillsmoking.

Dunlap decided to become a nurse when she was in the third grade and her grandmother got sick. She joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1985 and gained experience as a staff nurse and then head nurse in many different areas. A much-decorated soldier, she conducts year-round classes for Army nurses at Madigan and is responsible for their daily conduct.

“She expects the best from her students, helps them achieve it, and always challenges them to reach inside to find that hidden strength or talent,” Stillsmoking said.

Dunlap uses her personality, humor, and positive attitude to inspire others to leadership and career advancement. She patiently explains, offers advice, suggests solutions, champions causes, and shares her wisdom, according to Stillsmoking. Dunlap has been chosen to serve on many committees and boards, including one that selects enlisted soldiers to become commissioned officers. She has written articles, given speeches, made a video, and recently launched a successful Medical Magnet Program for high school students.

“I would follow her into battle any day,” Stillsmoking said.

Dunlap credits those she works with. “My peers, subordinates, and leaders have made me successful,” she said.

Patient Advocacy

Audrey Schoonmaker, RN, BSN
Breathmobile Clinical Nurse,
Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Phoenix

“I was always sick as a child 85 coughing for sometimes months at a time,” Audrey Schoonmaker said. Finally diagnosed with asthma at age 25, she said that now seeing asthmatic children “able to do the things that were always so hard for me as a child brings me daily pleasure.”

Schoonmaker works in an area of Phoenix with a high asthma morbidity rate and where poverty, no health insurance, lack of transportation to clinics and pharmacies, and minimal English-speaking skills often hinder families’ access to good health care.

Schoonmaker’s innovative efforts to treat asthmatic children have included developing a game about asthma, visiting libraries and the Internet to find videos in Spanish, and donating toys as rewards to children for taking their medications. “Numerous Barbies showed up in our prize box after Christmas — funded by Audrey,” her nominator, Sherry Hunkler, said.

Schoonmaker learned Spanish and often serves as an interpreter at pharmacies for families who feel intimidated by the U.S. health care system. She allows parents to freely participate in the child’s asthma action plan development, trying to incorporate some of their nontraditional medical practices while educating them about appropriate care.

“I call this my perfect job,” Schoonmaker said. “I get to teach, case manage, treat, and help families on a daily basis 85 And I can see the difference our efforts make.”

Teaching

Mary Schoessler, RN, EdD, MS Director, Nursing Education,
Providence Portland Medical Center, Portland, Ore.

“I love nurses,” Mary Schoessler said with a smile. She said she became one to help people, but “I didn’t realize how nursing would influence me and push me to grow as a person.” Her impact has been both local and international.

Her leadership role at PPMC has resulted in implementing large-scale projects and programs.

She single-handedly developed the residency program there — “a model for other systems to match” — and has focused on challenging nurses to advance in their careers, “putting infrastructure in place for their development and promotion,” as she puts it.

She also works as an adjunct faculty at Oregon Health & Science University, refining patient education programs and exploring health-related aspects of cultural diversity. And she has been the principal investigator for a research study on “narrative community,” a support program for new nurses.

Internationally, Schoessler is involved in a collaborative educational research project with Russian nurse leaders and is cofounder and board member of Dobra Inc., which provides education, equipment, and supplies to improve the care of elderly, disabled, and end-of-life patients throughout the world.

She feels lucky to have the support of her education team and especially her boss, Arlene Austinson, who encourages her to “explore projects that are a little bit out there.”

Rebecca Ray, is an assistant managing editor and Betsy Bannerman is a freelance writer for NurseWeek.

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