2007 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award Top National Winner – RN Category

Award Nomination

Ms. Brenda Spurling, RN, is the Nurse Manager of our Dementia Unit which cares for a variety of veterans of many ages and levels of infirmity. She works to assure that each veteran resident is cared for as an individual, but this doesn't stop with the traditional"activities of daily living". Brenda devotes herself to the residents and her staff to assure everyone's needs are addressed- by working methods, work around methods, training, improvised schedules, rethinking just about everything traditionally done on a Nursing Home Care Unit. She leads by example everyday.

Several years ago our facility was a very traditional,"medically modeled" nursing home. With Brenda as a team leader, we changed many"traditional" norms and started our journey to transform our"facility" into our veterans Home. Brenda is creative and willing to take risks, but as a middle management, she utilizes opportunities and excels at leading her staff to use their ideas as well to support veterans focused activities. Her unit was once very clinical looking, and many residents spent large amounts of their time in their rooms or sitting in halls. Today it is much different, even the name of the Dementia Unit has changed to"Pine Lodge".

Brenda and her staff changed the easy things first – painted, hung curtains and wall trimmings to reflect the unit theme of the"Lodge" (many items she personally"donated"). One former office now has a mock fireplace, complete with mantel and furnishings; this is a comfortable lounge for residents and is seldom empty. Another area for a Barber Shop, use to be a vacant wide spot in a hallway. A simple change to non-VA issue shower curtains to support the lodge theme, took months of effort to assure she got what was wanted by staff and also comply with safety standards. Her work on this was deeply entrenched in Government policy changes that needed challenging to meet the needs of veterans who now live here. This was hard work, as well as innovative and"broke the mold" for our facility. She has led us in initiatives that were resident centered to create a Home for veterans, perhaps their last home. Some examples include increasing activities, (the Hunter's Breakfast her staff cook and serve on opening day is always a hit – employees all dress in hunting gear), planting vegetables outdoors, personal bedspreads and photos in rooms.

Brenda supported the first Activity Aide position at our facility, to assure residents had help with doing things on weekends and evenings, such as playing games, going outdoors, and being taken off site. She assisted with the resident pet therapy changes that allow for the dogs we now have on site that brighten the veteran's day with their visits.

In the Fall of 2006, she created the Festival of Lights for our facility; she knew not many of her residents could get out in the community to see Christmas lights, so she invited employees to help create a light show on site. With many donations given, she enlisted Engineering support and created a fantastic"winter wonderland" on our"back yard" area that stayed light up each evening in Dec. On Dec. 13th, the"festival" night, residents were all invited to go outside that night to see the display. Brenda worked with Recreation and Volunteer Services to have enough help, and Cub Scouts serving hot cocoa, and carolers from her church group entertained everyone. Several nights later, she had a Bell choir from the church come in to entertain the veterans.

These are only a few examples of her work! Her mother-in-law comes in to bake every week and her son played Santa Claus during gift distribution. Not just her own family members are involved, but her staff also are encouraged to use personal time and talents (if they choose) and this is done frequently on Pine Lodge. Grandchildren of employees coming in to visit our veterans, is getting to be commonplace.

The above paragraphs do not mention the administrative parts of her job. These duties are too numerous to mention, but include staffing, performance appraisals, JCAHO committees, Interdisciplinary committees for care planning, etc. She is respected for her fairness to her employees, willingness to listen and work shoulder to shoulder with her staff. Brenda is a resident advocate in everyway imaginable at our facility. I strongly recommend favorable regard of this nomination for Brenda Spurling RN, for her personal sacrifice of time to our veterans and her innovative talents that support our mission.

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