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These words echo in Roger Blanza’s mind as he leaves home, preparing to care for patients and their families at BWH. His colleagues and patients can attest that he fulfills his goal every time he walks through the doors of the Cardiac Surgery ICU. Blanza typically can be seen offering to assist nurses and care providers with questions, precepting nursing students and those new to the unit and cutting patients’ hair or giving them a shave to help them look and feel their best.
“The focus of why we are all here is the patient,” said Blanza, whose 33 years of experience in virtually every ICU setting have made him an expert clinical nurse and a strong patient advocate. “I try to do everything I can to make a patient feel better – if that means clearing the clutter in their room or giving them a haircut, I do it. It makes them happy, and it fulfills me.”
Blanza is this year’s recipient of the Essence of Nursing Award—the Department of Nursing’s highest honor for clinical staff nurses. During the May 9 Nurse Recognition Dinner, Blanza and the four exemplary nurses named as honorees were recognized: Margaret Bernazzani, BSN, RN, of the Surgical ICU; Christopher Day, MSN, RN, of the ICU Float Pool; Sherilyn Levy, MSN, RN, of the Center for Infertility and Reproductive Surgery; and Susan McDonald, BSN, RN, of Hematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplant.
“As we celebrate our nurses throughout the month of May at a series of events, we have the opportunity to reflect on our nursing practice and the impact we have on so many lives each and every day,” said Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer Jackie Somerville, PhD, RN. “The commitment you demonstrate to our patients and their families, your energy for advancing the practice of nursing through research and your willingness to teach the next generation of nurses is truly outstanding.”
For Blanza, his love of teaching new nurses and other members of the care team is tantamount to his love of caring for patients.
“New nurses who have the fortune of orienting with Roger are well equipped to provide safe care to patients upon completion of their orientation,” said Matt Quin, MSN, RN, nursing director of Tower 8, who previously was director of the Cardiac Surgery ICU. “His nurse colleagues and physicians routinely confer with Roger regarding patient management issues. In fact, all of his peers express relief to know he is on duty.”
The learning goes both ways, says Blanza. “We can learn from young nurses just out of school,” he said. “I don’t know everything; nursing is a continuous learning process.”