Beacons of Light in a Year Like No Other

A Q&A with Ric Cuming, Ed.D., RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, ChristianaCare chief nurse executive and president of ChristianaCare HomeHealth

During a year unprecedented in modern history, nurses have provided hope and healing to millions of people. Ric Cuming reflects on how nurse caregivers across ChristianaCare and HomeHealth made all the difference.

How did the extraordinary circumstances of 2020 make it a year truly about nursing?

The World Health Organization couldn’t have predicted a global public health crisis when it designated 2020 the Year of the Nurse and Midwife. When COVID-19 hit, the pandemic put nurses center stage, and now the world sees what those of us in health care have known for a long time—nurses are true superheroes.

ChristianaCare and HomeHealth nurses and nurse partners have put their training, expertise and experience to work caring for patients, each other and our community in ways they likely never expected to. The year 2020 also marked Florence Nightingale’s 200th birthday. It was incredible to celebrate the mother of modern nursing during a year when nurses embodied everything Nightingale stood for: evidence-based, patient-focused care, leadership and collaboration. And I am proud that so many of our nurses were featured on 2020nurseandmidwife.org/ stories, a website celebrating the Year of the Nurse and Midwife. How did ChristianaCare nurses meet the moment?

With exceptional grace, skill and courage. Even as they feared for their families’ health, grappled with shifting family responsibilities and more, our caregivers never wavered in serving everyone with love and excellence. Most amazing to experience was the all-hands-on-deck mentality. Nurses took on new roles to optimize care delivery and meet capacity during surges. For example, nurses were reassigned to provide telehealth consultations and COVID-19 monitoring, serve as visitor and employee entry screeners and work in COVID-19 units and testing centers.

In addition to a pandemic, the U.S. heard widespread calls for social and racial justice. How did ChristianaCare nurses respond?

ChristianaCare has committed to being an anti-racism organization. Our caregivers recognize their unique role in promoting health equity and upholding ChristianaCare’s promise to advance actions that dismantle racism. I’m glad that many nurses joined a systemwide silent protest in remembrance of George Floyd and too many other Black lives lost to violence.

Of course, extraordinary national and global events ushered in the new decade, but they weren’t all that happened last year. What else stands out for you about ChristianaCare Nursing and HomeHealth in 2020?

It was a remarkable year. Our caregivers showed in so many other ways they are exceptional today, even better tomorrow and Magnet® every day. First and foremost, ChristianaCare earned our third Magnet redesignation for our Newark and Wilmington campuses, Ambulatory Services and HomeHealth. Like almost everything else in 2020, the end of our Magnet redesignation process was virtual, and our caregivers adapted with style. ChristianaCare also welcomed Maryland’s Union Hospital to the family when we integrated it — our first Maryland hospital — into the health system early in the year. Known now as our Cecil County campus, the campus’s nurses wasted no time in integrating ChristianaCare’s Nursing Professional Practice Model.

And our home health agency — the largest accredited home-health agency in Delaware and a trusted resource for generations of families — celebrated a milestone when it rebranded from the Visiting Nurse Association to ChristianaCare HomeHealth. This inclusive new name and a vibrant, colorful visual identity are the result of a yearlong rebrand journey with our caregivers. Our goal was to better reflect the agency’s full spectrum of holistic, patientfocused services—from skilled and private duty nursing care to home health assistance, medical social work, rehabilitation and more. All told, in 2020 our nurses and nurse partners shone brightly, embodying what it means to be Magnet.