SARANAC LAKE — Adirondack Health has awarded Sue Bailey, RN with the fourth-annual Nursing Legacy Award.
The Adirondack Health Nursing Legacy Award, founded by Adirondack Health Foundation Board Member Joan Grabe, a registered nurse, was created in 2021 to honor a nurse with more than 15 years’ experience and a demonstrated history of teaching, mentoring, and inspiring the next generation of nurses. Additional criteria include expert technical skills, the ability to pass on the art and science of nursing, strong intuition, and an excellent rapport with patients, families, and colleagues.
Grabe said Bailey is exactly the kind of nurse she was thinking of when this award was created: a nurse with a long record of excellent patient care and a motivation to inspire younger nurses to go beyond what they learned in nursing school and become better nurses than they thought they could ever be.
“I think Sue Bailey is that nurse and I join my congratulations to the others who nominated her,” Grabe said.
Bailey has been with Adirondack Health for 37 years and is currently the unit supervisor on the medical/surgical unit at Adirondack Medical Center. She began her career as part of Adirondack Medical Center’s nutritional services team in the cafeteria and then became part of the environmental services team.
From there, she worked as a nurses aid and utilized Adirondack Health’s tuition assistance program to go to nursing school at North Country Community College, earning her licensed practical nursing degree and then her registered nursing degree. She has served on the medical/surgical unit her entire nursing career.
Nursing is a family affair for Bailey, with her husband, Mark Sears, working as an RN on the medical/surgical unit, and her daughter, Aleesha LaBounty, working as an RN in the emergency department.
Bailey said she was astonished when she received the Nursing Legacy Award. She said she feels privileged to work at Adirondack Health and she’s grateful to work with her colleagues and the organization’s leaders.
“I feel very dedicated to Adirondack Health,” she said. “It’s a community and you’re supporting your community, your neighbors, and your friends.”
Medical/Surgical Director Jennie Frenette said that Bailey is the glue that keeps the Med/Surg together on busy OR days.
“She is a master at placing patients and making sure everything runs smoothly,” Frenette said.
“She has probably checked for complete patient documentation for just about every nurse that has worked at Adirondack Health because almost all have started on Med/Surg. She is a huge patient advocate and has the most caring and compassionate soul that she hides very well. Sue loves Christmas, I think because she is genuinely a giving person. We on Med/Surg are so happy that Sue has been given this prestigious award.”