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Clinical Care

Doug Elmore, RRT, RN, CCRN
Staff Clinical Nurse 3, ICU,
Scripps Memorial Hospital, Encinitas;
U.S. Army Reserve, Oakland

Doug Elmore says when he was wounded in Afghanistan as an Army Reserve Nurse Corps officer, he had “the best seat in the house to observe the quality of care that EMTs, LVNs, and RNs gave me. All of their teaching and shared experience paid off.”

Elmore knows about excellent medical care. He began his own health care career as a registered respiratory therapist at UC San Diego Medical Center, focusing primarily on infants and children. Deciding to become a nurse — “I knew I wanted to offer more to patients” — he graduated in 1994, remaining with UCSD, and transferring to the adult surgical trauma ICU there. He gained experience in all areas of critical care nursing, including resuscitation, intubation, and organ transplants. He also participated in research and training of medical personnel.

Deployed to Afghanistan in 2002, he received many medals, including the Purple Heart, becoming the first nurse since the Vietnam War era to win this honor. He said laughingly that this may be why he became “the sentimental favorite” to win a Nursing Excellence Award.

He has since been “demobilized” to civilian status following seven months of rehab and physical therapy. He continues to lecture, train, and provide expert patient care. He is hoping to gain acceptance into a nurse practitioner program next year and to being the best husband, father, and nurse I can be.”

Community Service

Mary Massey, RN, BSN
Paramedic/Disaster Coordinator,
Anaheim Memorial Medical Center, Anaheim

“I have always wanted to be a nurse,” Mary Massey said. “Lego hospitals with Barbies and G.I. Joes were a normal part of our household growing up.” After spending most of her nursing career in the ED, Massey “stumbled” into her current passion when she was asked in 1996 to help her hospital develop a disaster preparedness program for the community. “The logistics alone were a massive challenge,” she said. Training first responders, transporting the injured, stockpiling drugs and supplies, and dealing with decontamination and prophylaxis.

As a result of her innovative and cost-effective ideas, Anaheim Memorial has become one of the best-prepared hospitals in Southern California. And the procedures and policies Massey helped develop have, since Sept. 11, been copied all over the United States. “We haven’t come up with any rocket science,” she said, “just things that haven’t been tried or thought of before … [Our ideas] are very adaptable to many scenarios and many facilities.”

She has continued to expand and update the program to ensure an appropriate response to any disaster — man-made or natural. True to her profession, Massey believes that every phase of emergency preparedness — “prevention, mitigation, recovery” — can be advanced with nursing practice. She is one of the only RNs going for a master’s in homeland security at the Naval Postgraduate School. And, said her nominator Angeli Leggitt, “A position in this program is by invitation only.”

Innovation/Creativity

Jay Westbrook, RN, MS, CHPN
Clinical Director, Palliative Care
and Bereavement Service,
Valley Presbyterian Hospital, Van Nuys

Jay Westbrook claims he didn’t really choose nursing, it chose him. Working as a clinical gerontologist, he “kept coming upon situations where the knowledge and credential of an RN” would have helped. He cofounded the Palliative Care and Bereavement program at Valley Presbyterian in 2002, when such services were practically nonexistent in California.

“I get to help ensure quality of life at the end of life,” he said, “to help dying patients have a gentler and more tender death, and to empower grieving families to participate in the care of their family member and to complete their relationship with them.” He said all his patient care ideas are innovative because they vary with each situation. His team uses pain management, role modeling of healing behavior, Tibetan breathing techniques, humor, and something called “the braille system of feeling our way along with a patient and family” to explore their options. He conducts support groups, lectures, and workshops locally and countrywide on end-of-life care and grief recovery.

Westbrook also is developing his own company, Compassionate Journey: An End-of-Life Education and Consulting Service. When asked why he won this award, he said, “I do not know … I have learned over the years to stay in action and out of the results. My job is to show up and be of service and not worry about whether the world is watching, much less applauding.”

Leadership

Ann Dechairo-Marino, RN, PhD, MS, BSN, CNAA
Senior Vice President, Patient Care Services,
and Chief Nurse Executive,
Northridge Hospital Medical Center, Northridge

The daughter of a surgeon and a nurse, Ann Dechairo-Marino began college as a language major. Her communication skills have served her well ever since. “I truly understand that the ability to work with people and develop relationships is the most important aspect of being a leader,” she said. “I have learned so much from those around me and believe it takes a team to make any idea better.”

Her CEO said, “She has charisma and an ability to articulate and advocate issues well. … She builds trust with all groups.” Dechairo-Marino has been at Northridge only two years but already has increased patient satisfaction, and she daily “walks and talks” her vision of improved patient care. She has inspired collaboration between nurses and physicians. She implemented the monthly Daisy award at her hospital which recognizes nurse excellence, has boosted nurse recruitment and retention, and challenges nurses to pursue additional education.

Her own seven-year journey to get her PhD made her both more knowledgeable and more humble: “The more I learned, the more I realized what I didn’t know.” Nonetheless, her doctoral chair said her dissertation on case management was the best she had heard in 20 years.

Dechairo-Marino has several future professional goals she is working on, but also emphasizes “spending more quality time with my family.”

Mentoring

Susan Revero, RN, CCRN, BSN
Clinical Educator/New Grad/Specialty Intern Coordinator,
Little Company of Mary Hospital, Torrance

When she was little, Susan Revero wanted to be a nurse so she could make people “feel better.” Now, she realizes nursing is “so much more than ‘taking care of’ — it involves the person as a whole, meeting their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.” She developed the new grad/specialty intern mentoring program at her hospital in 1999 and has since “touched the lives” of more than 300 RNs.” Seeing these nurses blossom into confident, competent registered nurses is an incredible feeling,” Revero said, “knowing they will be making a difference in all the lives they touch.”