Linda Ritter, a full-time pediatric oncology nurse at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, has won two awards for her achievements in the nursing profession.
In June, Ritter accepted the West Coast Regional Giving Excellence Meaning (GEM) Award at a ceremony in Los Angeles.
Subsequently, she won the national award in the category of Clinical Inpatient Nursing presented by Nurse.com at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital on Oct. 21.
“It is a blinded award, so they take applications and then they hide the names… and then it is judged based on merit,” she explained.
For the past five years, the Moss Beach resident and Boulder Creek native has worked as a nurse at the children’s hospital at Stanford.
Currently, she works in the hematology, oncology, and stem-cell transplant unit, which is a 26-bed inpatient unit for children of all ages.
“We deal with anyone who has a childhood cancer,” she said
Ritter works with kids who have life-threatening diseases, like cancer and disorders requiring stem-cell transplants.
She designed and proactively handed out a 63-question survey to the nurses on her floor, and discovered that they were in need of better palliative care education, support, and ability to make cultural changes to help patients feel more comfortable.
“It adds up over time, but it just seems like if you see a need, you go and work toward fixing it or addressing it,” she said.
Soon after, Ritter formed a five-nurse committee called the One North NSL Palliative Care Initiative Committee at the hospital.
The committee is dedicated to educating nurses about palliate care, providing patients with the best nurses, and has also created the Starfish Award to recognize people who have provided excellence and compassion at end-of-life care.
“I like to say that I created a committee of people who are equally deserving for this award, because you can’t do anything by yourself.”
Nominated for the GEM award by a fellow employee, Ritter has excelled at implementing change throughout her career as a nurse.
Her desire to help and care for those suffering from life-threatening or terminal diseases has made her an important contribution to the field.
“It’s the families and taking care of people when they are most vulnerable and what we can do to make that easier for them or better for them,” she said.
At present, Ritter resides in Moss Beach, but she was raised in Boulder Creek and graduated from San Lorenzo Valley High School in 1974.
Her strength as a nurse allows her to help those who are faced with life threatening diseases and her drive to create change has helped nurses and patients throughout their experiences at Stanford.
