Every day, a growing number of dedicated nurses care for aging adults and people with complex medical needs inside their homes, administering daily medications, providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness, and managing personalized plans of care. To pay tribute to the specialized and tireless work of thousands of nurses throughout the network, BrightStar Care launched a national Nurse of the Year program to recognize the nurses who are working hard to deliver A Higher Standard of Home Care each and every day.
This year, our Director of Nursing and Franchise Owner Stephanie Zishka was nominated. Here is the nomination letter about Stephanie: I would like to nominate Stephanie Zishka for Nurse of the year. When Stephanie agreed to be our Director of Nursing five years ago, it was our understanding that as a new agency the DON responsibilities would be limited and that her role would be part time. This has never been the case in Fort Wayne as from day one Stephanie engaged in all aspects of our Business leveraging and expanding on the foundation of nursing involvement and oversight of all of our clients. Stephanie has worked countless hours learning Indiana regulations, writing policies any making sure that our agency operates in compliance with State regulations, Joint Commission and Brightstar standards. Stephanie is a champion in the living room. Stephanie has a knack for providing easy to understand clinical value to our prospective clients and their families. Stephanie is a leader within our office as her natural bedside manner, compassion and empathy have become contagious within our clinical department and throughout our agency. Stephanie is a brand ambassador and can at times be found reviewing our BrightStar Care core values with field and office staff motivating them to “be more”. Post admission is where Stephanie’s clinical department has added tremendous value to our client’s wellbeing as well as our agency’s success. Stephanie has created an environment of true client clinical engagement, premium customer service and case management throughout all aspects of our client’s life journey. Stephanie has developed a team of nurse managers who work hand in hand with our partnering agencies & community facilities assuring that information is continuously flowing among all parties. The value add of this machine-like practice of sharing information, advocating for patient care and clinical excellence is absolutely measurable in our patient outcomes as well as well as our community reputation. BrightStar Care of Fort Wayne‘s reputation of providing patient centered care through clinical involvement & oversight to our clients is consistently reaching new heights in our community and in my opinion setting new standards and expectations for care with our partnering Medicare agencies and local facilities. Stephanie engaged on this journey five years ago with little management background and quickly became an intrical part of our agencies success adding significant value to our clients and our community. Stephanie has sacrificed much of her life the past five years not only bettering our agency by teaching and mentoring our nurse managers, office & field staff as well as openly sharing her experiences and knowledge assisting other BrightStar agencies as well as at times some of the BrightStar corporate team.
This year, our Director of Nursing and Franchise Owner Stephanie Zishka was nominated. Here is the nomination letter about Stephanie: I would like to nominate Stephanie Zishka for Nurse of the year. When Stephanie agreed to be our Director of Nursing five years ago, it was our understanding that as a new agency the DON responsibilities would be limited and that her role would be part time. This has never been the case in Fort Wayne as from day one Stephanie engaged in all aspects of our Business leveraging and expanding on the foundation of nursing involvement and oversight of all of our clients. Stephanie has worked countless hours learning Indiana regulations, writing policies any making sure that our agency operates in compliance with State regulations, Joint Commission and Brightstar standards. Stephanie is a champion in the living room. Stephanie has a knack for providing easy to understand clinical value to our prospective clients and their families. Stephanie is a leader within our office as her natural bedside manner, compassion and empathy have become contagious within our clinical department and throughout our agency. Stephanie is a brand ambassador and can at times be found reviewing our BrightStar Care core values with field and office staff motivating them to “be more”. Post admission is where Stephanie’s clinical department has added tremendous value to our client’s wellbeing as well as our agency’s success. Stephanie has created an environment of true client clinical engagement, premium customer service and case management throughout all aspects of our client’s life journey. Stephanie has developed a team of nurse managers who work hand in hand with our partnering agencies & community facilities assuring that information is continuously flowing among all parties. The value add of this machine-like practice of sharing information, advocating for patient care and clinical excellence is absolutely measurable in our patient outcomes as well as well as our community reputation. BrightStar Care of Fort Wayne‘s reputation of providing patient centered care through clinical involvement & oversight to our clients is consistently reaching new heights in our community and in my opinion setting new standards and expectations for care with our partnering Medicare agencies and local facilities. Stephanie engaged on this journey five years ago with little management background and quickly became an intrical part of our agencies success adding significant value to our clients and our community. Stephanie has sacrificed much of her life the past five years not only bettering our agency by teaching and mentoring our nurse managers, office & field staff as well as openly sharing her experiences and knowledge assisting other BrightStar agencies as well as at times some of the BrightStar corporate team.