OR Nurse Helping Lead Next Generation of RNs at CVPH

Paige Garnot, BSN, RN Honored With DAISY Award

The Operating Room is one of the busiest places you will find at CVPH. It takes a team effort to make every procedure happen. One of the Registered Nurses frequently in the room is Paige Garnot, who has been named the latest recipient for of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at the hospital.

As an Operating Room Nurse, Paige has many important responsibilities. Chief among them is serving as a patient advocate while the patient is under anesthesia during the procedure. She makes sure the patient is safe at all times, verifies the procedure and the correct equipment is in the room, ensures sterility is maintained throughout the procedure and gets any additional items that may be needed for the case.

Another role Paige takes on that some would argue is just as important is helping new nurse colleagues get their careers at CVPH off to a good start. One of the first things that Emily Estus, RN noticed about Paige was her positive attitude. It had a lasting impact, as Emily nominated Paige for the DAISY Award.

“She always has a smile on her face,” Emily wrote in her nomination, describing what it has been like to work with Paige. “She is a team player! She was my preceptor, and I truly feel I wouldn’t be as successful at the beginning of my career without her.”

Preceptors are a key part of the CVPH New Nurse Residency Program. As a part of that role, Paige helped show Emily the ropes while Emily was a Graduate Nurse at the hospital, taking her under her wing and offering tips and tricks that helped Emily grow professionally during her first year in the organization. She also noticed a big boost in confidence she had whenever she spent time working with Paige.

“She believed in me before I believed in myself,” Emily noted. “No matter how nervous I was about the day, when she was precepting me, she always told me to breathe. She made me feel like I could conquer whatever the day brought us.”

Paige had her own challenges to conquer a year ago. She took on her current job in the OR after working her first two years at CVPH as a Progressive Care Nurse. The SUNY Plattsburgh graduate did have some familiarity with the operating room, having spent time there during her clinical rotation. And as her manager, Perioperative Services Operations Director Mary Ann Cayea, put it, Paige never missed a beat.

“Paige has done an outstanding job transitioning from a Progressive Care nurse to an Operating Room Nurse,” Mary Ann said. “She was engaged in her orientation and has exceled in her position. Paige is kind and courteous to her patients, her co-workers and all the physicians with whom she works.”

Paige’s willingness to embrace change when she switched jobs served as a great example for nurses like Emily who look up to her on a regular basis.

“She showed me what an amazing nurse is! I truly hope that if any of my family is in the unfortunate situation of being in the hospital, they have a nurse just like her. The world needs more nurses like Paige.”

When thinking about the impact Paige has on other nurses and the OR team, Mary Ann quoted Roy T. Bennett, author of “The Light in the Heart.”

“Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness of people. That fits Paige to a “T.” It really strikes a note with me when I think of her.”

During a surprise ceremony with the OR team, Paige was presented with a certificate commending her as an extraordinary nurse. She, like all honorees, also received a DAISY Award pin and a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch,” which is hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

CVPH launched the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses in 2018 as a way to recognize and reward licensed nurses for making a meaningful difference in the lives of their patients. Nomination forms and boxes are located at each of the hospital’s main entrances and on the CVPH website. Nurses may be nominated by patients, families and colleagues. A committee reviews nominations and awards a deserving nurse each quarter.

The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day. The DAISY Foundation is a national not-for-profit organization, established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes by members of his family.  Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System). The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families. More information is available on the DAISY Foundation website.