ACHIEVING A LIFELONG DREAM
“Knowing that we are helping the people who need it most is very rewarding and why I got into this profession.”
- Nightingale honoree, Bridget
Bridget Kennedy knew from an early age that she wanted to pursue a career in nursing. She said her journey to becoming a nurse began in fifth grade when her grandmother was battling cancer. Seeing the happiness in her grandmother’s face when they were together and how helping care for her, in her own small way, is something she never forgot.
That feeling, she realized, was a calling and has led her to where she is today, a recipient of the Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing, a recognition that she said she always dreamed of, but never thought it would become a reality.
“This award is a once in a lifetime achievement,” Kennedy said of being named a Nightingale Award winner. “I am grateful to just have been nominated.”
Today, Kennedy works as a homecare nurse managing Hartford HealthCare at Home’s weekend team out of the organization’s Bloomfield location. Together she and her team have been instrumental in spearheading Hartford HealthCare at Home’s efforts to provide COVID vaccines to patients who are unable to leave their homes, due to age, disability and other health related factors. She has also pitched in to help provide vaccines to people at Hartford HealthCare’s vaccination clinics as well as in the local school systems.
Like all nurses and frontline healthcare workers, Kennedy and her team have faced an incredible challenge throughout the course of the COVID pandemic, but said that the obstacles they have had to overcome have only reconfirmed how important their work is.
“The past year has been incredibly difficult, but our team has relied on each other to get through it and I could not be more proud of them and the work they do each and every day,” she said of her team’s efforts during the pandemic. “I feel very privileged to work with so many amazing people. We know there’s still a long way to go and a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we also know that we have the help people need in our hands and it’s our turn to make a difference.”
“We could not be more proud of Bridget and all of the Nightingale nominees from Hartford HealthCare at Home,” said Laurie St. John, Vice President of Hartford HealthCare at Home. “Bridget is truly deserving of this award. The work she and her team have done in leading our efforts to provide the COVID vaccine to homebound patients has been incredible and a highlight tremendous nursing career.”
“Florence Nightingale was quoted as saying ‘For the sick it is important to have the best,’” said Alexia Krane, one of Kennedy’s nurse colleagues at Hartford HealthCare at Home “In so many ways Bridget embodies this statement. Every day, every shift, every moment she is always ON and seeking ways to best serve her patients, staff and the community.”
Today, Kennedy says she often thinks back to the time she spent with her grandmother when she is out visiting patients in their homes or administering vaccines in the community and is reminded of how much of a difference one person can make in someone’s life.
“I constantly see my grandmother in the faces of the people I treat all over Connecticut,” she said. “Knowing that we are helping the people who need it most is very rewarding and why I got into this profession.”
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