CNO Statement

Dear Nursing Colleagues,

In honor of the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, the World Health Organization designated 2020 the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife.” Internationally, there were many events and preparations planned to recognize the outstanding care that nurses provide on a daily basis. Surprisingly, it turned out that the recognition was for something very different.  In March of 2020, we all began to prepare for the COVID 19 pandemic and what would follow was simply extraordinary. Nurse’s voices and advocacy contributed to the protection and advancement of the profession within and outside of our organization. Our community responded and provided support in ways that we had never experienced. Nurses at all levels of the organization propelled innovation, exemplified professionalism, cultivated leadership and sustained quality patient care. The compassion of CMC Nurses was above anything that I have witnessed in over 20 years in Healthcare.

In 2021, we thought we were getting to a point of stability, however, the pandemic continued fiercely and we were faced with additional opportunities. Our hospital beds were filled to maximum capacity, and at times we had to extend patient rooms and areas to accommodate our patients. We began to provide Nursing Services in areas of Cleveland Medical Center that had never been considered before. These efforts took an extraordinary amount of teamwork, communication, resiliency, and commitment to our community. It was out of this patient need, nurses continued to innovate and we even nurtured a new care delivery model, still in its infant stage, the Helping Hands Model. This model has been an accelerator to fuel top of license nursing practice and bring additional resources to the patient’s bedside. Throughout these challenging times, we continued to uphold standards of nursing excellence and completed our virtual site visit by the Magnet Recognition Program, with the final determination of achieving our 4th Magnet Designation. At this time, only 10% of healthcare organizations in the country have achieved this prestigious status.

As we continue to embrace new challenges of the pandemic, I am hopeful, proud, and thankful that our Nurses at Cleveland Medical Center continue to provide outstanding nursing care to our patients. As you read through this report, you will hear about the nurse led programs and initiatives that bring life to our UH Nursing Vision: Empower. Advocate. Innovate to achieve excellence in human caring.