- Pictured (from left) are Sara Brokaw, TBH’s president and chief nursing officer; Deana Vogel, a physical therapist; and Lisa Sartain, TBH’s vice president of human resources.
The Bellevue Hospital (TBH) named Deana Vogel, a physical therapist in The Bellevue Hospital’s rehabilitation services department, as TBH’s nominee for Ohio Hospital Association’s Albert E. Dyckes Health Care Worker of the Year Award on Wednesday, May 15. The nomination was announced during an awards ceremony held as part of TBH’s Hospital Week celebration.
This award is presented each year to one Ohio caregiver who is a leader, motivates colleagues, influences others, provides valuable service, personifies the mission, vision and values of the organization, and has an impact in their community.
The Albert E. Dyckes Health Care Worker of the Year Award has been given annually since 1996 to one Ohio caregiver who personifies a leader, gives back to the community, and routinely goes beyond the call of duty and has overcome odds to succeed.
The hospital staff nominated Deana based on the award’s criteria and how she represents the values of the hospital.
““Deana has spent her career improving patient’s quality of life and caring for them like her own family,” said Sara Brokaw, TBH’s president and chief nursing officer. “She is not only an exceptional clinician, but a kind and compassionate person. Deana is an absolute gift to our team here at TBH.”
Vogel has been in health care for 32 years and has been a physical therapist at TBH since 1994.
“Deana is an advocate, a researcher and has a passion for her patients,” said Julie Jones, TBH’s director of rehabilitation services. “When you are her patient, you are her focus. She wants to use every trick up her sleeve and researches ways to get the results needed to improve the health of her patients and the community.”
The recent COVID-19 pandemic is a great example of Deana using her research skills to find ways physical therapy could aid in the treatment of patients who were admitted to the hospital with COVID. Her focus was on the acute phase of COVID and developing protocols for the department based on her research of how patients were being managed at other facilities to most significantly improve outcomes during the acute phase of their illness. These protocols were targeted at maintaining and improving, if able, the patient’s functional status while hospitalized. This was in the early stages of the pandemic when many health care workers were apprehensive due to the lack of information about COVID.
“With Deana, the patients were her first priority and she wanted to ensure their needs were not ignored while they were in isolation,” Jones said.
Throughout her career, Deana has shown genuine compassion for each patient she serves by putting them first and advocating for them. Whether she was caring for pediatric patients earlier in her career through a contract with a local school district or seeing adult patients in the hospital’s rehabilitation department, she has served as an advocate for doing what is right for TBH’s patients. She has accountability for herself and others, setting high standards when it comes to patient care.
Deana has a passion for fall prevention and she was instrumental in researching and developing the process for TBH’s balance screenings. During a recent survey by The Joint Commission, Deana met with one of the surveyors and explained this fall prevention program. As a result, TBH’s Rehabilitation Services department was recognized for its balance screenings and community fall prevention program during this visit and the surveyor asked to use our program as a reference for best practices. The screening is designed for anyone wanting to check their balance or for people with loss of balance, weakness or decreased coordination. This free, quick screening determines the community member’s risk for falling, provides information on fall prevention and offers recommendations for balance improvement. Deana and her fellow physical therapists offer this screening at health fairs, senior centers and in the Rehabilitation Services department.
Deana and her husband, Jeff, reside in Bellevue and have five children. While her children were growing up, they were very active in sports. She has participated in activities such as coaching volleyball and many “feeding the team” events. She also is active in her church.
Deana will be honored as a nominee at the OHA’s Recognition Dinner in Columbus on Tuesday, June 11.