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Contact: Donna Mancuso
Public Affairs Manager
(732) 499-6118
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For Immediate Release:
January 23, 2008
Respiratory Therapist Wins Hospital’s Highest Employee Award
RAHWAY – Respiratory therapist Patricia Dudek has won Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Rahway’s highest employee award for her outstanding service to patients.
The Roselle Park resident, who has worked for the hospital since 1982, was chosen the S.T.A.R. of the Year from more than 1,000 nominations received in 2007 from hospital patients, families and co-workers.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway has more than 950 employees and more than 420 physicians. The award is the fifth the hospital has given to an outstanding employee. A special committee of hospital employees and past S.T.A.R. winners select the winner. As the S.T.A.R. winner, Ms. Dudek received $1,000 and a diamond-studded star pin, among other gifts.
Patient and staff comments from nomination letters are testimony to the passion S.T.A.R. winners have for caring. Below is an excerpt from a letter about Ms. Dudek from a member of the staff who attended the funeral of a longtime patient with advanced COPD. The letter paraphrases what the patient’s adult children had said of Ms. Dudek’s care for their father.
“The family recognized that their father’s debilitating disease had left him cranky and often difficult. Yet Pat used her caring style to establish a rapport that allowed the patient to verbalize his end-of-life issues. This helped him deal with a fear of suffocation and death.
“Ms. Dudek deserves credit for educating the patient about BiPAP ventilation (breathing machine) and medications such as morphine. Upon his last hospital admission, the patient asked for the removal of the ET (endotracheal) tube and ventilator. He knew his life was at the end. He returned home with the understanding he would die a natural and peaceful death with the help of Hospice.
“The man’s children spoke of how Ms. Dudek had found a way to reach their dad’s great sense of humor. No doubt, the laughter was some measure of relief for patient and family alike. The children not only admired Pat Dudek’s outstanding job performance, but also carry affection for Pat Dudek the person.”
Ms. Dudek, who carries that letter with her, noted that “I did with that patient what I was taught to do – treat all my patients with compassion, like family,” she said.
S.T.A.R. is an acronym for Special Treatment at Rahway. In addition to Ms. Dudek, the hospital’s recognition committee selected the 2C oncology unit as its S.T.A.R. department.
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