Alisa Bruce
August 2020
Alisa
Bruce
,
BSN, CPN, RN
Operating Room
Children’s National Hospital
Alisa has donated much of her personal time to community volunteer service.
We have known Alisa for more than 10 years when she joined the staff in the Operating Room at Children's Hospital.
Shortly after joining the General Operating Room, she became a member of the Cardiac Operating Room.
Alisa is a valued member of the COVR nursing team and over the years has contributed above and beyond to the team with new ideas to improve the service and care of our pediatric congenital heart patients undergoing heart surgery.
In addition to her nursing care in the Operating Room she actively participates in hospital-wide nursing councils: Practice Council and Magnet Champions, bring updated news and information to the nursing staff in the Operating Room.
In addition to this, over the years, Alisa has donated much of her personal time to community volunteer services: locally and worldwide. She volunteers locally with her community as a member of the Medical Reserve Corp of Virginia, participating in community health fairs, and has volunteered at two presidential inaugural events in Washington DC.
Outside of local community volunteering over the last seven years she has annually traveled to the Dominican Republic for eye surgery, Haiti for orthopedic surgery, and has traveled to Uganda for heart surgery, working side by side with the nurses of these countries; teaching and learning about "Global" Nursing.
This past February 2020, Alisa had just returned from her latest trip to Haiti when the COVID pandemic was spreading.
Her plans were to go to Uganda for a much-needed Pediatric Cardiac surgery mission trip. Due to the pandemic, this trip was canceled. This year has been a difficult time and canceling medical mission trips are difficult to handle when you know so many children are waiting for surgical repairs. In addition to this trip being canceled, her trip to the Dominican Republic for eye surgery this coming May was canceled, as well.
Early in April 2020, Alisa would tell us how she had started volunteering at Children's Pop-Up Drive Through Site for COVID testing. She would volunteer every Saturday and during the week when her work schedule was not a conflict. During the week, while at work in the operating room, Alisa would make announcements for other Operating Room staff to sign up to volunteer. She would give us updates regarding the Children's COVID testing site: how many kids have been tested and the current positive rate percentages. She would tell us how the volunteers had become her social family through this very difficult time, and how rewarding it was to serve the community, our children, in this manner. She would laugh when she would tell us about testing in freezing windy weather, downpouring rain, and 90-degree weather. She would say: the kids need to be tested and we signed up to volunteer and get this done.
At the end of June, when the site completed its service and closed, Alisa had volunteered for 3 months (with 14 volunteer days) in weather from winter rain and summer heat. Over 2000 children from DC, VA, and MD had been tested.
We feel Alisa is a most valued member of the cardiac surgery team, but above this (because volunteering is a labor of love) she is a true asset to the community with her service. During this pandemic, she put her personal thoughts aside and volunteered for the families and children in our community.
Shortly after joining the General Operating Room, she became a member of the Cardiac Operating Room.
Alisa is a valued member of the COVR nursing team and over the years has contributed above and beyond to the team with new ideas to improve the service and care of our pediatric congenital heart patients undergoing heart surgery.
In addition to her nursing care in the Operating Room she actively participates in hospital-wide nursing councils: Practice Council and Magnet Champions, bring updated news and information to the nursing staff in the Operating Room.
In addition to this, over the years, Alisa has donated much of her personal time to community volunteer services: locally and worldwide. She volunteers locally with her community as a member of the Medical Reserve Corp of Virginia, participating in community health fairs, and has volunteered at two presidential inaugural events in Washington DC.
Outside of local community volunteering over the last seven years she has annually traveled to the Dominican Republic for eye surgery, Haiti for orthopedic surgery, and has traveled to Uganda for heart surgery, working side by side with the nurses of these countries; teaching and learning about "Global" Nursing.
This past February 2020, Alisa had just returned from her latest trip to Haiti when the COVID pandemic was spreading.
Her plans were to go to Uganda for a much-needed Pediatric Cardiac surgery mission trip. Due to the pandemic, this trip was canceled. This year has been a difficult time and canceling medical mission trips are difficult to handle when you know so many children are waiting for surgical repairs. In addition to this trip being canceled, her trip to the Dominican Republic for eye surgery this coming May was canceled, as well.
Early in April 2020, Alisa would tell us how she had started volunteering at Children's Pop-Up Drive Through Site for COVID testing. She would volunteer every Saturday and during the week when her work schedule was not a conflict. During the week, while at work in the operating room, Alisa would make announcements for other Operating Room staff to sign up to volunteer. She would give us updates regarding the Children's COVID testing site: how many kids have been tested and the current positive rate percentages. She would tell us how the volunteers had become her social family through this very difficult time, and how rewarding it was to serve the community, our children, in this manner. She would laugh when she would tell us about testing in freezing windy weather, downpouring rain, and 90-degree weather. She would say: the kids need to be tested and we signed up to volunteer and get this done.
At the end of June, when the site completed its service and closed, Alisa had volunteered for 3 months (with 14 volunteer days) in weather from winter rain and summer heat. Over 2000 children from DC, VA, and MD had been tested.
We feel Alisa is a most valued member of the cardiac surgery team, but above this (because volunteering is a labor of love) she is a true asset to the community with her service. During this pandemic, she put her personal thoughts aside and volunteered for the families and children in our community.