Brenda Spurling, RN, BSN

When patients arrive at the Veteran’s Healthcare System’s dementia unit in Batavia, NY, they enter a “home” where staff become extended family and where minds imagine a hunting lodge – replete with a lounge sporting a faux fireplace and mantel, an imaginary barbershop, and where games and fieldtrips fill idle time. Christened “Pine Lodge”, the unit challenges minds and honors veterans, thanks to the ingenuity and persistence of Brenda Spurling, RN, BSN, a nurse manager. Since some residents cannot leave, Spurling and her staff created a “winter wonderland” of bright outdoor Christmas lights, carolers, a bell choir, and Cub Scouts serving cocoa.