Special guests celebrate nurse honorees as “a gift to the world”
Published June 05, 2025
Scholarship awardees included Medical Intensive Care Unit nurses (l-r, holding certificates): Beatrice Paulin, RN, SRC; and Michelle O’Brien, RN, and Matilda Dean, RN, (right), YSC. With them are (l-r): Kathy Ruotolo, RN, assistant patient services manager, YSC MICU; Jennifer Ghidini, RN, executive director of nursing patient services, Medical Critical Care; Dawn Cooper, RN, Center for Nursing Excellence; and Carol Lee, wife of Raymond J. Lee. Not pictured are scholarship awardees Sunny Ravert, RN, and Kelechi Christopher, RN, both from the SRC MICU; and Katharine Garnett, RN, and Bianca Morales, RN, both from the YSC MICU.
A famous guest joined a Yale New Haven Hospital nursing awards ceremony May 7, but she was quick to shine the spotlight on the stars of the day.
Jean Watson, RN, PhD, an internationally known nurse theorist, joined the event virtually to congratulate the 12 nurses who received an award named for her, and the seven nurses who received nursing scholarships.
“What nurses have to offer is so critical,” she said. “You are such a gift to the world.”
Watson is best known for developing the “Theory of Human Caring,” which emphasizes the importance of human-to-human relationships and the nurse-patient connection. YNHH’s Jean Watson Awardees were recognized for delivering care with loving-kindness; meeting basic human needs with dignity; developing helping and trusting relationships; creating a caring environment that helps to heal; and valuing personal beliefs and faith, allowing for hope.
Family members from the Raymond J. Lee Memorial Scholarship Fund and Carolyn Walch Slayman Fund also attended the ceremony to congratulate nurses who earned scholarships from their organizations.
The Raymond J. Lee Scholarship is named for the late New Haven business and community leader. It is awarded annually to clinical nurses in medical oncology and medical intensive care. The fund named for Carolyn Walch Slayman, PhD, honors the late Yale School of Medicine geneticist and first woman to head a department at the school.
Congratulations to the honorees!
Nurses at the May 7 awards ceremony included (l-r): Melanie Stuebs, RN, Awards and Recognition Committee; Jean Watson Award winners Jennifer Balzi, RN, Neuroscience ICU; Lisa Cioffi, RN, Digestive Health; Erika Fiore, RN, SRC Emergency Department; Caitlyn Guerrera, RN, Medicine (EP 9-7); Natasha Zadorojnyi, RN, McGivney Surgery Center OR; Mary Catherine Gannon, RN, Transplantation and Liver Unit (WP 9) and Sarah Gagnon, Pediatric ED; Haideen Suto, RN, Awards and Recognition Committee; Jean Watson Awardees Nealie Cirino, RN, HOIT Infusion; Marybeth Miller, RN, Women’s Specialties; Karissa Perrotti, RN, Trauma Surgery (SP 6-4); and Anecia Gidden Hemmings, RN, Orthopedics (Verdi 4 North); and (right) Connor Sweeney, RN, Psychiatric Emergency Services.
