Honorees and Nominees - Spring 2022

Megan Smith, BSN, RN
7A Surgical, Trauma, Transplant, & Neuroscience ICU

I want to introduce you to Nurse Megan Smith. She is a petite nurse with a huge heart. She has not been a part of the Loma Linda family for very long. Megan started working in our Surgical, Trauma, Neuro, and Transplant ICU in June of 2021. During this short time, she has a tremendous impact on our patients, their families, and her teammates.

Megan fights tough as an advocate for her patients and families, at the same time she works equally hard to provide them with gentle compassionate care.

There are numerous instances to share that describe her extraordinary and selfless qualities. I have chosen one particular instance that exemplifies the superior type of person and nurse our Megan is.

COVID has impacted all of us in unprecedented ways. Unfortunately, for some of our patients the outcomes are devastating and tragic. Our lives and the lives of their families will be forever changed by the deadly virus.

On this particular day, a patient was admitted to the High Risk OB – SICU service. She presented pregnant with hypoxia and pneumonia. The patient continued to decompensate, and she underwent emergency cesarean section. She delivered a baby boy of a low estimated gestational age. She did not see her baby. Over the next two weeks, her condition continues to deteriorate, and her prognosis was poor.

After a week, per the lactation RN note, Megan called the NICU lactation office with questions about pumping. The patient remained intubated and was now non-responsive. Megan was attempting to pump breast milk from the patient but and was only getting drops. In addition, she was asking if the baby could somehow be brought to the mother’s room. The patient had been COVID cleared as of this date. Megan voiced her concern to the Lactation RN that “the mother and baby had never been able to be together”. The lactation RN provided Megan with contact information to NICU management.

Megan did not give up on her quest. She contacted the NICU RN team and arranged for this meeting to happen. Finally, the patient’s baby was brought to the unit for a 30-minute visit and was placed skin-to-skin with his mommy. The patient’s family was present for this reunion and numerous photos were taken. Patient’s baby will now grow up with these images, forever a memory of his mom.

The patient was being worked up for a transfer to an outside hospital for a lifesaving lung transplant. That transfer did not happen, and she unfortunately passed away the next day, only a few hours after their reunion.

Thank you, Megan, for making this extraordinary effort. Because of you, the patient’s baby met his mother and shared that very important bond of skin to skin contact.

~ Nurse Manager

Gabriel Marin, BSN, RN, CEN, CCRN
9A Cardiac & Cardiothoracic ICU

I would like to nominate Gabe for the DAISY award because I believe he provided excellent patient care to a recently passed patient.

During the patient’s hospital stay, the patient and Gabe had a conversation about both being former military veterans from the Air Force. Unfortunately, the patient’s condition worsened, and he ended up passing. This passing affected a lot of nurses in the unit, myself included. We all cared for this patient and his significant other, especially because we would see him on a daily basis, and all formed a special friendship with him. The day of the passing, Gabe had the wonderful idea to get a US flag, fold it in a triangle and provide this flag to the spouse (whom we all have become friends with and have gotten used to seeing daily) from the nurses, physicians, and other members of the team. He gathered the nurses that were available in the unit, lined the staff from the hallway to the patients room and explained how we would all pass the flag as a symbol of how we all cared for the deceased patients. We would start from the furthest nurse and pass it along until it met him, he then would provide the flag to the spouse and offer some kind words from behalf of all the nurses on the floor. After we passed the flag, he stated how it was a sign of respect from the nurses and how it was from all the nurses that cared for him during his stay acknowledging his military background. The spouse was so touched to see everyone come together to pay their respects and thanked every single person that cared for him and expressed gratitude for all the hard work we all put into his care.

This was so special, not only for the family member but also for the staff to be able to be present for the spouse and to be part of the patients last moments. I appreciate Gabe doing that so much, and i know other nurses that cared for this patient also appreciated it as well. I have not seen anyone go above and beyond like he did for the patient, the family and the staff.

