Myra Tapp, RN, an intensive care unit nurse at Medical City McKinney, has been recognized as one of 20 extraordinary Texas nurses by the Texas Nurses Association (TNA) and the Texas Nurses Foundation (TNF). This recognition highlights nurses who rose to the challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the “20 for 2020 Nurse Awards,” the TNA and TNF are “Honoring Extraordinary Texas Nurses during the Year of the Nurse.” The nurses are recognized for their dedication, perseverance, compassion an exceptional year when nurses made a difference in creating a culture of care, playing a vital role in supporting health and wellness, as nursing innovators or community contributors and frontline heroes.

A Medical City McKinney colleague nominated Tapp as a nurse who is “greatly regarded by her peers for being professional, committed and passionate about the nursing profession” and who works in numerous ways to improve patient outcomes. A nurse for five years, Tapp joined Medical City McKinney in 2019 and serves in leadership roles on her nursing unit. One of the initiatives in which she played a leadership role helped dramatically reduce the average ICU stay for patients on ventilators.

“It is just in my personality and in my character to want to serve others,” says Myra Tapp, RN, in her acceptance video. “We have grown so much as a profession and as people in general (during the COVID-19 pandemic) from the challenges of the unexpected and the unknown and I hope we always remember that.”

The TNA and TNF also honored 22 additional nurses with honorable mentions. These included three other Medical City McKinney nurses: Employee Health Manager Sandra E. Foster, RN; Chief Nursing Officer Cassidi Roberts, RN; and Ashley Vassilakos, RN, who works on the medical-surgical telemetry unit.