On August 27, 2020 CURE Media Group, the industry-leading multimedia platform devoted to cancer updates and research that reaches more than 1 million patients, reported the three finalists for the 2020 Extraordinary Healer Award for Oncology Nursing and the winner of the 2020 The Finest Hour award (Press release, CURE Media Group, AUG 27, 2020, View Source [SID1234564112]).

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This year’s celebration, which will be held in a virtual format, recognizes exceptional nurses for their efforts in the oncology community. The Finest Hour, an award to honor the selfless achievements of an extraordinary nurse working to provide care during the COVID-19 pandemic, also will be presented.

This year’s finalists for the Extraordinary Healer award are:

Vicki Dodson, B.S.N., RN, OCN, has 36 years of nursing experience. She works as an oncology nurse navigator at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington. Dodson takes time to listen to patients expressing their fears and frustrations and helps them figure out the confusing health care system, educating them on the treatments and therapies they will be receiving. She recently volunteered to run a cancer support group that had lost its facilitator, in addition to the many other organizations she supports. Dodson credits her career in nursing to her love of people and the ever-everchanging research and treatment.
Maria Rodriguez, B.S.N., RN, is a nurse navigator at the cancer center at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rodriguez looks beyond patients’ diagnoses and tries to soothe the spirit in addition to treating the illness. She is bilingual and became a dual-role medical interpreter for Spanish-speaking patients. Rodriguez made the cancer center’s holiday food drive more inclusive for Hispanic families and spearheaded the center’s Feliz Navidad celebration. Her inspiration for becoming a nurse was her grandmother, who always told her that she had healing hands and to share them with others who were suffering because of an illness.
Christie Santure, B.S.N., RN, OCN, is an infusion nurse at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Santure launched a Caring for the Caregiver program at UPMC, a support group for those who are caring for someone undergoing cancer treatment. She offers sessions twice a month at Hillman Cancer Center and is working with leadership to start the program at other UPMC locations. Santure started as a candy-striper and has been a nurse for 40 years. She aspires to walk in the shoes of the nurses before her who inspired her journey.
The winner of the Finest Hour award is Elizabeth Farrat, B.S.N., RN, CCRN-K. Farrat works as a perioperative nurse liaison in the operating room at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center in New York City. Prior to her current role, Farrat worked in the intensive care unit (ICU) at MSK for 10 years, where she helped design and facilitate the ICU orientation trajectory, ICU preceptor expectations and workflow. In addition, she helped create an ICU Teaching the Teacher Continuing Education Program for ICU preceptors. Farrat also was a palliative care unit champion and is an end-of-life nursing education consortium critical care trainer. During the COVID-19 surge in New York, Farrat was redeployed to the ICU to care for patients who were critically ill with the virus. She helped implement the real-time, critical-care training of step-down registered nurses so that they were able to provide ICU care.

"Each of these nurses has demonstrated incredible compassion, expertise and helpfulness in caring for their patients," said Mike Hennessy Jr., president, and CEO of MJH Life Sciences, parent company of CURE Media Group. "They have gone above and beyond their call of duty during this difficult time, and we look forward to shining a light on them for their tremendous efforts."

The 2020 Extraordinary Healer Award for Oncology Nursing virtual celebration will take place Thursday, Sept. 17.

For more information on the winners and to register to attend, click here.

This event is supported by Bristol Myers Squibb and Janssen.