~ Nurse Practitioner

• Adela Diaz - 6A Oncology/Transplant
• Amanda Mitchell - 6A Oncology/Transplant
• Angela Gianni - 6A Oncology/Transplant
• Gibson Prihandayadi - 6A Oncology/Transplant
• Jeffrey Chen - 6A Oncology/Transplant
• Katelyn Padgett - 6A Oncology/Transplant
• Katelynn Denny - 6A Oncology/Transplant
• Linda Moran - 6A Oncology/Transplant
• Kacy Oliva - 7A Surgical, Trauma, Transplant, & Neuroscience ICU
• Abigale Schucker - 8A Medical ICU
• Edward Dickinson - 8A Medical ICU
• Kerry Hernandez - 8A Medical ICU
• Maura Bailey - 8A Medical ICU
• Rosa Rodriguez - 8A Medical ICU
• Consuelo Hernandez - 9A Cardiac/ Cardiothoracic
• Kevin Becerra - 9A Cardiac/ Cardiothoracic
• Marisela Aguilar-Alatore - 9A Cardiac/ Cardiothoracic
• Alan Wong - 10A Cardiac Progressive Care
• Antigoni Christoforakis - 10A Cardiac Progressive Care
• Brian Wills - 10A Cardiac Progressive Care
• Cindy Olmedo - 10A Cardiac Progressive Care
• Daniel Rodriguez - 10A Cardiac Progressive Care
• Elaine Guevara - 10A Cardiac Progressive Care
• Helen Natera - 10A Cardiac Progressive Care
• Issam Bannout - 10A Cardiac Progressive Care
• Katie Albarran - 10A Cardiac Progressive Care
• Abilgail Tohm - 11A Medical/Cardiac Care
• Bianca Contreras - 11A Medical/Cardiac Care
• Dianne Kay Abetong - 11A Medical/Cardiac Care
• Mark Barboza - 11A Medical/Cardiac Care
• Ann Marie Aquino - 12A Medical Progressive Care
• Ashley Pena - 12A Medical Progressive Care
• Chidimma Obioma - 12A Medical Progressive Care
• Danicca Kettle - 12A Medical Progressive Care
• Danicca Kettle - 12A Medical Progressive Care
• Jadie Chi - 12A Medical Progressive Care
• Jeanette Hillman - 12A Medical Progressive Care

• Jeni Heinz - 12A Medical Progressive Care
• Carly Auten - 13A Neuroscience Progressive Care
• Catherine Tambunan - 13A Neuroscience Progressive Care
• Carla Strub - 14A Surgical Care
• David Halderman - 14A Surgical Care
• Deborah Lindsey - 14A Surgical Care
• Frances Angeles - 14A Surgical Care
• Gabriela Aldaco - 14A Surgical Care
• Marietta Arsenia Marzo - 14A Surgical Care
• Marvelous Yandoc - 14A Surgical Care
• Paige Pettit - 14A Surgical Care
• Sabrina Cotton - 14A Surgical Care
• Stephanie Solorio - 14A Surgical Care
• Abel Lopez - 15A Surgical/ Trauma Care
• Agnes Villania - 15A Surgical/ Trauma Care
• Alexandra Armstrong - 15A Surgical/ Trauma Care
• Giselle Sanchez - 15A Surgical/ Trauma Care
• Isabelo Cruz - 15A Surgical/ Trauma Care
• Michelle Miller - 15A Surgical/ Trauma Care
• Sharon Simmons - 15A Surgical/ Trauma Care
• Sabrina Sullins - 15A Surgical/Trauma Care
• Julie Lee - 15A Surgival/Trauma Care
• Kyoung Sook Shin - 8300 Observation Unit
• Kimberly Watson - Cancer Clinic
• Erik Andrews - Cardiovascular Lab
• Kathryn Shankel - Emergency Room
• Kenneth Johnston - Emergency Room
• Keren Ungson Gomez - Emergency Room
• Madison Copeland - Emergency Room
• Ryan Carr - Emergency Room
• Esther Kanyita - Supplemental Staffing Network
• Miriam Soda - Supplemental Staffing Network
• Xuyan Parry - Supplemental Staffing Network
• Dexter Emoto - PACU
• Kevin Wangsnes - PACU
• Lisa Orland - Radiology Care Unit

