Advocate Trinity Hospital nurse recognized for her dedication to patients and her career initiative

A young nurse at Advocate Trinity Hospital is passionate about providing exemplary care to victims of sexual assault. This nurse makes sure these patients are treated with compassion and dignity. She supports and encourages her fellow Emergency Department nurses to also become trained as Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners. Because she embodies Advocate Health Care’s core nursing values, Christina Cavallo was recognized as a winner of The Advocate Nurse Award.

Christina and the other 15 winning nurses will be recognized by Advocate’s executive leaders in a system-wide celebration taking place in April at the health system’s Downers Grove headquarters.

“Each of these nurses live out clinical excellence, compassion, patient-centered wholistic care and other core values of The Advocate Nurse through the work they do every day,” said Susan Campbell, senior vice president and chief nursing officer, Advocate Health Care. “They are our unsung heroes – the heart and soul of Advocate Health Care.”

Christina began her nursing career at Advocate Trinity Hospital in April 2014. She ramped up her career quickly, taking the initiative to become trained as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) through the Illinois Attorney General's sponsored program, and has made sure all the needed supplies and equipment are available to provide comprehensive and compassionate care to sexual assault patients. In addition, Christina takes part in multiple hospital committees including the emergency department process improvement committee, the welcoming and retention committee and the peer interview committee, often outside of her normal shifts.

“Exemplifying The Advocate Nurse at Trinity Hospital, Christina makes a difference in the lives of sexual assault patients,” says Jacqueline Whitten, chief nurse executive, Advocate Trinity Hospital. “As a relatively new nurse, Christina thrives in her career both in the Emergency Department and through giving her time to multiple committees and projects at Advocate Trinity. She serves with compassion and love – always providing her patients and colleagues with the best Advocate experience.”

“Christina is a dynamic future leader who knows how to engage her team to achieve a high level of teamwork,” said Christina’s manager, Shoaib Master, manager of the emergency department at Advocate Trinity.

More than 1,000 nurses from Advocate Health Care’s hospitals, home health care, support center and medical offices were nominated for the inaugural award. Nominations were submitted by physicians and associates, including many non-nursing associates, to recognize Advocate nurses who empower, serve and thrive. These nominations were vetted and presented in blinded format to site-based review committees who scored each according to a metric that took into account each nominee’s passion for patient care, commitment to service, problem-solving abilities and leadership aptitude.

The winners are nurses from a variety of specialties across the patient care continuum who represent diversity in their backgrounds and experiences; some are veteran nurses with more than 30 years of experience while others are relatively new to Advocate or to the nursing profession yet have already made an impact on their patients and colleagues.

Advocate Health Care is the largest employer of nurses in the state of Illinois, employing nearly 11,000 professional nurses across the system’s 12 acute care facilities, more than 450 outpatient locations, home health, hospice, occupational health and corporate services. Nurses represent one-third of Advocate’s workforce. For more information, visit www.advocatenurse.com.