2026 Recipients

Lauren Pickering

Her Story of Excellence: A patient has been admitted to our hospital on multiple occasions. He is well-known by our staff, kind and easy to care for. The patient has a condition rendering him with a weak heart. His condition can often require hospitalization and treatment, with cardiac medication drips to help maintain or prevent further decline in his heart function; however, there is no long-term cure or reversal for this patient’s weak heart.

On this particular admission, about a week into his stay with us at Enloe, the patient had decided on his own terms that he was “done.” The patient shared with his family and his treatment team that he no longer wanted to be on cardiac medications, and he wanted to be placed on comfort care.

After extensive collaboration with the patient, his family, and his treatment team, the decision was made by the patient to move forward with comfort-focused care. The few days prior to this decision, Cardiovascular Unit Nurse Lauren Pickering, RN, had been caring for the patient during the night shift. In one of the many interactions Lauren had with the patient, the night he made his decision, he mentioned to Lauren that “he wished he could have a steak, one last time.” 

She got approval from his provider, and the following night Lauren surprised the patient with a full steak dinner — with all the fixings — cooked medium, just the way he liked it. Lauren selflessly paid for this meal, making sure to show up prior to dinner trays being delivered. This selfless act of kindness was noted by the CVU day shift nurse Nathan Crawford, RN, who was caring for the patient and his family. One of the profound aspects of this story is that it was not brought to me by Lauren. Her coworkers, Nathan and Christy Sanders, CVU RN, were so moved, they informed me of the remarkable act of kindness Lauren had done for her patient.

This shows the selfless humility that develops in the nurse-patient relationship and the desire by the nurse to go above and beyond to provide true patient-centered care, without the need to be recognized for it. 

Submitted by Mike Underwood, RN, Nurse Manager, Cardiovascular Unit

Daniela Morcos-Gannon M.D. and Shannon Fuller

Their Story of Excellence:  I just want to recognize Daniela Morcos-Gannon, M.D., and Shannon Fuller, Infusion RN, who are collaborating to support a mother and family as they prepare for the delivery of an infant with a terminal disease process.

Dr. Morcos-Gannon demonstrated her commitment to person-centered care when family expressed the desire to plan for the arrival of their infant close to home. She reached out to find all the resources available to assist in the care plan, with an openness to learn best practices in pediatric palliative care.

Shannon is among our most experienced nurses with pediatric hospice care, and offered to volunteer her time to support this mother, family and the fourth-floor staff.

This demonstrates the true meaning of our Planetree mission, bringing together our team members to best serve families facing challenging medical circumstances. It is a great honor to call them colleagues.

Submitted by Aldebra Schroll, M.D., Palliative Medicine

Hector Yanez

His Story of Excellence: On April 14 at 5:30 a.m., a pregnant woman delivered her baby in her husband’s truck on the way to the hospital. As one could imagine, the truck was a mess!

Later that morning, her husband had gone back out to the truck, to attempt to try his best to clean the remnants of their exciting morning. Hector Yanez, Xanitos A.M. Manager, happened to see this dad trying to clean the inside of his truck and offered to help.

Hector went way above and beyond, bringing a carpet cleaner out to this dad’s vehicle and helping him detail his newer truck. The parents were so grateful for his thoughtfulness and willingness to help with such a dilemma.

Hector is such a great example of the excellence that Enloe represents. Hector’s actions represent how amazing a group of individuals we work with here at Enloe and that no matter our role or how small of an act of kindness we do, it’s these moments that represent the kind of community and service that we offer here at Enloe.

Submitted by Dana Muensterman, RN, & Margaret Ross, RN, Birthing Unit

Kristen Addis, Taryn McKinney, Elizabeth Potter, Gavin Zarate and Katie Reynolds

Their Story of Excellence:  I wanted to share an inspirational story from the Growing Healthy Children event. During the event, a participant experienced what appeared to be a sudden heart or vascular episode and collapsed.