Jamie Hambly, BSN, RN, CCRN, C-NPT
5700 Pediatric ICU

Jamie Hambly has been an incredible asset to the Pediatric ICU. She always has a positive attitude, loves high acuity situations, and she loves saving the lives of children and her coworkers. She is an inspiration every day she works and makes everyone want to raise their game to meet hers. On this particular day, she did something incredible I can’t remember seeing in my years in the PICU as a student, resident, fellow, or attending. She spontaneously organized an honor walk for a 20-month-old girl who had been on our unit since Christmas. This girl was intubated, with multiple chest tubes, on VV ECMO and there were several times where it looked like she may not survive. She did, and at the time of her transfer out of our PICU, she was neurologically intact, on room air, and was happy and smiling. Jamie had the staff line the halls and had our patient walk past everyone like the star of a parade – mother was pulling her wagon while recording video of her waving and smiling. Mother was crying tears of joy as they passed all the applauding staff on their way to the elevators. We often see heart breaking events happen on our unit, so when there is a reason to celebrate, it brings a lot of joy to our staff, our parents, and remind us why we do what we do. I am nominating Jamie Hambly for the DAISY Award specifically for this event, but I feel like she deserves a life-time award for what she has done to change the culture of our PICU with her example of positive uplifting hard work that makes a difference every day.

~ Physician

Martin Gillette, MSN, RN, PHN, CNL
4700 Pediatric Intermediate Step Down

I don’t even know where to start! Martin was amazing all around. Unfortunately, we spend lots of time in the hospital due to my child’s many issues. We are not new to this life and have lived it for almost 2 years now. This is my first time ever writing a review for a nurse; so that should tell you something and I can honestly say Martin had a way about him that made me and my husband feel so comfortable. He was understanding, he was very well spoken, and got everything we needed in a timely fashion. We were lucky enough to have him 3 nights in a row in the ICU. You can tell right away he had children of his own and he truly cared about my child and wanted to make him as comfortable as possible. Martin was also willing to listen to all our questions and went into great detail to make sure we understood everything. We explained our concerns and he made sure we felt comfortable. He is wonderful at his job and deserves to be recognized.

~ Patient’s family member

• Ashley Rodriguez - 4700 Intermediate Step Down
• Coleen Anne Estrella - 4700 Intermediate Step Down
• Skye Jackson - 4700 Intermediate Step Down
• Taylor Dizon - 4700 Intermediate Step Down
• Liliam Acosta - 4800 Hematology/Oncology
• Margie Boyer - 5700 Pediatric ICU
• Ashley Garcia - 5800 Cardiothoracic ICU
• Calandra Spacher - 5800 Cardiothoracic ICU
• Jacqueline Gomez - 5800 Cardiothoracic ICU
• Mayra Gomez - 5800 Cardiothoracic ICU
• Monique Lange - 5800 Cardiothoracic ICU
• Nathalie Rodriguez - 5800 Cardiothoracic ICU

• Nathaly Rader - 5800 Cardiothoracic ICU
• Ashley Serafin - 5B Maternity Services
• Ashley Slaten - 5B Maternity Services
• Kimberly Marin - 5B Maternity Services
• Carrie Penny - 9C Acute Care Adolescents
• Jojo Baldwin - 9C Acute Care Adolescents
• Nawana Cruz - 9C Acute Care Adolescents
• Shane Roberts - 9C Acute Care Adolescents
• Judy Tu - CH Operating Room
• Victoria Patterson - Pediatric Emergency Department
• Debra Bogar - Supplemental Staffing Network

Alexander Ramirez, RN
Adolescents and Youth Services

Every day Alex comes to work, he goes above and beyond for his patients and for his staff. He always puts others first before himself. He will constantly check in with his staff to make sure everyone is doing okay. Alex takes the heaviest patient list with no complaints. One night, I had a very aggressive patient who was cursing and threatening to harm staff. Alex immediately intervened. He was able to verbally deescalate the patient and avoided the patient from escalating. There are so many responsibilities entrusted on nurses. Still, he is able to function at a high level under immense pressure and stress. In emergencies, he remains levelheaded and in control of the situation. Alex is a bright, dedicated, hardworking individual whose patients are noticeably happier when he is on shift. Alex is reliable, trustworthy, and has great leadership skills.

