The Maryellen Reilly Leadership Award honors the legacy of a former leader who forever left her mark on HUP. “Maryellen led by example while engaging others with her collaborative and friendly style,” said Colleen Mattioni, DNP, RN, HUP’s chief nurse executive. “She recognized the good in everyone and brought out the best in all of us. She had a love of family, at home and at work, and she stressed the importance of balancing both.” Reilly passed away suddenly nine years ago.
The annual Leadership Award recognizes these qualities in a current HUP leader, someone whose “quiet efforts warrant recognition because of their steadfast dedication to doing their best despite obstacles,” Mattioni said. The 2020 award went to Jessie Reich, MSN, director of Magnet Strategy.
Although Reich has only been at HUP since 2017, “her impact cannot be overstated.” For example, when timelines related to HUP East (the Pavilion) pushed the deadline for the Magnet submission up by seven months, Reich worked through hundreds of sources of evidence to demonstrate HUP nursing’s excellence and wrote a narrative showcasing 100 individual sources. “In the best of times, such a task would be a herculean feat,” Mattioni said. “To finish seven months early, in the midst of a pandemic, is simply unheard of.”
When COVID struck our community, HUP received hundreds of donations from the local community. Reich led the distribution process, ensuring that everyone benefitted from these expressions of gratitude. “True to form, Jessie had a smile on her face as she handed out 1,300 pairs of Crocs, properly sized to each recipient, of course.”
Learning that many members of the HUP family were experiencing food insecurity, Reich organized and implemented an employee food pantry that has, to date, provided hundreds of bags of food, each containing enough to feed a family of four for an entire day.
“Jessie is known as a loyal friend and generous person. She is a champion for anyone in need,” Mattioni said. “Like Maryellen, Jessie has been able to achieve these many accomplishments with grace, dedication, enthusiasm, positive energy and an unwavering commitment to her colleagues, patients and the community.”