Nurse of the Month: Tanya Lovell

Nurse of the Month: Tanya Lovell

How did you first learn about Signallamp?

When I lived in MA I worked as a case manager for a large insurance company. My responsibilities closely mirrored the work we do as Signallamp care managers. It was always work I enjoyed and wanted to get back into the field after making a home in SC. A neighbor of mine mentioned having a friend who did just that, so she passed along my contact information, we spoke with the company, and the rest is history!

What do you like the most about your job?

The people who surround your work environment make such a big impact on your day and I love it here because I am being surrounded by positive folks who genuinely enjoy their work. Hearing about the impact nurses make on their patients’ lives through the success stories we share at our meetings is incredibly motivating. It reaffirms everything you do when you hear about someone helping to save a life or brighten someone’s day just from our calls.

What is the best career lesson you have learned so far?

You were given two ears and one mouth for a reason! Although this advice wasn’t necessarily geared toward me career it was something I was told long ago, and it has always stuck with me. I believe it’s a quote by Judge Judith Sheindlin, and it is certainly applicable in this field. We don’t have our patients in front of us so it’s imperative we rely on our listening skills and really understand what is going on so we can assist them in the best way possible.

Compared with day one, how has Signallamp grown?

Salesforce is constantly evolving, and I love that our leaders welcome our input to help streamline systems into being more userfriendly and time efficient for nurses. The fact that we can add educational letters, one-liners, and more makes the documentation process much smoother and saves precious time. Salesforce keeps up to date with its users and helps meet our goals as a company.

If you could select one co-worker to mentor you, who would you pick and why?

From the start, Maria Hadley (1) for sure has had a work ethic I hope to emulate. I was fortunate to have her as my supervisor and leader when I first began my journey with the company on the UPMC team. I was able to learn the workflow of that practice before transitioning over to Temple. Now that I have been given the opportunity to be on the Quality Team, I am most curious to see Corrin’s (2) workflow. She is Jen’s (3) right-hand gal and to see her responsibilities behind the scenes would be great insight to the inner working of the SLH model!

  1. Maria Hadley serves as a Quality Nurse for nearly 2 years now.
  2. Corrin Rimostes serves as our Director of Quality Improvement and has been an integral part of Signallamp for nearly 5 years.
  3. Jen Nicastro serves as our Chief Nursing Officer and has been a part of the company from its inception. She oversees all our Quality Nurses, practices, and more.

What do you like to do when you are not working?

When I am not working, I love throwing pottery. No, it is probably not what you are thinking. Throwing pottery refers to making pottery on a potter’s wheel. Throwing, centering, pulling, shaping your clay into different pieces like mugs, vases, plates, etc. I have a small pottery area in my hubby’s man cave where I keep my wheel, tools, cutters, and sponges. I love being able to get creative and make a mess!

What is a fun fact about you many people may not know?

You will not find a bigger fan of Lucille Ball than myself! I started watching I Love Lucy as a child and now anything that has to do with her feels like a warm hug. As a kid I dressed up like her for school projects and copied her look for a few Halloweens. I own a few collectibles and if you look close enough you may see her photo on my work wall – gotta keep rocking that red hair!

Tell us about the craziest experience you have had with a patient:

I absolutely LOVE my panel of patients; they for sure keep my day interesting! It is a diverse group that often involve some type of SW or resource involvement and psychiatric diagnoses. There have been telephone encounters where I wonder if the person, I am speaking with may be under the influence of alcohol or an illicit drug of some type; I often wonder what the best way is to go about the situation. I think my craziest encounter thus far was a day I called a woman for her routine telephonic assessment. She was driving at the time and had to hang up suddenly. She called me back later and apologized for ending our call so abruptly. Apparently, she was being pulled over by the police at the time because she said she “was suspected of being involved in a murder” that had just occurred in her neighborhood!