I work on a pretty amazing team, and when I think about what makes it amazing, I come back to the culture that has been created. The culture comes from our fierce leader, Paula Garner. She supports us, and regardless of how simple that sounds, we don’t always make it easy. “She has our back” is often heard throughout our department. We can bring anything to her, and we do. “Her door is always open” is not just a saying. We have worn down a path leading to it. It doesn’t matter what we bring to her; Paula hears us. With the continuous changes to our workflows, equipment, and computer systems, we have been very vocal, since we don’t all "do change" well. Paula can’t fix everything for us, but she sure does try. She represents us and our concerns whenever she can. Feeling heard helps us to feel validated.

Sometimes what we bring to her will spark an internal process improvement, which helps things run more efficiently. She encourages all of us to come up with ideas that will make our unit better. Paula is an excellent role model. She would like the CTC nurses to be OCN certified, and that is no easy exam or process. Paula did what any good leader would do: she went first and led by example. Two have followed, and two more are about to write the exam. She is always asking what she can do to help us on our career path. It is not just through words, though, as she will rearrange schedules and make things work so that we have time to meet our goals. She celebrates our victories and encourages us to grow.

My respect for Paula has grown over the years, and it is her driven nature that calls us to practice at a higher level. One example of this is when she realized that we had a gap in our education for new nurses. She made it a priority to address this and built what is now referred to as the Oncology Academy. She sits with every new nurse and goes over Cancer basics, such as a few common chemo plans and possible complications. This has now become part of the orientation for nurses from other sites. Paula is no longer doing direct patient care, but she has had an immense impact on the care for our patients through her passion for building stronger Oncology Nurses. I am blessed to be led by Paula and feel that she is so very deserving of the Daisy Leader Award.