Kelly D. Skinner, DNP, APRN, NP-C, GNP-BC, CRRN, WCC, CFCN

VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA

NOVA Chapter 226

Nurses Week T-shirts

NOVA Chapter 226 nurses wore their NOVA 2020 - 2021 Year of the Nurse t-shirts with pride!

Left to Right Top Row: Theresa Presley. Nacha Pierre, Kelly D. Skinner, Sherry Clement, and Tom Savage

Left to Right Middle Row: Valentina Ward,  Anastasia Aryee,  Danielle Newman,  Julie Szegda and Mindy Shackelford

Left to Right Bottom Row: Molly Maloney, Nancy Brooks, Kattie Davis and Kelley Nunes

Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Nursing

Congratulations to Jessica Ash on being awarded the Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Nursing – RN Expanded Role category! She is the Nurse Recruiter at the VA Boston Healthcare System and continues to use her vast administrative and clinical knowledge to advance the hiring practices and recruitment of the best qualified candidates for the Nursing Service. Jessica was publicly recognized for being the recipient of this prestigious award during Nurses Week. 

Jessica Ash, BSN, RN

Nurses Week Raffle

Carol McTavish, LPN, May Park, BSN, RN, WCC and Chizoba Nwosu, PhD, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC are looking fabulous sporting their NOVA fleeces they won from the Nurses Week Raffle!

Left to Right: Carol McTavish, May Park and Chizoba Nwosu

Line Dancing Event

NOVA Chapter 226 coordinated a Line Dancing Event which took place on Saturday, May 15, 2021 in Marshfield, MA. Two-stepping together outdoors was so much fun! We seized this opportunity to get some exercise, relieve stress, recharge, learn new dance moves, and raise money for scholarships for NOVA nurses. Valentina Ward, Ellen McCarthy, Kelly D. Skinner, Theresa Presley, Mindy Shackelford, Sandra Terry, Gilda Cain, Marie Pizziferri, Joan Clifford, Anjana Phuyal, Nancy Connors, and Jessica Cunningham were just some of those who were shimmying and shaking that day. Sorry, but I am not at liberty to disclose who were the beginners and who were the boot scooters in this group. You will just have to go to the next Line Dancing Event in September to find out for yourself. Stay tuned for details!

Anjana Phuyal, BSN, RN 

VA Boston Health Care System, Boston, MA

NOVA Chapter 226

My name is Anjana Phuyal, and I work at the VA Boston Healthcare System in West Roxbury as the Accreditation Specialist. Throughout my nursing career, I have worked on various inpatient and outpatient units as a staff nurse. Prior to joining the VA in 2017,  I did some travel nursing in Massachusetts.

Prior to March 2020 I was working in the outpatient PACU; however, the COVID-19 pandemic transformed health care priorities and in the last week of March 2020, I was detailed to an inpatient COVID unit for 12 weeks. It was a momentous event in my life both professionally and personally. The biggest adjustment to the new detail was providing care under the unfamiliar guise of COVID-19 while ensuring my own safety and the safety of my loved ones. I was not forthcoming about which unit I was working on to protect and prevent people from “freaking out.” With all of the uncertainties and fear came a sense of duty to the Veterans to whom I felt obliged. 

I wrote this reflection to remember that working on the COVID unit had a silver lining. In the midst of the unknown, I met with many instances of the known human element. I looked into my patients’ eyes and those of my fellow co-workers with a different intensity; their eyes told the story. I held my patients’ hands more intently; they so needed human touch. I spent more time with each patient as I was not sure if I would see them the next time I worked (some were really sick and passed away). We all worked as a team even more than before as there was no other option and survival was on the line. We also experienced the fear of diminishing PPE supplies which added to our angst. 

“Call my wife and tell her that I love her!” yelled Mr. X fighting the tears in his eyes yet smiling. I held his cold hands and said “I will, and you can too when I bring the iPad over. I can call her, and you can say that to her, okay?” He was my new admission to the COVID unit, a transfer from the Bedford VA. He was extremely hard of hearing, unable to help himself, had wounds on his buttocks and legs, was feverish and had trouble with his memory.

I went into the room to do my admission assessment with the doctor. Because the patient was hard of hearing, I had a hearing device with me, but the patient did not want to wear it. I attempted to tell him that it was a hearing device that would facilitate our conversation. I put it around his ear and held it. After introducing himself, the doctor started to ask, “How are you doing, sir?” The patient looked at the doctor and then looked at me and said, “Call my wife and tell her I love her!” The doctor and I smiled underneath our N-95 mask; the eyes gave away the smile. “Are you in pain, sir?” asked the doctor. “Call my wife and tell her I love her!” stressed the patient. “Are you breathing okay, sir?” I yelled through my N-95 mask and the face shield unsure if my muffled voice reached his ears. I leaned over and the patient started to cry and said, “Call my wife and tell her I love her!” The doctor and I decided that we would proceed with the interview later because the patient was upset. I stayed with the patient, held his hand, and listened to him as he talked about his wife. The patient did not care about his pain, his shortness of breath, or his wounds, but cared about what was most important to him... his wife and telling her, “I love you!” His biggest concern was that his wife knew he loved her. Love is powerful I thought, and  I am seeing  a living, breathing example. Love gets us through the worst of times! 

Mr. X is a fighter. He beat COVID last year and still comes to the hospital for treatments and procedures. I wonder if it is the love that he has for his wife that helped him to fight and survive. 

Essentially, I wrote this piece to remember how much stronger (physically and mentally), kinder and wiser I emerged from the COVID detail. I was also thankful that when the whole world had to shut down and many people were not allowed to leave their homes that I had a reason and purpose to leave mine.  It may have only made small differences in my patients’ lives but it has made a major one in my  life.

