Jessica Snyder, a registered nurse at IU Health North Hospital, is one of five IU Health team members from around the state to win the Lynda A. Merriman Award for Compassionate Care from the IU Health Foundation.
Conceived and funded by Chuck Merriman of Indianapolis, the “Lynda” award honors IU Health team members who embody the qualities of those who eased his wife Lynda’s seven-month battle with cancer at IU Health Simon Cancer Center and University Hospital in Indianapolis.
Snyder is a wound ostomy continence nurse whose patients benefit from her gentle and caring manner as much as they do her clinical expertise.
Her co-worker, Shelly Lancaster RN, said, “She helps patients come to terms with their ‘new normal’ and helps them to master the self-care required to cope with a new ostomy.”
Lancaster shared one example: Snyder had several times cared for a patient at IU Health North with complex wound care and ostomy needs. When that patient turned up in the emergency room at IU Health Saxony Hospital in Fishers, the patient asked for Snyder. Snyder made the trip from Carmel to Fishers and continues to return to IU Health Saxony when this patient needs her.
The donor, Chuck Merriman, said “I am eager to see the compassionate caregivers at IU Health recognized, and to see the ‘Lynda’ help to draw attention to the life-changing work being done by IU Health and the IU Health Foundation.”
Each Lynda Award recipient receives a cash award from the IU Health Foundation, made possible by Merriman.