Local nurse recognized for her compassion, dedication and volunteer service

A cardiac rehabilitation nurse at Advocate Christ Medical Center’s High Tech Medical Park location has always gone the extra mile for the patients she cares for, the coworkers she’s worked alongside for more than 20 years and those who surround her in the community from elderly heroes to fragile babies. Because she embodies Advocate Health Care’s core nursing values, Eileen was recognized a winner of The Advocate NurseAward.

Eileen and the other 15 winning nurses will be recognized by Advocate’s executive leaders in a system-wide celebration taking place in April at the health system’s Downers Grove headquarters.

“Each of these nurses live out clinical excellence, compassion, patient-centered wholistic care and other core values of The Advocate Nurse through the work they do every day,” said Susan Campbell, senior vice president and chief nursing officer, Advocate Health Care. “They are our unsung heroes – the heart and soul of Advocate Health Care.”

Eileen has a heart of a servant, willingly giving of herself to better the community. She is a dedicated volunteer guardian for Honor Flight Chicago, assisting and accompanying WW II and Korean Vets on a flight to Washington DC for a day of honor and remembrance.

More than 1,000 nurses from Advocate Health Care’s hospitals, home health care, support center and medical offices were nominated for the inaugural award. Nominations were submitted by physicians and associates, including many non-nursing associates, to recognize Advocate nurses who empower, serve and thrive. These nominations were vetted and presented in blinded format to site-based review committees who scored each according to a metric that took into account each nominee’s passion for patient care, commitment to service, problem-solving abilities and leadership aptitude.

The winners are nurses from a variety of specialties across the patient care continuum who represent diversity in their backgrounds and experiences; some are veteran nurses with more than 30 years of experience while others are relatively new to Advocate or to the nursing profession yet have already made an impact on their patients and colleagues.