11/03/2024
HOSPICE HERO HONORED
When Philadelphia-born, Northern Virginia-based cardiac nurse Bridget Nesko BSN, RN learned of her mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis in 2014, she rushed to her home in Clayton, New Jersey to care for her dying parent. As the illness progressed beyond her family’s ability to help, hospice support was sought, and Bridget selected Samaritan for that support. After her mother’s passing, Bridget grieved deeply, but was so impressed with the level of care and compassion shown by hospice professionals that she vowed to do all she could to support Samaritan in their mission. Soon after, when Bridget launched a community newspaper and a radio broadcast, she highlighted Samaritan as often as possible.
Seven short years later, Bridget herself faced a terminal diagnosis and a nearly two-year uphill battle against ovarian cancer. After multiple hospital stays, her fight was nearing an end, and in November of 2022, she asked her husband Kevin to take her home to die. She also asked him to call in Samaritan to do for her what they did for her mother – provide her and her family with care, compassion, and support.
Within a week of Bridget’s death, her husband and family formed the Bridget Nesko Memorial Scholarship Foundation, with a leading goal defined by Bridget on her deathbed - “to find a way to honor the hardworking souls from Samaritan.”
Bridget’s family fulfilled her wish with the creation of the “Excellence in Service Award.” The first recipient of the award was Kimberley Alice Corda, RN, BSN, Case Manager for Samaritan. Corda also happened to be the nurse responsible for managing Bridget’s care team as she died at home with her husband.
Corda graduated from Rutgers University in 2006 with High Honors and was awarded the Sigma Theta Tau Best All Around Student for her class. She spent her early nursing career working in Critical Care and ER units and eventually found her way into home care. While working with ventilator-dependent patients doing overnight shifts in their homes, she was offered an opportunity with Samaritan. This was the turning point in her career. The calling to step into service in the community and offer compassionate, down-to-earth, care to people facing end-of-life was fostered in her various roles as a hospice nurse, from Admissions to Case Management.
“Being afforded the space and time to witness people in their grief and vulnerability was a gift… a profound and precious gift”, Corda said.
The Foundation entered into a ten-year agreement with Samaritan to award the “Excellence in Service Award” and a $500 honorarium annually to one clinical staff member who demonstrated outstanding care, compassion, and commitment to serving the fragile patients under Samaritan’s care. That staff member is selected by Samaritan representatives and presented the award at Samaritan's annual WinterFest celebration. A permanent extension of the ten-year agreement is being developed by Foundation representatives.
The Bridget Nesko Memorial Scholarship Foundation and Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Project were founded to honor Bridget’s memory and legacy. Nesko’s Foundation - a nonprofit charity - provides financial awards and scholarships to dependents of families impacted by ovarian cancer and to other charitable, service, and education-oriented organizations serving the ovarian cancer community. The Nesko Ovarian Cancer Project is active worldwide in grass-roots advocacy to increase awareness among women, their families and physicians about the signs, symptoms, and early detection and treatment options for victims of ovarian cancer.
Samaritan provides an ever-expanding range of healthcare services for patients, their caregivers and their families at every stage of serious illness care. Samaritan's expert care team includes physicians, nurses, social workers, certified home health aides, spiritual support counselors, bereavement counselors, and volunteers. This team answers questions, offers counsel, helps with advance directives, provides pain and symptom relief, and provides an extra layer of support to patients and families in times of their greatest need.
Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women, and by midnight tonight, more than 750 women will die from it worldwide. Some of those deaths could have been avoided or delayed with proactive recognition, diagnosis and earlier treatment.
Information about Samaritan can be found at samaritannj.org.
Information about the Bridget Nesko Memorial Scholarship Foundation, Inc. and the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Project can be found at BridgetAngelFund.Org