~ Fellow Leader

Top DAISY Nominees

• Abigail Guzman – IP Psych Adult and Senior
• Athalia Marie Ayuco – PHP/IOP Adolescent and Children

Nominees​

• Gema Gonzales - IP Psych Adolescent and Children
• Roy Cho - IP Psych Adolescent and Children
• Pamela Brunner - PHP/IOP Substance Use 

Panicha “PK” Kittipha, MSN, APRN, PHN, AGACNP-BC, CCRN
Advanced Practice Services – Adults

Many of us choose nursing as a profession because we want to help people - a standard catch phrase heard by those we work with.  Few are truly called to the profession because of their open acceptance of humanity.  Even fewer have experienced pain firsthand to know the nurses healing hands can touch a broken soul and emit love through the power of their touch.  PK is that nurse.  I have 2 examples of where PK stepped in and provided care not only to the patient, but to the nursing staff on the floor.

The first patient was a difficult case due to injuries and follow up care.  It appeared that several things could have been smoother in the transition for this patient, yet days dragged on and it felt like nobody was truly this patient’s advocate.  PK stepped in.  He reviewed the chart at length on a busy day, he messaged all the various providers who were involved in the case, talked to the insurance medical director to give them a clearer picture of the patient. All because it mattered to him.  He came to my office and said, “I would want someone to advocate for my loved ones, so I’m doing it for this patient.  It’s the right thing to do.”  He checked in on the patient during a holiday weekend and was relentless in his pursuit to make sure this patient received the best of Loma Linda.  That is having a love and acceptance of humanity.

A nutritional tech checked in on the second patient to take his meal order and noticed that something was amiss.  Knowing the signs of a potential stroke, the tech ran out and notified PK who came running into the room. He didn’t stop or hesitate because it wasn’t his patient; that didn’t matter.  He immediately took control of the care of this patient, and within 30 minutes the patient was in route with the stroke team for immediate intervention. He did what needed to be done and because of it, gave this patient a fighting chance.

He is the first to lend a hand, first to jump in with advice or educate the nurses and will go above and beyond for any patient because he loves all of humanity.  He accepts all of humanity, and he will sacrifice for humanity.  He is never too busy to do his job.  During the height of COVID, he worked extra shifts as a bedside nurse in the ICU because he knew the team needed support and the patients needed care. We are beyond blessed to have PK on staff at Loma Linda University Health and without question, is a living breathing example of what the DAISY Award truly signifies.

~ Nurse Leader

Top DAISY Nominees

• Jennifer Brown – CRNA
• Jessica Tieche – CRNA

Diana Garcia, RN
Neonatal ICU

Diana deserves to be recognized for her outstanding care to every patient she comes in contact with and her willingness to go above and beyond for her coworkers. Every shift that Diana works she never takes a moment of downtime, she is always checking on her co-workers in the department to see if anyone needs help, no job is ever too big. When coworkers go to her and ask for her assistance she never hesitates or ever says no. She makes herself available for difficult tasks, tasks that most people don't want to even do. Diana is a great educator to every patient and nurse on the unit. There are often times floor resource nurses will help postpartum nurses complete 24 hour labs and testing for their patients, once I had a patient request that her husband be skin to skin with the baby while the labs were completed, Diana encouraged it and said it was no problem, again she never says no and always supports the patients and staff! Once she completes a task to help, she then asks what she can do next to help! We can always count on Diana, she is so outstanding, never complains and always has the most positive attitude.

