{"id":229350,"date":"2025-05-01T09:00:21","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=229350"},"modified":"2025-05-01T10:55:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T14:55:18","slug":"welcoming-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/05\/welcoming-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcoming Workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you know Nanette Pink \u201913 (NUR), \u201909 MbEIN, \u201924 MSN, you already know her reputation for supporting her staff, so they not only feel heard, but they also feel encouraged to develop their skills both personally and professionally.<\/p>\n

For more than 15 years, Pink has been either studying nursing at UConn, practicing nursing at UConn Health, or both. She\u2019s been the nurse manager for the UConn John Dempsey Hospital orthopedics and surgery floor since 2022.<\/p>\n

\"group
Members of Nannette Pink\u2019s staff on the fifth floor include (from left, back row) Renee Harrison, Amanda Darcy, Julian Forbes-Samuels, Jennifer Loebel, (from left, front row) Megan D\u2019Addeo, Rachel Greenwood, and (front right) Cameron Druckenmiller. (Photo by Chris DeFrancesco)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOn our unit, I really pride myself on having an inclusive environment and treating everybody with courtesy, kindness, and respect. When hiring to our unit, I look for candidates who will fit into our team qualities and traits of kindness, courtesy and respect, as well as uphold the UConn Health mission and vision,\u201d Pink says. \u201cI always say, I can teach you how to empty a drain, but I can\u2019t teach you how to be kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several of her staff are studying to become nurses, and those who already are nurses are looking to further their professional nursing degrees, as Pink herself has. In December she earned a Master of Science in nursing with a concentration in nursing leadership, and this month she will walk at the UConn School of Nursing\u2019s commencement.<\/p>\n

Her master\u2019s degree studies exposed her to something that she is bringing to UConn Health for Nurses Week, May 6-12.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Everybody\u2019s Work\u2019 is a documentary film that talks about the difficulty of students of color and people of color obtaining a degree in general, or an advanced degree, in the health care field, specifically within nursing,\u201d Pink says. \u201cIt\u2019s a very eye-opening documentary about what individuals are still facing in this day and age, and the type of advocacy and support that nursing schools, individuals and health centers are doing to help support these students in getting back to school and completing their degree. I was shocked at how prevalent the challenges are that these individuals face throughout the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a graduate student, Pink observed a panel discussion on the documentary and decided her peers needed to see it. She arranged for a screening and panel discussion of \u2018Everybody\u2019s Work\u2019 in UConn Health\u2019s Low Learning Center Thursday, May 8, at 5:30 p.m.<\/a> (registration is required).<\/p>\n

Pink says nursing is one of the hardest professions to get into, and nursing school is one of the hardest undergraduate programs to complete \u2014 and that\u2019s before taking into account things like cultural or socio-economic barriers, or balancing a full-time job and family along with it. She recognizes the stresses involved, and seeks to cultivate an environment where all feel they belong and have an open path to advancement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we look at health care, we want to see ourselves in the professionals who are providing care to us, especially when we\u2019re dealing with our current political and health care environment,\u201d Pink says. \u201cHow do we make sure that the patients are seeing themselves in the staff, and the staff is feeling like they\u2019ve got somebody there being an ally and supporting their professional growth? And that\u2019s where \u2018Everybody\u2019s Work\u2019 started.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"three
Nanette Pink (left), the nurse manager on the UConn John Dempsey Hospital orthopedic and surgery floor, keeps her office open to collaborate with her staff, including nurse Cameron Druckenmiller (center) and assistant nurse manager Julian Forbes-Samuels. (Photo by Chris DeFrancesco)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The team Pink has assembled in her three-plus years as nurse manager is one that reflects those values.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my assistant nurse managers calls it the United Nations, which I kind of love, because everybody brings a different perspective,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Since joining UConn Health as a new graduate nurse in 2010, through her advancement to assistant nurse manager in late 2019, and into her current role as nurse manager, Pink has worked on the orthopedics and surgery floor, first in the Connecticut Tower and then in the University Tower after its opening in 2016. She is a stakeholder in UConn Health\u2019s success, driven by what she feels is her calling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always brought up with the mentality that you serve the community that you live in, and this is my community,\u201d Pink says. \u201cIt was really important for me to start my nursing career in a hospital and clinical unit where I felt my local community was being served.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pink leads by example by fostering a culture of kindness, inclusiveness, and respect that is welcoming to everyone, laying the groundwork for all to have an opportunity to grow and thrive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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