From left: HEATHER PATENAUDE, B.S.N., RN, and PAMELA O’NEIL, M.S.N., NP-C, AOCNP PHOTOS BY MIKE ROEMER
Heather Patenaude, B.S.N., RN, is a registered nurse and oncology licensed nurse who acquired her bachelor’s diploma in nursing from Bellin School in Inexperienced Bay, Wisconsin. She has been a nurse for 22 years, working in a nationally licensed most cancers heart as a affected person navigator, then in radiation oncology and at the moment within the oncology infusion unit.
Heather shows the very best degree of technical expertise essential to offer compassionate care to her sufferers, however her dedication doesn’t cease with one-on-one interactions along with her sufferers. Heather is a pacesetter who constantly improves the atmosphere and circumstances by which sufferers heal.
We nominate Heather for her braveness and grit in not solely offering knowledgeable, empathetic care to her sufferers but additionally for taking the laborious street in advocating for her sufferers to enhance outcomes. Extraordinary healers are leaders, hands-on caregivers who present service with empathy and compassion. They don’t again down when they’re confronted with challenges however search out others to assist and assist them whereas at all times fascinated by the affected person.
HEATHER PATENAUDE, B.S.N., RN
Heather’s colleagues describe her as an excellent listener, straightforward to speak to and a very good chief. She empowers them to sort out obstacles which may forestall them from doing their finest. She is at all times prepared to assist and continues to behave as a caregiver, giving them the possibility to develop management expertise.
She is at all times smiling, and sufferers love that about her. She supplies a sunny disposition in an atmosphere that isn’t at all times cheerful. She is humble, and her presence is calming. Her spirit is heat and glowing.
When Heather was requested why she turned a nurse, she replied, “I benefit from the duty of serving to individuals.” It’s evident that she enjoys serving to them in all elements of nursing.
Heather began as a affected person navigator, then labored in radiation oncology and is now within the infusion unit. These experiences, in addition to her inpatient oncology expertise, have given Heather a holistic view of what sufferers with most cancers undergo and the way their journey is impacted by the professionals who attend to their wants.
Heather frequently makes use of sources inside and outdoors her group to positively influence the circumstances surrounding a affected person’s journey. She ceaselessly companions with Ribbon of Hope, an area basis that helps girls with breast most cancers. Every year she volunteers for the Christmas Jubilee and delivers embellished wreaths and Christmas timber to native sufferers as they navigate therapeutic by way of the vacations. Heather is an lively volunteer with the Salvation Military, and she or he just lately partnered with them to assist a affected person who was the only real monetary supplier for his household. Whereas preventing most cancers, he additionally took day off from work to assist his high-needs son. Heather labored with the Salvation Military and her coworkers to personally ship objects to make sure her affected person and his household had what they wanted to get by way of the vacations.
Heather’s care typically includes connecting with sufferers’ relations, from leaping by way of hoops to urgently join with a affected person’s spouse on a school campus, to praying and studying poems along with a affected person and partner who had simply misplaced their nephew to most cancers. Heather is aware of that along with one of the best remedy plan, an atmosphere of assist is required to ship one of the best affected person outcomes.
The additional steps Heather takes have at all times had an influence on her sufferers. A affected person got here in along with his spouse and was thrilled to be greeted by Heather. She had taken care of them 10 years earlier as a licensed nursing assistant; they felt extremely comforted that she can be caring for them once more.
Heather doesn’t cease at one-to-one affected person care; she constantly advocates for improved environments to extend the possibilities of optimistic outcomes. As I’ve watched Heather, I’ve seen the braveness and grit it takes to heal sufferers. Heather fearlessly fights for circumstances which can be extra more likely to produce optimistic outcomes, even when that requires sharing inconvenient truths. She has the braveness to specific opposing views to highly effective voices to struggle for what is correct for the affected person. That is by no means accomplished to profit her division or give her group a much bigger voice, however at all times to profit the affected person. She has the grit to ask for reconsideration when a call wants reevaluation or an motion doesn’t meet the group’s values or requirements. In a single occasion, she made daring and artistic selections in reorganizing her division to handle hurdles to wonderful affected person care. In one other case, Heather observed sufferers who had just lately been discharged from the hospital with feeding tubes weren’t proven how you can use and look after these gadgets, in addition to not given the training wanted to take care of correct diet. Heather was instrumental in creating the feeding tube group, which supplies training to sufferers and their households previous to the insertion of the system. This has developed right into a care group for sufferers with head and neck cancers, which has decreased hospital admission charges and supplies scheduled intravenous infusion on days subsequent to their chemotherapy.
Lastly, so as to repeatedly enhance oncology nursing in her area, Heather served as president of the Northeastern Wisconsin chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society, a corporation that advances oncology nursing by way of communication, analysis and training. If the one street to a optimistic end result is a tough street, she takes it. Brave and stuffed with grit, Heather is rarely distracted from the lesser-celebrated elements of caregiving, and she or he by no means backs down from a tough street so as to enhance her sufferers’ outcomes.
I’m very excited to appoint Heather for the Extraordinary Healer Award for Oncology Nursing for all of her dedication, compassion and empathetic care she has offered over the previous 22 years as a registered nurse. It has not gone unnoticed.
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