During Christus 2024 Nursing Excellence Awards, St. Vincent de Paul received a check and food donations from a food drive conducted by Christus. (Raquel Villatoro/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

Christus held its yearly Nursing Excellence Awards on Thursday to honor the work of nurses at Christus.

In addition to honoring nurses, Christus conducted a food drive for the first time to give back to the community. They presented St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry with a check for $400 and food donations collected through the food drive.

“We want to express our heartfelt gratitude for the incredible work you do essential support,” said Cathy Newman, Christus Trinity Mother Frances Associate Chief Nursing Officer. “As nurses and healthcare workers, we witnessed firsthand the importance of access to nutritious food for overall building. Your dedication to serving our communities inspires us and we’re grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this in this meaningful way.”

Nurse of the Year Clinic winner Jackie Harris, lead nurse at Christus Trinity Clinic (Pediatrics), felt honored to receive the award. She received the award for modeling the “gold standard” in her practice, collaborating with others and providing the best care for all her patients, said Shelly Birmingham, Chief Nurse Executive at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Health System and announcer of Nursing Excellence Awards.

Although she feels nursing is often a thankless job, she loves the work she does and working with kids.

“Nurses aren’t usually in it for recognition. So it’s kind of weird to be in the spotlight,” Harris said. “I just feel so happy to see my patients either learn something new or educate them or overcome a sickness.”

Harris was one of multiple nurses who received an award for their work at Christus on Thursday at the Wisenbaker Conference Center.

The awards honored individuals, departments and nurse techs. Attendees clapped in support of winners and celebrated after the awards presentation.

Nurse tech award winner Jessika Hertel has worked for Christus for nine years. She currently works as a medical assistant at the plastic surgery center.

“I love the team that I work with, the doctors I’ve worked with and I love just being able to care for our patients every day and helping them through their recovery,” Hertel said.

Don Ryan Stanley, registered nurse in surgery, felt honored after receiving an award for the second time from Christus. The first time he won for Nurse of the Year. This year he received the award for Nurse Preceptor of the Year for his work helping new nurses, providing insight and honest feedback to help nurses grow, Birmingham said.

“I remember some of the preceptors I had when I first became a nurse and just being there to help new nurses and helping them learn and become better nurses is awesome,” Stanley said.

Ashlee Carter, a labor and delivery nurse at Christus, received the award for Nurse of the Year-Hospital for being a patient advocate, listening to her patients and customers and being a resource for other nurses, Birmingham said. She is passionate about helping moms who want to give natural birth.

“I believe that health care begins with birth,” Carter said. “I think that if you empower mom then she is empowered to seek the best health care for her family, for her children, for the rest of the family. So if you can make a first time moms experience, feel safe that it will trickle to the rest of the hospital.”

After giving out awards, Jason Proctor, Christus Mother Frances Hospital Ministry President, spoke about the importance of nursing.

Florence Nightingale, a pioneer in nursing, never gave or took an excuse. She nursed wounded soldiers during the Crimean War and revolutionized healthcare by establishing hand washing. These are practices nurses and healthcare workers still do. “Nurses lead the way,” said Proctor.

“There’s more of you than anybody else and you’re with the patient more than anybody else,” Proctor said. “You are the rock on which our mission is built on.”

Proctor advised nurses and attendees not to accept excuses.

“When we walk out of this room we don’t accept or give excuses, no matter what it is, we say no, we’re not going to do it,” Proctor said. “Because our patients don’t deserve it. You don’t deserve it. Everyone in our community that we impact, they don’t deserve it. And the way we get there is if y’all lead the way.”