PHOENIX — UPDATE:
The Valley nurses now have a website up where raffle tickets can be purchased for $1 until February 14.
There are over 30 baskets to choose from along with a 3-night getaway at an Oceanside, CA condo, sports packages, and much more.
Winners must be local.
To purchase a raffle ticket, CLICK HERE.
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Ask any intensive care nurse how they're doing, and you'll likely hear them say burnt out or exhausted.
This includes Valley ICU RN Miranda Dunkelbarger.
“It is hard right now. Morale is low. People are tired. Burnt out. Mentally, physically, emotionally. Everything is really hard right now,” she says.
However, she was given a task to not only fight for the lives of COVID patients but also, fight for the well-being of her fellow nurses.
"A couple of months ago, I sat down with my director and she challenged me as the unit-based council, to look into ways to help with burnout to help with nurses on the floor."
She suggested items like massage chairs or foosball tables in the break rooms. They all liked the idea, but it isn't a cheap endeavor.
This is where fellow ICU nurse and small businesswoman Lauren Heinzmann comes in.
"[Lauren's] really connected to small businesses in the area and this was just a way that we could start from the ground up and get some momentum,” Dunkelbarger says.
The community support has been overwhelming. More than two dozen businesses have donated to their cause with things like personalized cups, golf passes, meal preps, photography sessions. All these items will be raffled off in gift baskets.
Dunkelbarger says it's turning out to be bigger than they'd ever imagined.
If successful, the hope is to expand fundraisers like this to other hospitals in the area.