EvenMORE For You

It’s National Nurses Month!

Staff Spotlight on 2 Outstanding Hospice Nurses: Megan Robertson, RN in Cincinnati & Mary Kushner, RN in Philadelphia

Today marks the beginning of National Nurses Month, 31 days in the month of May recognizing and celebrating the immense contributions of nurses to healthcare delivery. 

It was only six years ago in 2020 that the American Nurses Association (ANA) expanded National Nurses Week to a month. This was in recognition of the depth of impact of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ANA’s May programming for nurses focuses on better supporting the nursing profession through self-care, recognition, professional development and community engagement. 

Nurses specializing in end-of-life care are important and highly valued members of the hospice care team. In honor of National Nurses Month in our three May editions of EM4U we’ll be spotlighting outstanding Crossroads nurses beginning with Megan Robertson, RN in Cincinnati and Mary Kushner, RN in Philadelphia.

Megan Robertson, RN Belongs in Hospice Care

Case Manager Megan Robertson, RN joined Crossroads in Cincinnati just 14 months ago. She brought a wealth of hospital nursing experience to her position after years in the Operating Room (OR,) medical surgical floors, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Cardiac Care Unit (CCU.)

While initially it was the furthest thing from her mind due to typical end-of-life care “misconceptions,” Megan has a friend who worked in hospice nursing and recommended that she consider it.

It hasn’t been long but she “loves being with Crossroads, mainly because of the patients.” Megan said Crossroads is where she “belongs.” She becomes quite “attached (to patients) in a good way.” Megan loves hearing their stories and becoming part of the family admitting, she thinks about her patients “all the time” even when she’s not on the job.

One thing she’s still getting used to is a switch in mindset from curative to comfort care. Megan is also learning the signs of passing and transitioning to rapid decline. “It’s not emotionless but we have a job to perform,” for the families Megan said. She stays as professional as possible while admitting she feels loss when losing dear patients she’s spent a lot of time caring for.

When Megan’s not working she’s “hardly ever home,” enjoying the outdoors, kayaking, going to concerts and enjoying daughters 23 and 14 and a son, age 15. The most exciting news? The anticipation of her first grandbaby in September.

Mary Kushner, RN Oversees the Best End-of-Life Care

“I enjoy my job and it shows through.” That’s what Crossroads in Philadelphia Case Manager Mary Kushner, RN, said. She discovered that she “loves it” and that working in end-of-life care is a very good match for her.

Triage is what she called the role of a Nurse Case Manager. First and foremost Mary is “keeping an eye on patients, seeing what they need.” And when “emergencies come, I’m there for them,” she said.

While Mary has worked at Crossroads for just three years, she had a more than 15 year run as a home care visiting nurse. It was her mother who suggested that Mary might be very good in hospice nursing. She was right!

Mary also brings a lot of management experience to her position. While giving patients the best care possible she is also a professional mentor and support to the nurses, aides, social workers and chaplains on her Crossroads team.

On a personal note, Mary appreciates the patients’ personal stories and their struggles, which make her appreciate life and “put things in perspective.” With two kids now in college, Mary is enjoying her three dogs. She said, as a hospice nurse at Crossroads, “I think I’ve found my calling."

An Apocalypse Worth Looking Forward To

By Danny Gutknecht
The word is everywhere. AI, we are told, is the largest Transformation we will navigate in our lifetime. Just look at the word — it's gone commercial. The capital T is bloated and pale. An abstraction, rather than something that happens within. We've managed it, sanitized it, systematized it. Doesn't the definition of transformation imply something unexpected?

What is the transformation being promised?

Remember 2023, when the digital priesthood warned us an AI apocalypse was coming? Goldman Sachs said generative AI could expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation. IBM said 1.4 billion workers might need re-skilling within three years. Two years later, the count of U.S. layoff plans explicitly attributed to AI in 2025 was 54,694. Not nothing. But not apocalypse either.

But it isn't just the analysts and consultancies. Everywhere I go, people are searching for transformation — something to re-establish a clear signal to relationship, to achieve a feeling we know exists, somewhere.

Henry David Thoreau wrote, "The mass of people lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation." The phrase points to how people adapt to lives they don't think they can do anything about — so much so that it no longer feels like a problem. A rationalized existence.

Rationalization.

When you invest energy into this type of thinking, it comes at the expense of what's relational. Trying to preserve an image with reason cleans up the story, smooths over the contradictions and ambiguities that bring zest into our lives. The relational depends on staying in contact with what is not yet resolved, is ongoing, or even messy. You get a reason instead of an interaction. Life becomes an object you account for rather than live. The living edge of the exchange is gone.