~ Fellow Nurse

Top DAISY Nominees

• Tavia Wills – PCU/Cardiac Telemetry
• Rose Argmedo – Surgery

Nominees

• Carrie Ramos - Emergency Room 
• Fozia Aman - PCU/Cardiac Telemetry 
• Roxanne Hardy - PCU/Cardiac Telemetry 
• Terry Haga - PCU/Cardiac Telemetry

Charlene Dizon, MSN, RN
1300 Medical Acute

I’ve had the privilege of witnessing Charlene grow from a shy and timid new grad to the confident and knowledgeable charge nurse that we all know and love. Charlene has the challenging task of navigating her entire team through the busiest of shifts. Despite the limited resources, Charlene is able to work through the most chaotic shifts with grace and professionalism. She is well organized, compassionate, and hard working. Despite her endless list of tasks she completes, she still finds time to lend a hand to her neighboring units with codes and rapid responses. Throughout the years, Charlene has had endless encounters that make her worthy of recognition. The most recent that comes to mind is a story about a patient transfer.

On a busy night, full of admissions, one of her nurses transferred in a patient from the ICU. Upon transfer, the patient became upset about the changes made to his medication regiment. The bedside nurse attempted to explain policy and procedures, but the patient was not satisfied, therefore the matter was escalated to Charlene. Despite the fact that she was busy that night, she took the time to talk to him and address his concerns. She reassured him that they will do absolutely everything in their power to provide the best and safest care they can. Charlene made sure that the patient knew that in that moment nothing else mattered. She spoke to him with tenderness and care. She was able to turn that entire mood in that room into positive vibes. At the end, the patient appreciated her approached and thanked her for being so kind during a moment where he wasn’t.

Charlene lives our values every single day she comes to work, and that’s something to admire. Thank you, Charlene, East Campus is grateful for everything you do.

~ Anonymous

• Arlyn Hamoy - 1100 Acute Rehab
• Chelsea Velasquez - 1100 Acute Rehab
• Lucy Marquez - 1100 Acute Rehab
• Veronika Laketau - 1100 Acute Rehab
• Ismelis Pozo Echevarria - 1300 Medical Acute Care
• Joseph De La Cruz - 1300 Medical Acute Care
• Lhezbel Mohammed- Lagraa - 1300 Medical Acute Care
• Felna Rodrigo - 1500 Acute Rehab 

• Carly Morgan - Advanced Urgent Care 
• Chelsea Chavez - Advanced Urgent Care 
• Michael Gray - Advanced Urgent Care 
• Ramnit Kaur - Advanced Urgent Care 
• Shantae Lankford - Advanced Urgent Care 
• Irina Turlea - Supplemental Staffing Network
• Melati Khoe - Supplemental Staffing Network

Katharine Fletcher, BSN, RN
Outpatient Surgery Center

This happened when early vaccination was offered to our employees as first responders. The vaccination ratio varied in our unit, some staff were waiting to make the decision of whether to accept the vaccine or not. Others accepted the vaccine right away and were fully vaccinated. Others were in the process. As you all can remember, those were scary times.

Katie had just finished her vaccination series. Also, in perioperative services, we test patients that are coming for surgery. Any patient that screens positive to any of the COVID symptoms or that tests positive is cancelled and not allowed to enter the pre op area. On this particular day, a patient was admitted to our pre op unit. For some reason, his COVID test result was overseen, and it was positive. He came via IEHP transportation and had no family with him. I was called to look into what had happened and to resolve this issue. As I arrived at the nurses’ station, I have to say, we were all very concerned. We weren't used to having a known COVID positive patient among us. The unknown and fear seemed to take over. We also had a pregnant staff among us. Katie immediately took the chart and said: “I will take care of him, I am vaccinated”. And she did. She was determined and she went ahead and did what she knew was the right thing to do.

We had the patient already in an isolation room, we found the isolation cart and Katie went in to talk to that patient, explain the situation and take care of his needs. I just can't explain how solemn that moment was. I have no words to commend Katie for her strength, compassion, teamwork, and valor. Thank God that things are better today. Thank you, Katie, for your exceptional gesture in a time of great need.

~ Nurse Manager

Top DAISY Nominees

• Judith Choi – 2100 Surgical Acute & RN Residency Program
• Evi Wangania – SH Operating Room

Nominees​

• Celia Stoltzfus - Outpatient Surgery Center