Character reveals itself in adversity. If Covid-19 underscored many of the problems in our society, it also spotlighted many of its strengths, including the dedication of health care workers.
“It highlighted the value that nursing brings to health care,” says Mary McDermott, senior vice president, patient care services and chief nursing officer at Phelps Hospital, Northwell Health in Sleepy Hollow. “I think it was a situation never experienced before, and I’ve been a nurse since 1979. This pandemic was different. We didn’t know the cause of the illness. There was the fear of the unknown.”
Through it all, she says, her nurses were “resilient, adaptable and front and center.” Small wonder then that Phelps Hospital — whose 33-bed emergency department sees more than 24,000 patients annually — has been recognized by the Emergency Nurses Association with a 2021 Lantern Award for “exceptional and innovative performance in leadership, practice, education, advocacy and research.” The award, bestowed on only 33 emergency departments nationwide, follows on the heels of the hospital receiving a Magnet Designation, considered the gold standard for nursing excellence, from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
That the Magnet Designation should come last October amid the pandemic is telling. At its height, McDermott says, “we only saw patients with Covid,” 160 of them. Many were critically ill. Some would die — “we saw a couple die together” — often without the comfort of loved ones.
“It was heartbreaking for the patients,” she says. “It was heartbreaking for the staff.”
McDermott made the rounds every day, not only to ensure everything was being done for the patients but to see what could be done for the nurses.
She remembers: “One of the staff nurses asked, ‘Could you set up a tranquility room?’” The hospital’s board room was quickly converted into such a space, with what McDermott describes as “comfortable chairs, coloring books, aromatherapy, low lights and scenic pictures.” There were sessions with members of Phelps’ “very big psychiatric staff” and group sessions with social workers who are part of Northwell’s Team Lavender, an interdisciplinary, rapid-response team.
At press time, there was only one patient with Covid at Phelps, but the hospital remains vigilant, encouraging staff vaccinations. Employees who are unvaccinated must answer 11 Covid-related screening questions via a downloaded app before arriving at work and undergo temperature scanning at the hospital. All unvaccinated staff must wear a mask and face shield in patient-care areas. Visitors are also temperature-scanned, with one visitor per patient at any one time between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. (Laboring mothers are allowed to have their partners and coaches.)
After the Magnet Designation came through — and virus cases ebbed while vaccinations ramped up — McDermott says, “it was the perfect time to apply for the Lantern Award,” announced in July. “Finally, we were able to tell our story.”
That story includes educational support such as the Nurse Promise Program, an eight-year-old endowed scholarship initiative that offers financial assistance in the form of a forgivable loan to those employees who want to become registered nurses, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, or those RNs on staff who have completed their associate degree and are returning to school for their BSN.
“It really is a wonderful program,” McDermott says. “We just had two graduates. Once they graduate, we guarantee them jobs as they have to work for the hospital for two years.”
McDermott’s own story begins in Queens, where she grew up before moving to Westchester County. She attended St. Vincent Ferrer High School, a private, Roman Catholic, girls’ school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
McDermott received her nursing diploma from Flushing Hospital Medical Center in Flushing, Queens, where she worked while studying for her BSN at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. She also holds a master’s degree in nursing from the College of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx, a post-master’s certificate in nursing administration from Villanova University and a Wharton Nursing Leaders Program certificate from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Before joining Phelps in 2013 as vice president for nursing, McDermott was assistant vice president of nursing at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan for six years, where she developed and implemented strategic plans for nursing, including building, equipment, technology, performance improvement and patient care programs. From 2003 to ’07, she was administrative director of nursing and director of nursing, professional practice programs, at HSS.
While the population is still in the virus’ crosshairs, McDermott says it has left the Phelps staff tested and tempered.
“Every specialty has its challenges and rewards,” she says. “But we have emerged from this prepared for anything.”
For more, visit phelps.northwell.edu.
