Mike has been a nurse for 34 years, with most of his career trading patients in the ICU. He has great compassion and kindness towards everyone he works with. Mike is a calm and patient person who always has a smile on his face and is ready to help those in need. When he is not workin 12+ hour shifts as a nurse, he spends his "days off" farming a 100 acre farm in Dalton.

Glenda is one of the most respected Nurse Managers at Aultman. She has a reputation of being a hard worker. She works alongside her staff and promotes a team effort when taking care of patients. She cares for us not only as employees, but as individuals. She’s worked on the same floor for her entire career and treats us like family. She puts in long hours way past what she should, because she genuinely cares about the patients and her staff. Our floor mainly takes care of surgical patients, but recently was converted into also taking care of COVID patients. While this has been a stressful time, I can’t imagine a better nurse to lead us.

“In a moment of crisis, reactions set the leaders apart from the followers.”
– Peter Stark Leading in a Crisis

In times of crisis, true leaders step forward, go above and beyond, and lead by example. Nowhere has this been more evident than at Mercy Medical Center during the current Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Mercy was the first hospital in Stark County to receive a COVID-19 patient. As Senior Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer, and Patient Safety Officer, Barbara Yingling, RN, BSN, MAed, immediately stepped forward to lead Mercy’s efforts. She had already proactively opened the Mercy incident command center the prior week. Barbara quickly and efficiently established herself as the incident commander and put her team in place. She has continued to guide this team, as well as the entire Mercy staff of health care workers through the very difficult planning, coordination and implementation of process changes that were needed to care for these patients. Barbara has worked tirelessly, 24/7 since the COVID-19 outbreak in our area. She has collaborated with area hospitals and health agencies both locally and state-wide to ensure that all patients in our community received the best care possible, while also protecting the team of healthcare providers needed to combat this disease.

This is just one example demonstrating Barbara’s accomplished nursing and healthcare leadership. She has a passion for project management, as well as a reputation for accomplishing demanding system integration initiatives and managing quality andpatient safety ...

Abigail graduated from the Honors College of Nursing at Akron University.
She works in the ICU unit where all of the COVID-19 critical patients are located.for the Cleveland Clinic Hospitals. She works 12 hour shifts, and volunteers when needed. She works both days and night on rotation and rarely complains. She is always smiling and encouraging each patient , she is a team player , one who will never stop giving 100 per-cent.
She is proud of being a ZIPPY and we as Grand-Parents love her so much.
We applaud all the First Line Responders from all walks of life.
We love you all - -
Respectfully Submitted;

Kayla Jean was born to be a nurse. She exudes compassion, braveness, and diligence when working with patients in the Oncology unit to ensure they feel cared for. While she is only starting her career as a nurse she has been a caretaker all her life; caring for her grandfather who passed away a year ago filling in for HHA when they could not be there 24/7. She has a heart that makes others feel better about the world around them.Kayla is the kind of person you want rushing to your bedside in an emergency to provide you comfort and also the kind of person you want to take vitals with a smile that lights up the room and cheers you up even on your worst days. Kayla is deserving of this nomination and I hope she reads it and knows she makes a difference every single day.

Denise is the most wonderful and beautiful person inside out. She lost a great friend to colon cancer and helped with her kids through the difficult times. Two years later, now she is currently fighting cancer herself. She needs every type of positive vibes, encouragement and anything that can be healing for her.

Linda has been a nurse for 35 years. She always goes the extra mile for every single one of her patients. She is a dedicated nurse and grandmother. She has a heart of gold and is always willing to help anyone on or off the clock. She is truly compassionate in her position and loves what she does.

Teresa cares for very seriously ill patients. With no visitors currently permitted, she keeps anxious patients comforted.
She truly is one of God's angels here on earth. Those who know Teresa and work along side her are not surprised at the lengths she goes to in ministering to her patients, always with a smile and much kindness, warmth, and compassion.
She also distributed countless home made masks to her fellow nurses and doctors, as well as friends who requested them.
Teresa studied nursing while raising her children, studying and working full time while doing so. She is a proud graduate of Aultman's School of Nursing.
I am so very proud and obviously biased, (as her mother), to nominate Teresa to your Salute to Nurses 2020 Celebration contest.

Immediately after graduation from nursing school Mary Kousagan began working in the ICU at Aultman Hospital. Her role model was her mother who was a nurse, a gentle spirit who exemplified compassion and sensitivity to everyone, not just her many patients. For the first six years of her career in nursing, Mary came to regard the ICU as the most exciting and gratifying type of nursing because of its challenges and complexity, due to the vulnerability of the patient population.
Later on, Mary joined a multi-disciplinary team to optimize the care of pneumonia patients. She had the advantage to reflect on the quality of care her team of co-workers was delivering to patients with this diagnosis.
After her term in ICU, Mary joined bed management, and, along with other nurses, she was assigned the task of optimizing patient flow across the inpatient units and assuring the clinical appropriateness of bed assignments. Among her various assignments, Mary floated to all the Intensive Care units throughout the hospital, further broadening her nursing skills.
And now, for the past 14 years, Mary has served as a Clinical Documentation Specialist, which has proven to be the steepest learning curve of her career. In this capacity, Mary is required to assess and review a patient’s medical records to ensure that all the information documented reflects the patient’s severity of illness, clinical treatment, and the accuracy of documentation. As a Clinical Documentation Specialist, Mary understands ...

Cassy is an RN at the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus Cardiothoracic ICU. They specialize in heart and lung transplants and patients requiring mechanical support such as ECMO and LVAD's. Cassy is selfless, volunteering herself to care for COVID-19 patients so that her colleagues that have children would not have to put their families at risk. She cares for her patients and their families with empathy and compassion. Her ability to critically think and desire to learn has earned her respect with her colleagues.She has great leadership qualities and is willing to jump in and help any of her colleagues without hesitation. Cassy also dedicates her nursing qualities as a PRN in the CCU at Mercy Medical Center. Her extreme kindness and selflessness extends past her nursing career onto her family and friends.

Melissa is a hospice nurse at Crossroads. Her ability to help the sick and maintain a professional, positive attitude is something to be proud of. She astounds me everyday especially during this time with how hard she works, while taking great care of her family and working towards her next title as a nurse practitioner. She is a very special nurse and deserves more than a nomination. A nurse, a mother, a wife, and a student working towards becoming a nurse practitioner, she truly does it all. I am proud to call her my friend!!!

Sherin has one of the biggest, kindest, and selfless hearts you will ever meet. Her smile radiates and there is nothing you can do but smile with her. She is an Oncology nurse at Akron Children's, a former member of the SANE program at Aultman hospital and is currently working on her Master's degree in Psych/Behavioral Health. She is proud to be a nurse. #NurseStrong