Recognizing Our CNAs

2022年6月15日

注册护士assistants (CNAs) are special members of the hospital health care team, and each year, there is a week set aside to recognize them for their hard work, dedication and the ways they impact patients and their care. CNAs provide hands-on care, ranging from helping patients turn and move, bathe, groom and dress. They take temperatures and blood pressure, dress wounds, track food and liquid intake and more.

At Lee Health, we have more than 970 CNAs on our team who work in our hospitals. Along with their typical responsibilities, our CNAs often do extra, special things to make hospital stays better for those in our care. We hear examples of that above-and-beyond care through ExceptionalLee SPIRIT Awards, which patients and their families can give to our team members, and our internal BEE Award, which colleagues, patients and families can use for recognition.

Two recent BEE Award winners, Yenisleidy Gonzalez-Fernandez, CNA and Judith Gonzalez Mir, CNA work on the stroke unit at Gulf Coast Medical Center. They were recognized by their colleague because they provided exceptional, patient-centered care. An excerpt from their nomination reads: “There was a longtime patient on our unit who was transferred to another unit because of bed availability. The patient was confused, only spoke Spanish, never had any visitors, and hardly ate the food because she was not used to it. These two CNAs have lunch with this patient whenever they work, bringing her authentic Spanish food.” Yeni and Judith found ways to connect with their patient, which helped make her feel safe, comfortable and more at home.

Another example came from an ExceptionalLee SPIRIT Award recognizing Claudia Algarin, certified nursing assistant advanced (CNAA), Med-Surg Pediatrics at Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida. Her nomination read in part: “I have never had a total stranger treat me like family before. Claudia made my son and I feel like guests in her own home, and she was taking care of us like we were family.”

We regularly receive accolades and notes of gratitude about our CNAs, highlighting their empathy, patience, kindness, smiles, cheery dispositions, positive attitudes and abilities to make our patients and their families feel comfortable and at ease. We are grateful to receive and share the acknowledgment and recognition of these special team members who work so hard. We are lucky to have so many kind and dedicated CNAs on our team, providing compassionate care to our patients and families.

Happy CNA Week, and thank you to all of our CNAs across Lee Health for their commitment to caring and serving others every day and night.