By Eliza PARTIKA

Two nurses from USC Verdugo Hills Hospital received awards of $10,000 each in recognition of their service to the profession.

The Simms/Mann Family Foundation supports the Off The Charts Award each year with a no-strings-attached $10,000 gift, recognizing and investing in nurses at a time when nursing faces significant and increasingly urgent levels of turnover. The foundation seeks to support nurses so it, in turn, can invest in and support the well-being of the communities it serves.

USC Verdugo Hills Hospital’s 2024 winners are Leah Korkis, director of Clinical Education and Nursing Excellence, and Julie Anderson, orthopedic RN and Service Line coordinator.

Korkis, who entered nursing to help patients when they were at their most vulnerable, said she was touched and honored to be nominated. As Clinical Education director, it is her responsibility to ensure the nurses at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital are given the skills and tools to work professionally and compassionately with patients.

“Nursing is a profession of the heart, so I feel a moral obligation to truly ensure the nurses and clinicians in our organization feel confident and comfortable with the latest technology and practices to care for patients,” she said. “That’s what gets me up in the morning – that even though I’m not caring for patients anymore, how I care for my profession is how I will care for every patient that enters our hospital.”

Anderson began her orthopedic nursing career in Belfast, Ireland among political strife to assist with casualties of war. She continues her work as an orthopedic nurse navigator, helping patients through confusing and often frightening surgeries, both in and outside of USC Verdugo Hills. As a volunteer for Operation Walk, a non-profit that provides knee and hip replacements to people without health care access around the world, Anderson assists in providing patients with access to care they don’t normally receive, and helps train nurses in the latest clinical practices.

“It brings back nursing to its most basic form, which is caring for people when they can’t care for themselves. There’s no end in sight to their pain; some of them don’t even have access to Tylenol. They can’t work, they can’t support their families. We can go [to their homes] and help them, and that gives me an immense sense of happiness, to be able to do that and to share the latest clinical knowledge so patients [can be helped] post operation,” she said.

The award, Anderson said, will help her continue to serve her patients at home and abroad. With a portion of the money she was awarded, Anderson bought a new sewing machine and custom fabrics to sew surgical caps for the nurses she will be visiting this year in Cuba and the Philippines. The caps will be designed in patterns to represent the nurses’ countries.

Korkis enjoys asking deeper questions of her nurses – how can they do this better, how can the needs of their patients be met better? She is committed to the excellence of her nurses, pushing them to go further in their care and in their practice to integrate the latest research, evidence and technology into their care. Korkis said this award is a recognition and a validation of the work that is being done.

“It gives an opportunity to speak about what nurses do, beyond patient interactions, and it has helped to promote public health education for nurses and for the community,” she said.

Korkis used some of the funds she received to contribute to the education of her childrens, and some she donated to the Nursing Education Fund at Verdugo Hills Hospital, which invests money to train upcoming nurses and purchase state-of-the-art equipment like surgery simulations, outside lecturers, and certifications.

“Other than myself, this organization is now contributing to the next generation of individuals doing what they love and serving the community well,” said Korkis.

“Being there to support the patient is the best thing I can do,” said Anderson. “I’m humbled and honored to have been nominated for this award.”