Shaina Ellis Named 2026 Joan Fernbach Kingson Award Recipient

Congratulations to Shaina Ellis, Nursing Assistant 2, who was selected as the 2026 recipient of the Joan Fernbach Kingson Award.

Shaina was nominated by Stephanie Rabbo, RN on 5 South Irving, who remarked that Shaina consistently goes beyond expectations to support patients and families with compassion, attentiveness, and heart.

“Shaina is deeply attentive to patients’ physical needs while also recognizing the emotional and social aspects of care, answering call bells promptly, offering reassurance, and ensuring patients feel safe, heard, and respected.” the nomination said. “Their proactive approach not only prevents harm, but also builds trust with families and strengthens their connection to the care team.”

The Joan Fernbach Kingson Award was established to recognize service or technical workers like Shaina, whose special interactions with patients and families give vivid expression to the values of care which Mrs. Kingson was committed to in her work with children and families.

Those values include treating each patient as an individual; respecting the social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and physical needs of others, and welcoming families, especially the young, into the caring process. The often unseen gifts of service and technical workers acknowledged by this award include the gift of careful listening, the simple joy of human-to-human conversation, the sharing of silence, or the warmth of touch. In giving of themselves so generously to others, awardees help sustain the essence of humanity and exemplify the best traditions of Crouse Health.

About the Joan Fernbach Kingson Award

This annual cash prize is made possible by the family and friends of former Crouse Hospital patient Joan Fernbach Kingson, a nurse and educator who passed away in 2001. Syracuse University professor Eric Kingson was her husband and is the author of Lessons from Joan, Living and Loving with Cancer, a Husband’s Story.

Service or technical workers at the hospital are nominated by their peers and then selected by a committee for their involvement in the patient care process that gives vivid expression to the values of care that the late Mrs. Kingson was committed to in her work with children and families. Those values include treating each patient as an individual; respecting the social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs of others; and welcoming families, especially the young, into the caring process. To see past recipients of the award, click here.