Everyone I work with, no matter how far up or down the hierarchy, feels stuck to some extent. But what is stuck? There's always a search, driven by knowing deep down they have something more to offer. My friend Scott ran across the German word for it: Torschlusspanik — another "T" word, meaning "gate-shut-panic," the anxiety that time is running out to achieve life goals.

There's an inner push to contribute more, but no time. The boss, or the company, has codified things to an extent that they don't know why they are needed. Or the inverse — running twice as hard to achieve something that should take 50% effort instead of 200%.

Here's the kicker. If you work with the feeling, let it talk to you, there are seeds of nourishment and beauty in it. But you have to work with the mulch, the compost from which things grow — the ground where seeds transform themselves into flowers and nourishing food. If you've lived with grief, you might know the preciousness of time, and the opportunity to fill that bracket with the vibrancy of your gift to creation.

Real transformations at work come from within. Inside the people at the company, within the leaders. Too often it's forced through restructuring or messaging, but it really doesn't have to be that difficult.

In every transformation I've worked with, the most successful happened this way. I think we need to change the spelling of the word — because there is a phrase I always hear: I feel free. I feel light. More of me can come to work. It's freedom. Real transformation starts with the individual but is catalyzed by a team. The individual works with themselves, and learns how to work differently with the team.

The shift usually comes when we learn that the part of us that got us from here to there — the Type-A personality, the hard exterior — can move into the passenger seat, and our relational capabilities begin to drive. We stop running 200% to get to 1X. The part that's been begging to be outgrown gets recycled back into the compost. Something else emerges. Something organic, authentic. A seed of something that was there all along, wanting to be expressed. That new plant nourishes us and others in a way that doesn't discard what's been composted, but re-expresses parts of it alongside the new.

The apocalypse everyone keeps predicting may be less about AI replacing us than about being freed from the machine we've been living inside — and being left, finally, with the necessity of being oneself.

Small Shifts, Big Change: Why Investing in Yourself Matters

By Emily Hammer
Let’s be honest—many of us are running on autopilot. We show up, get through the day, check the boxes, and tell ourselves we’ll focus on ourselves later. We usually come last on the To-Do list. 

But the truth is that real change doesn’t come from one big, life-altering moment. It comes from small, intentional shifts repeated over time. Habits and discipline – two sometimes very distasteful words. And often, it happens faster and sticks longer when you have the right support. Accountability is huge.

That’s where coaching support comes in.

Growth isn’t complicated—but it is uncomfortable. In fact, the more uncomfortable it is, the more growth is available.

It requires you to be honest about what’s not working. To admit where you feel stuck. To say out loud what you really want—sometimes for the first time ever. That’s vulnerability.

And then choosing to do something about it? Even when it feels awkward, scary, or unfamiliar? That’s courage.

Maybe it's setting a boundary instead of overcommitting? Speaking up in a meeting when you’d normally stay quiet. Or perhaps it's finally admitting that everything isn’t actually “fine.” These may not feel like bold moves in the moment—but they are. And they build confidence quickly.

What Happens in a Coaching Session?

Coaching isn’t about someone bossing you around telling you how to live your life or that you’re doing it wrong. It’s about helping you get clear on what you want—and what’s been getting in the way. It’s a conversation, not a lecture.

Some questions you’ll be asked:

• What feels off that prompted you to seek coaching?
• What would “better” actually look like for you?
• What’s been holding you back from making a change?
• What’s one small step you could take this week?
• What do you need more of… and what needs to go?

Simple questions, honest answers. When you have clarity about your life, you’re better equipped to make changes.

What Can You Expect from Coaching?

When employees lean into coaching, things start to shift—quickly.

You’ll probably notice:

• Clearer priorities and direction
• More confidence in your decisions
• Stronger, healthier boundaries
• Less stress and burnout
• Better communication at work and at home

The biggest shift? You stop just reacting to your life—and start designing it.

And sometimes, things seem to get worse before they get better. Because you’re digging into an area you may have never explored and it can be uncomfortable. This is normal and it means you’re challenging old thoughts and beliefs. This is good!

Remember, this isn’t about overhauling your entire life overnight or even next week.

It’s about taking small actions:

• Taking a 10-minute walk to clear your head instead of pushing through
• Saying “no” without overexplaining
• Having that conversation you’ve been avoiding

These are the “small” things that change everything and these shifts build momentum. You don’t need a perfect plan (it doesn’t exist) and you don’t need to have it all figured out. In fact, the more open-minded you are, the more powerful the transformation. Just show up with a willingness to start and accept help. Connection is an undervalued commodity in today's digital world. Human problems require human help.

The best ideas are simple. So simple, we almost miss them.

Access to free mental health benefits is available through the app My Benefits Work. For more information about this robust offering, please reach out to your HR department.