ARIN President for the 2018-2019 year. Cheryl is not new to the ARIN Board having served as the chair of the Awards and Scholarship Committee from 2012-2014, and as a member of the Leadership Development Committee from 2015-2016. In her role as President-Elect during the past year she had the opportunity of learning the position first hand from Evelyn Wempe, Immediate Past President for ARIN, and assisting President Kathy Duncan on a routine basis. She has eagerly assumed the role and immediately put her stamp on this year.
Cheryl works at Duke Regional Hospital in North Carolina and has been an Imaging nurse for 12 years. She is experienced in developing Radiology Practices as well as on Radiology Nurse Councils. She has also functioned as a preceptor for other Imaging Nurses. Below are comments from her co-workers:
“She encouraged me to be proactive in acquiring knowledge and skills specific to my new specialty and to be responsible for my own professional standards and consistent in application of those standards. She encourages nurses to develop and deepen their critical thinking skills and queries fellow nurses to think about “what does this mean for the patient?” She is always willing to talk with student nurses and share her knowledge and experience.”
“Cheryl utilizes her considerable and varied professional background, from being the first female firefighter in Massachusetts to experiences such as providing nursing care for mass trauma emergencies such as the freeway collapse in California, to promote exceptional nursing care.”
“She stays abreast of industry changes and promotes use of evidence-based practice. She is always willing to go the extra mile to make sure that our practices stay current, utilizing new technologies as they become available, such as advocating for use of capnography during sedation monitoring.”
“Cheryl actively serves as a role model for professional development and leadership by promoting radiology nursing, both within our radiology department and our hospital organization, as well as in the local and national community. She has been very involved in our hospital’s Radiology Practice Council which serves as an interdisciplinary team which meets to encourage cross-disciplinary teamwork and to address any issues which need a multidisciplinary problem-solving approach.”
“Cheryl has the reputation as being “the tiger” on our unit because she is the first to advocate that we do the right thing for each and every patient. While it is easy to recognize that Cheryl is committed to providing caring, compassionate care by her use of a gentle touch, or a soft reassuring voice, her true dedication is evidenced by advocating for patients she has never even met.”
“I have worked with Cheryl since April 2016. She has helped me get oriented to Duke Regional Radiology Nursing. She has a strong commitment to Radiology Nursing and this was evident as she led me through the various departments RN’s cover in this hospital. The patients range from outpatient, inpatient, emergency department, long term care, and ICU patients.
“She focuses on safety and specifics of radiology procedures. Her commitment to the patients is obvious as she is knowledgeable, compassionate and thorough. Her focus is not only on the care of her patients but also their loved ones and the personnel in each department. Cheryl is the go to person for questions about patient care, procedural and hospital policy. She is a well-respected nurse and has a great rapport with others, whether it’s implementing nurse-led initiatives to improve patient outcomes or collaborating with different members of the health care team.“
“Cheryl is dedicated to transforming patient care and raising the standards of nursing excellence and she demonstrates her leadership skills daily. She goes above and beyond to be sure the patients are cared for and the radiology nurses are supported during the work day.”
Cheryl is a delight to know and be around. She has a heart of gold and great desires to see ARIN achieve its goals and be the resource for radiology and imaging not only for the imaging nurses around the world, but nurses of all departments.
The logo below is Cheryl’s theme and goal for the coming year of “Connecting Nurses through Education and Advocacy” shows her desire to bring all nurses together with a better knowledge of the needs of the imaging patient.
