Bayada Heroes

2nd Quarter 2001 National and Division Heroes

National Heroes

RN Category: Dinesh Singh- Edelweiss Division, Allentown (ALL) Office, Allentown, PA
LPN Category: Gwen Ingram- Snapdragon Division, Lawrenceville (LAW) Office, Lawrenceville, NJ
HHA Category: Marie Overton- Cattails Division, PCA North (PCA) Office, Philadelphia, PA

Division Heroes

Division	Name / Category	Office / City / State
Cattails	Marie Overton, HHA*	PCA North (PCA) Office, Philadelphia, PA
Dogwoods	Patricia Floyd, RN Kathy Botkin, LPN Judy Warren, HHA	Charlotte (CHA) Office, Charlotte, NC Winston Skilled (WS) Office, Winston-Salem, NC Charlotte (CHA) Office, Charlotte, NC
Edelweiss	Dinesh Singh, RN* Faith Turner, LPN Diane Bowers, HHA	Allentown (ALL) Office, Allentown, PA King of Prussia (KOP) Office, King of Prussia, PA Philadelphia Private (PHI) Office, Philadelphia, PA
Forget-Me-Nots	Ruth Messare, RN Lori Floriani, HHA	Tampa (TAM) Office, Tampa, FL Pinellas Park (PP) Office, Pinellas Park, FL
Roses	Joanne Hamill, HHA	University City (UC) Office, Philadelphia, PA
Snapdragons	Anne Beebe, RN Gwen Ingram, LPN* Andy Jones, HHA	Washington Township (WT), Sewell, NJ Lawrenceville (LAW) Office, Lawrenceville, NJ Burlington (BUR) Office, Burlington, NJ
Sunflowers	Gwendolyn Pinkett, RN Nancy Morgan, LPN Wendy Marriott, HHA	Pediatric Office (PED), Morris Plains, NJ Freehold (FRE) Office, Freehold, NJ Hackensack (HAC) Office, Hackensack, NJ
Tulips	Carol Gioffre, RN Pam Keis, LPN Geraldine Wise, HHA	Delaware Pediatrics (DP) Office, New Castle, DE Delaware Pediatrics (DP) Office, New Castle, DE Wilmington (WIL) Office, Wilmington, DE

* denotes National Hero of the Quarter

Dinesh Singh's dedication is illustrated by his willingness to go the extra mile to comfort his patients and fulfill his nursing duties. Two incidents in particular illustrate Singh's special brand of caring and reliability. On one occasion, Singh was involved in a car accident on the way to a client's home. To everyone's surprise, he did not call out but arrived for work only one hour late! His sensitivity to his clients is illustrated by his work with a 12-year-old cancer patient who was feeling depressed about the hair loss caused by his aggressive chemo and radiation therapy. Seeing this, Singh shaved his own head-a selfless gesture that helped brighten the patient's life. In addition, Singh is known throughout the office for his willingness to help where needed, fill in when others call out, and take on difficult cases. For all these reasons, Singh has truly earned the right to be known as a Hero on the Home Front.

Gwen Ingram's caring and dedication is illustrated by her work on a difficult case involving a terminally ill child who is ventilator-dependent. To attend school, the patient requires a tremendous amount of equipment, including a cumbersome body brace. On more than one occasion, the ventilator failed on the school bus and required Ingram's immediate intervention. She responded to this stressful situation with skill, caring, and calm-working tirelessly to solve both the immediate and long-term problems. Her work on the case further intensified when another nurse quit unexpectedly-leaving several unfilled shifts. Ingram immediately pitched in to cover extra shifts and days, even though this meant making special arrangements for her own child. Although Ingram's efforts on behalf of this patient are truly heroic, the office staff feels that her greatest contribution may be the "caring emotion she gives this beautiful, helpless three-year-old whose eyes search for her familiar smile and calming voice."

Marie Overton's dedication is illustrated by her reliability, loyalty, and tireless support of her clients. Staff Supervisor Joanne Clover calls Overton "…one of the many who are the backbone of this office." She is known throughout the office for her reliability and perseverance: "Once given a case, no matter what the circumstances, she sticks with it, no matter what the challenges." In the 20 years that Overton has worked for Bayada Nurses, she has rarely called out and has provided excellent, sensitive, quality care to many different clients in many different circumstances.