Make a Difference Winner

Hospital patients need compassion and concern, and never is this truer than when the patient is a child. John Jones spends his nights cleaning up and cheering up the patients at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

A nurse manager shared her thoughts: "John's pleasant, upbeat demeanor and willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done makes a difference. His interactions with staff, peers, management, patients, and families are always professional and friendly. Recently, a young teenage patient asked to see John before she was discharged; he was not due in until later in the day, and she left him a note on the dry erase board in her room. Yesterday, I watched him in a double room completing a discharge and singing to an unattended infant in the next bed space, making the baby smile and laugh. John makes a difference each and every day and if you ask him about his job, he will tell you why...because it's all about the kids."

- Diane Ankney, RN