Every year, Hospital News runs its Nursing Hero campaign, asking hospitals to nominate outstanding nurses who go above and beyond on every shift. The honourees are celebrated during National Nursing Week, which runs from May 10 – 16 this year.
This year’s National Nursing Week theme is #WeAnswerTheCall, and West Park Healthcare Centre’s nursing staff have demonstrated this throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. But one long-time West Park nurse lent her skills to multiple areas of the hospital, including shifting her focus from future clinical operations with Campus Development back to Occupational Health, Safety & Wellness (OHSW), and most recently with vaccination clinics.
It’s for these reasons, among many others, that West Park staff members nominated Trish Mizzau, Operational Readiness Coordinator and Overall Superstar, for Hospital News’ Nursing Hero campaign. And it seems the publication agreed with our staff.
In an incredibly challenging year for nurses where so many across Ontario have stepped up and became heroes in their own hospitals, Hospital News chose Mizzau as second-place winner, an outstanding feat!
“I had no idea what was happening when I was called to go to the Community Place Hub (West Park’s offsite COVID-19 vaccination clinic), but I showed up and was handed flowers, and I was still so surprised,” Mizzau says of finding out she had won second place. “For the first time in my life, I was actually speechless.”
Thirteen staff from across the hospital added their personal nominations to the submission on Mizzau’s behalf, sharing stories and testimony of her unmatched impact on not only staff, but patients and the hospital as a whole. Having worked on almost every unit across the hospital over her 14 years at West Park, there’s no doubt Mizzau has left an extraordinary impression that can be felt throughout the organization.
From the first time someone is lucky enough to meet Mizzau, she is in an instant a cheerleader and friend, lifting others up and giving them a West Park welcome like no other. Her positivity and down-to-earth personality radiates wherever she goes, closely followed by her relentless dedication to her work. Mizzau was a clear choice for the Nursing Hero nomination this year, as she’s had her hands in several projects and departments, stepping up to help out wherever needed without question.
“I’m very lucky here, because I’ve had a lot of opportunities to do so much at West Park that I wouldn’t have got anywhere else,” Mizzau says. “I had offered to help out at the long-term care centre with Dr. Song, and we were there for six weeks. And now he’s helping with the vaccine clinics, with several other doctors I’ve been lucky enough to work with. It’s been amazing to see everyone come together.”
After being redeployed back to OHSW at the start of the pandemic, Mizzau’s clinical and nursing experience was an incredible asset to fighting COVID-19 in the hospital. Most recently, you can find Mizzau pulling double duty working at West Park’s vaccine clinics, offering not only professionalism and expertise to the clinic, but a friendly face and reassuring attitude to the community as they get vaccinated.
“[Trish’s] newest role with the COVID-19 vaccine clinics has been invaluable; she has ensured that there is no wastage of even a single dose of vaccine,” says Jane McNamee, Nurse Practitioner, Professional Practice. “In the nursing field we think about five attributes that the best nurse possesses. These are Compassion, Competence, Confidence, Conscience and Commitment. Trish expresses all of these attributes daily. She is such a great asset for West Park Healthcare Centre and a true nursing hero!”
For all these reasons – and many more – Trish Mizzau will always be a West Park Nursing Hero, and this year, she’s one of Hospital News’ heroes as well. Congratulations on your well-deserved win, Trish, from everyone at West Park!
You can read the full nomination submitted by West Park staff in Hospital News here.