East side nurse wins national honors for Superstorm Sandy efforts

Jill Goldstein, a nurse with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, has been honored with the nation's largest nursing recognition award, sponsored by Nurse.com.

Goldstein was recognized for the relief efforts she organized and implemented during Superstorm Sandy that went well beyond her call of duty.

The award, sponsored by the Johnson and Johnson Campaign for Nursing's Future and the University of Phoenix College of Nursing, is the largest nursing recognition program in the nation, and Goldstein's honor is the first time it has been presented to a VNSNY nurse.

A nurse for 27 years, Goldstein oversees the daily care of about 2,000 patients who are elderly, disabled and mentally ill. During Superstorm Sandy, she took her dedication a step further by using her exceptional organizational and managerial skills to lead multidisciplinary teams of staff in their care of residents in the hardest hit areas of New York City, all while continuing to perform her regular duties. Jill corralled social workers, physicians, clinicians and home health aides to bring order to chaos in storm ravaged neighborhoods, as they walked door-to-door delivering supplies in buildings knee-deep in flood waters, up darkened stairwells in high-rise buildings and across bridges obstructed by fallen trees and debris.