Thank you for this opportunity to share my story.

Colleen Sibert, MSN, APRN, AGNP-C

Tomah VA Medical Center, Tomah, WI

Colleen Sibert, MSN, APRN, AGNP-BC is an advanced practice nurse who has worked as a nurse practitioner in the urgent care setting at the Tomah VA since 2008. She graduated from Western Technical College in 2008 with her Associates Degree; Bachelors of Science from Western Governors University in 2010, and her Master’s Degree from Walden University in 2014. Colleen is currently enrolled in the DNP program through Walden University and is expected to graduate in the fall of 2022. 

It is Colleen’s honor to serve our Nation’s Heroes. Her goal is to give the best possible care to all Veterans. Colleen was the 2020 recipient of the Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Nursing for the Expanded RN Role category.

Colleen serves as the President of the Lacrosse Area Suicide Prevention Initiative, a community organization that promotes awareness that suicide is a public health problem and can be preventable. The Lacrosse Area Suicide Prevention Initiative sponsors a yearly education summit for the community to  provide education on the prevalence and risk factors for different populations, and acquire tools for prevention, assessment and intervention. Colleen’s perspective as a VA employee has proven to be invaluable. This year, sessions on Veteran suicide and Veteran suicide prevention have been added to the Summit that will take place in September 2021.  

“I have been a member of NOVA for a few months and before that I did not  know NOVA existed”, Colleen admits. “I love that the VA nurses have NOVA because our nursing mission is so unique compared to outside agencies. We need an organization that can influence Veteran’s health care and support the nurses that provide it, and NOVA does just that!”

Yvette Twum-Danso, PhD, RN, CCRN-K

Columbia VA Health Care System, Columbia, South Carolina

NOVA Chapter 362

Sydney Sibner, MSN, RN

Sydney Sibner’s presentation was accepted for the Office of Nursing Services (ONS) Evidence-Based Practice/Research Nurses’ Month Poster Session. Sydney’s poster (#17): Blood Pressure Readings in the Outpatient Setting was displayed on the Office of Nursing Service’s website May 6 - 21, 2021. She was the only VA nurse from the Columbia VA Health Care System selected which was a huge accomplishment!

Registered NOVA Nurses, day in and day out, put in an untold amount of work when it comes to the VA and its patients. A typical day is nearly impossible to nail down, as every shift can wildly change from energizing to exhausting to frustrating to momentous, and back again. The following showcases how NOVA’s RNs care for veterans and how they are elevating other nurses and NOVA itself.

Why Choose VA Nursing?

Those that responded gave a wide range of reasons why they chose to go into nursing, specifically the VA, but it all came down to helping veterans.

For Danielle L. Alderman, MSN, RN, who works in the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System, it was to help those with their physical and psychological health needs first.

“After being a Social Worker for six years, I realized I needed to first address the physical and psychological health of my clients before I could effectively impact the social and financial situations of the families I was serving,” Alderman said.

A few NOVA nurses responded that they are veterans themselves and wanted to make a lasting, helpful change by working with a group that they understood well — other veterans.

“I am a veteran, and my father, brother, and one sister were in the Army,” Eileen Kupper-Grubbs, RN, MEDSURG-BC, said. “Veterans are a precious few who would die for the United States. I wanted to be part of their care.”

Another said they are married to a United States Marine and while he was in service, they loved the idea of working with active duty military and veterans.

One said, after graduating from the VA Learning Opportunities Residency (VALOR) program, they were then hired full-time after graduating with a BSN.

Helping Veterans in Their Time of Need

NOVA asked members to think about times they were there to help veterans when they needed it the most.

“A group of veterans lived in the same town that had just had a tornado,” Kupper-Grubbs said. “I called EMS and they were able to drill down to the block where the tornado occurred and send a van to the city to bring the veterans to the VA for care, food, and clothing.”

Heather Debe, MBA, MAA, BSN, RN is a Call Center Registered Nurse in the El Paso VA Healthcare System and does what she can to help.

“I work in the Call Center as a registered nurse. Every caller is different, and you just focus on helping the veteran with whatever they need — whether it’s a triage for illness or injury, at-home care teaching, medication questions, or requesting a consult.”

Alderman spends a lot of time just listening to veterans on the phone. She lets them get their frustrations out and then comes up with a plan and a strategy with them, to hopefully fix at least one thing to improve the situation.

“Occasionally, I will also invite the veteran to come down to the clinic and see me,” Alderman said. “Sometimes they just need to get out of the house and connect with a person in a safe place, so they don't feel so isolated and lonely.”

The NOVA Nurse

At the end of a long day, NOVA nurses ponder some of the reasons why working as a VA nurse is exciting and rewarding.

For example, Tonya Mial, MSN, RN at the Greenville VA Health Care Center in Greenville, North Carolina, the most exciting part of being a VA nurse is her continued service to her brothers and sisters in arms.

“I enjoy being surrounded by heroes,” Mial said. “As a veteran, I will need services and rely on the kindness of others who respect and appreciate my sacrifices; I want to give to them what I one day want given to me.”

Marilyn Simpson, MSN/Ed, RN, at the West Texas VA Health Care System, is on the Education Committee and loves that NOVA gives her and other NOVA nurses opportunities to learn, with free CEUs. Others say that each education session has improved their knowledge which helps take care of their patients.

“NOVA has helped me succeed academically and professionally through scholarships and online seminars,” Alderman said. “NOVA also connected me with a mentor who has been a tremendous support and professional guide.”

Kupper-Grubbs watches webinars and collaborates with other NOVA nurses to improve care for patients. And Nurse Debe has been to two Annual Conferences, found them informative, and liked the networking connections it brought.

Discover the benefits of the NOVA community and join today!