Courtesy of Mclaren
Every year, National Nurses Week is celebrated on May 6 and ends on Florence Nightingale’s birthday, which is May 12. As part of the Nurses Week festivities, McLaren Greater Lansing highlights a nurse who has gone above and beyond the call of duty. This year, Christina Zimmerman, RN, was selected as the 2023 Nurse Excellence Award Winner. Zimmerman works on 5W, an advanced telemetry unit, where nurses have a high level of compassion and critical thinking. Zimmerman has been a registered nurse with McLaren Greater Lansing for more than 20 years and often goes above and beyond for patients in the hospital.
“Christina’s hard work, perseverance and commitment to her patients has been demonstrated with the implementation of a program called ‘For the Love of Blankets’ that provides patients with fleece blankets she had collected through donations,” said Amanda Lampron, interim Chief Nursing Officer at McLaren Greater Lansing. “When patients are no longer cold, they can focus on healing, resting, and overall wellness.”
For the Love of Blankets was launched in Zimmerman’s unit at McLaren in January 2023 and Zimmerman hopes to extend the program to other inpatient floors in the future. The goal of the program is to improve the patient’s experience by not only providing a physical comfort, but an emotional one also.
“As an RN, I spend a lot of time with my patients and am known for being people first. I saw an opportunity to make a positive impact, even if it were a small one, within my own workplace and brought in a few fleece blankets to spread warmth throughout my floor to patients that needed it,” said Zimmerman. “After receiving positive feedback from those I had helped, I decided that I wanted to further my reach and seek out the opportunity to create a non-profit that’s purpose is to provide warmth and comfort throughout the hospital, and hopefully further in the future.”
Zimmerman was recognized at the annual Nurse Excellence Award Ceremony held during National Nurses Week.
If you had a wonderful nurse at McLaren Greater Lansing, share your experience here.
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