Cherilyn Finn Wins Psychiatric Nursing Aide of The Year
By: Valerie Ullman Avery
Updated: July 23, 2010
CHERILYN FINN EARNS PSYCHIATRIC NURSING AIDE OF THE YEAR
BIG SPRING – Cherilyn Finn – a nine-year veteran of Big Spring State Hospital – has been named the hospital’s Psychiatric Nursing Aide of the Year.
Finn was one of 23 Psychiatric Nursing Aides considered for the award. Nominees are suggested by their peers and voted on by past award recipients and Nurse Managers.
“It’s a great honor,” Chief Nurse Executive Stormy Ward, MSN, RN.C, said. “We have so many great Psychiatric Nursing Aides and it’s tough to pick just one. It takes some long discussions to narrow it down.”
Psychiatric Nursing Aides provide all patient safety care and oversight under direction of the Registered Nurses. They spend the greatest amount of time with the hospital’s patients and comprise the largest segment of the hospital’s employee workforce. Nearly 240 psychiatric Nursing Aides are employed by Big Spring State Hospital .
Psychiatric Nursing Aides accompany patients to classes, supervise their daily activities on the unit and accompany them to doctor’s appointments and everyday tasks.
Many longtime hospital employees started their career in mental health as Psychiatric Nursing Aides, Big Spring State Hospital Superintendent Ed Moughon said.
“It was my first job 30-something years ago,” he said. “Most of us working here today started as Psychiatric Nursing Aides because we needed a job. And then we fell in love with the field of work and stayed in it.”
“If you look at the history of who has received this honor, it’s somebody who loves his or her job,” Moughon said.
Finn began her career nine years ago on the hospital’s adolescent unit, subsequently moving to the APS-Female unit where she has served as a Shift Team Leader for the past year. Her nominating form read that she is “compassionate, supportive and respectful to her co-workers as well as to her patients.”
“She is an excellent supervisor and role model and is extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of her supervisory role.”
“She never loses her composure or her sense of humor. She is a self-starter and is able to see the needs of the staff and addresses them in a timely manner. She is well aware of the fact that the staff must be rested and happy in order to maintain an environment which leads to the recovery and success of the patients.”
Finn is not only a dedicated employee, off-campus she demonstrates the same loyalty toward her family. Along with raising her son, Finn is the primary caregiver for her mother and nephew, Moughon said.
Big Spring State Hospital is a 200-bed hospital for people with mental illness in Howard County .