An Enloe nurse, Katie Reynolds, RN, immediately came to his aid and began CPR. I had never witnessed CPR in person before, and it was incredibly powerful to see. Katie was soon joined by Emergency Department nurse Kristen Addis, RN, and Elizabeth Potter, CNM, OB/GYN certified nurse-midwife.

All three were off duty and worked seamlessly together to care for this man. We were also fortunate to have an ambulance on site. The Butte County EMS team always does everything possible to staff one at community events, even when they are stretched so thinly, and I am deeply grateful for that.

While the caregivers continued CPR, the EMS crew, Gavin Zarate, Enloe paramedic, and Taryn McKinney, EMT, brought over the AED. After the shock was delivered, the man immediately regained movement. It truly felt like a miracle!

He was then transported to Enloe for further care. I’m very happy to share that he is going to be OK. He attended the event with his children, who appeared to be close in age to mine. They had a friend with them at the event who was able to contact his wife and take the family to meet her at the ER.

Katie — the nurse who took immediate action — likely made the difference between life and death. This story still brings tears to my eyes, knowing that this man is alive. I’ve been involved with this event for 14 years and have never experienced anything like this. I may have even believed that something like this could never happen at our event.

My eyes are wide-open now. I understand that for many of our caregivers, moments like this are part of daily work, and it can be easy to take for granted. But for those of us who aren’t as close to that world, it was unbelievable. Thank you.

Submitted by Suzie Lawry-Hall, Director, Marketing & Community Outreach

Jose Onate

His Story of Excellence: Just after 6 o’clock on a Saturday morning, Security Officer Jose Onate was making his way down The Esplanade, returning to the Medical Center after unlocking the Rehab facility when he noticed a child between 7-9 years of age walking in the middle of the road in nothing more than a diaper, holding a cellphone.

Jose turned the security vehicle around and parked by the Thrifty Bargain lot. The child was not speaking; instead, he would occasionally make noises, displaying signs of impairment. With the aid of a female adult who stated she worked at Butte County Behavioral Health and who stopped at the same time, Jose was able to offer his hand to the small boy to encourage him to get out of the road.

The child took Jose’s hand and was escorted onto the sidewalk. Jose then encouraged the child to sit in the back seat of the woman’s vehicle while they waited for Chico Police to arrive.

When CPD arrived, Jose was dismissed by the officer to return to duty. Jose did an amazing job stopping to help the small child out of the road and connect with authorities to reunite him with his family.

Submitted by James Geary, Supervisor, Security

Danielle Gucho

Her Story of Excellence: As many are aware, the fifth floor often becomes “home” to many patients who require a unique approach to problem-solving. We would like to take a moment to recognize our assistant manager, Danielle Gucho, RN, for consistently going above and beyond with her creativity and dedication.

Earlier this year we had a developmentally delayed patient who stayed with us for a long time. She had loved to go to the gift shop, but because of inappropriate behaviors when she was down there, we were unable to allow her to go any more.

Enter Danielle’s creative problem-solving. Danielle gathered into her office a few items that the patient enjoyed and when the patient earned enough “money” with appropriate behavior, she got to go “shopping” at the gift shop in her office. Another patient we’ve had with us since May also struggled with many behavioral issues.

Over time, we discovered that he had once played in a band and found comfort watching old YouTube videos of his performances. He had been through the lobby a few times and really wanted to play the piano there, but alas, was told he was unable to. Cut to Danielle going the extra mile.

Danielle found and bought our guy a keyboard to keep in his room and play as he wished. Danielle never seems to fail at coming up with ways to improve the quality of our patients’ lives up here in the penthouse.

We don’t always see the gratitude reflected to us in this work and we would like Danielle to know that WE SEE YOU. We see what you do for our patients. We see your creativity, compassion and willingness to try something different and we deeply appreciate you.

Submitted by Sarah McFarland, RN, Ashley Pensis, RN, and Tina McDermott, RN, Med Neuro