Each year, New Hampshire Magazine, in partnership with the New Hampshire Nurses Association, honors the heroes of the state’s health care community with their Excellence in Nursing Awards. The awards recognize nurses who go above and beyond to comfort, heal, and educate. Among the winners are four providers from SolutionHealth.
Among this year’s recipients is Kelly Snow, RN-BSN, CMSRN, a Resource Nurse at Elliot Health System. She received the award in Medical-Surgical Nursing.
New Hampshire Magazine Write-Up on Snow:
When Kelly Snow looks back at her career, which began in 2002 at Elliot Hospital (in the same unit she’s in today), she doesn’t point to one single story or person that inspires her to strive for excellence, rather the collective experiences and lives of all of her patients.
“I do remember all the stories that I have heard from my patients,” says Snow. “[Stories] about when they were growing up and where they live, their war experiences, their careers, where they have traveled throughout the world, and the way they talk about their families.” Some stories, she says, are happier than others, but she always wants to “get to know them as a person and not just for the reason they are in the hospital.”
That ability to be a good listener, she says, is a key trait of being a nurse, along with compassion, empathy and communicating openly. She’s lucky, she adds, to work with a team that’s become more like family, allowing them to work together to care and advocate for their patients.
“We care for [patients] and give them emotional support during what can be a scary and vulnerable time for some,” she says. “At the end of the day, I like to live by the Golden Rule — ‘Treat others the way you want to be treated.’ So far, this rule has made my nursing career successful.”
The 2020 recipients were announced in New Hampshire Magazine’s June 2020 issue and celebrated during a virtual award ceremony in November. Read the complete list of recipients and watch the virtual awards ceremony here.
