Northern Arizona Healthcare (NAH) today announced that Sylvia Goldberg, PACU RN at Flagstaff Medical Center (FMC), recently received the national March of Dimes HEROES in Action Innovative and Non-Traditional Nursing Award. Goldberg was recognized by March of Dimes for her efforts to success in reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills by repurposing surgical wrap for patient and community use.
The March of Dimes award Goldberg received recognizes nurses in Arizona who practice in non-traditional settings such as informatics, holistic/integrative healing, quality improvement, legal nurse consultants, entrepreneurial; nursing and global/humanitarian nursing. March of Dimes fights every day for the health of moms and babies. Through the support of the March of Dimes HEROES in Action Awards, nurses are recognized who make a difference in the lives of their patients.
“We are thrilled Sylvia was recognized by the March of Dimes for her accomplishments. It is an important celebration of the innovations nurses like Sylvia bring to their work every single day,” said Tyffany Laurano, NAH Chief Nursing Officer. “Sylvia’s award is a testament to the exceptional care and thoughtfulness that she and her colleagues provide to the community, as well as her innovation in helping create the Blue Wrap Project to help NAH being better stewards of our resources.”
Goldberg was one of the co-founders of the Blue Wrap Project in 2019, an environmentally aware initiative at FMC that keeps surgical wrap from the hospital out of the landfill by finding new uses for it. The project promotes sustainable hospital practices by reducing the environmental impact of disposed surgical blue wrap through innovative upcycling. Over the past few years, the FMC Surgical Services staff has saved roughly 60,000 pounds of blue wrap waste from going into landfills. With vision and determination, the blue wrap has been turned into totes, sandbags, garment bags, dog beds, chair covers, masks, medical gowns, and more; providing a variety of upcycled and durable products for the Flagstaff community and beyond.
“I feel honored to have been recognized by the March of Dimes, an organization that is incredibly important to patients and their families,” said Goldberg. “The Blue Wrap Project couldn’t have been possible without my coworkers at FMC, as well as community members, such as our local sewists. I’m so proud that this project has really taken off and we’ve been able to provide blue wrap products across the Southwest and Mexico to refugee shelters, humane shelters and churches.”
Jessie Strength, RN at FMC, and Elena Bermudez, RN at Verde Valley Medical Center (VVMC) were both honored as March of Dimes HEROES in Action finalists in the Critical Care and Emergency Category. Shannon Skirvin, RN at FMC, also was honored as a HEROES in Action Finalist in the Neonatal Category. These amazing health care professionals were nominated by friends, family and colleagues, and then selected by a panel of their peers to be honored for their compassionate care and commitment to the community.