An Orange County ER nurse is being recognized for her hard work with paramedics and her efforts to start a first responder debriefing team. 

Brenda Taylor, a nurse at St. Luke's Hospital in Newburgh, is being honored with the 2021 recipient of the "Registered Professional Nurse of Excellence" award – given by the Orange County, Hudson Valley and New York State EMS Councils.
           

Taylor says the award acknowledges her efforts to support EMS.

"PTSD, compassion fatigue, burnout – these are real things that are affecting people's lives and it's been shown that taking a moment to have time to de-escalate yourself or your team is very helpful," said Taylor.

Taylor is working to start a critical incident stress management debriefing team for EMS at St. Luke's and hopes to inspire staff to do so at other hospitals.