Sherman’s Nurse of the Year preaches making connections with patients
As a mentor to young nurses, Advocate Sherman Hospital outpatient recovery nurse Jean Lowe says the most important thing she can teach them is to focus on patient-centered care and making a connection.
In her department, she’s one of the last faces you see before going in for a procedure and one of the first you see when it’s over.
“I’m a big empath. I love people. That’s what feeds my energy and my soul,” she said. “I hope that in the 30 minutes or so that I spend getting them ready (for a procedure), and the time afterward, I can make their life a little bit easier and show some compassion and make a connection.”
That empathy and compassionate care earned Lowe the Elgin hospital’s 2023 Nurse of the Year award.
Lowe, who lives in Elgin, got the full award show treatment when she learned of the honor. Her manager led her to a fake committee meeting where she was surprised to find family, friends and past and present colleagues in attendance and others on Zoom. They gave her a gold nurse statuette and outfitted her with a sash and crown.
“I felt very loved,” she said. “It was pretty overwhelming.”
Donna Kruse, director of inpatient acute nursing, magnet and professional development at Sherman, said Lowe is valued for her ability to make her patients feel comfortable.
“Jean is an emotionally intelligent nurse whose greatest strength is her ability to meaningfully connect with her patients while providing compassionate care,” Kruse said. “She gives her complete attention to each patient so they feel seen and heard.”
Kruse said Lowe asks patients if they have any spiritual or cultural needs and can be found providing prayer and words of comfort, regardless of religion.
This year will be Lowe’s 43rd as a nurse and her 27th at Advocate Sherman Hospital.
Her connections there run deeper. After high school, she worked at Sherman as a nurse’s aide while attending Elgin Community College on a Sherman Hospital auxiliary scholarship.
The longtime emergency room nurse said retirement is not on her radar right now, and she still maintains multiple certifications in case she’s ever needed elsewhere in the hospital.
“I just want to be available to help, and I think I have a lot of resources to offer people,” she said.
When she decides to retire, she’ll leave behind a thousand little rose quartz hearts that she’s given away over the years to both patients and her new nursing graduates. She said she always has some in her pocket.
“It represents unconditional love, compassion, healing,” she said. “For the nurses, it gives them a little reminder of why you’re here. For the patients, I’ll sometimes give them out as a little gesture so they can remember that they’re cared for and they’re loved.”