Three BWH Nurses Honored by NERBNA
Congratulations to Tamara Breneus, LPN, Sasha DuBois, BSN, RN, and Shelley Joseph, BSN, RN, who received the 2011 New England Regional Black Nurses Association (NERBNA) Excellence in Nursing Awards for their contributions and outstanding nursing achievements in the area of clinical care. Established in 1973, NERBNA provides educational programs to enhance nurse competencies in leadership and ethical practice, awards scholarships for those pursuing a nursing degree and advocates for and provides health services to the community to reduce mortality and morbidity in diseases that have a high incidence in minority populations.
Tamara Breneus
Tamara Breneus has been working in the pediatric clinics at Brookside Community Health Center since 2007. Known for her enthusiasm and energy, Breneus has a unique way of connecting with patients in a calm and sensitive manner and understands the social and financial issues that may affect their health.
About 80 percent of the health center’s patients speak Spanish, so Breneus, who also speaks Haitian-Creole, took a medical Spanish course to improve her ability to speak with them. “Tamara is a wonderful mentor,” said her former Nursing Director Elizabeth Scanlan, RNC, NP, MSN, who nominated her. “She trains new medical assistants and enjoys teaching undergraduate nursing students at Brookside. Students marvel at her ability to connect with our multicultural staff and patients. She has a knack for discovering what makes someone tick.”
Sasha DuBois
Sasha DuBois, who joined Tower 10BA in 2008, always keeps patients and their families at the center of her decision-making. According to her nominators, Nursing Director Ellen Clemence, MSN, RN, and Nurse Educator Erin Kelleher, MS, RN, “Sasha has an engaging way of ‘knowing’ her patients. She strives to individualize her care plan to their specific needs and effectively communicates to the multidisciplinary team, as well as her colleagues, about her patients’ status and concerns. Her patients have expressed that she is a true advocate for them.”
DuBois is also engaged in her community and promoting the nursing profession. She has been a member of the New England Black Regional Nurses Association since 2007 and is passionate about promoting and making health care available to African Americans, as well as other underserved communities.
Shelley Joseph
Shelley Joseph is recognized as an expert clinical resource nurse by her colleagues on Tower 14AB, where she has worked as a nurse since 2007. Her practice exemplifies excellence through her consistent demonstration of expert clinical reasoning and compassionate care for vulnerable patients.
Joseph, who is of Haitian background herself, provides excellent care to patients of diverse backgrounds and is attuned to their cultural needs. When caring for a confused patient, for example, she calmed him by speaking in his own language and restored trust with his family members by explaining what was happening to him and how they could be included in the goals of care. “Shelley enhances the image of nursing through her intellect, her passion for patients and through her presentations on nursing’s contributions to patient care,” according to nominators Nursing Director Patti Brita Rossi, RN, Nurse Educator Christine Smith, RN, and Marjorie Depestre, RN, clinical nurse colleague.