Photographer Dana Rae EchoHawk captured the cover image of a young patient in a Colorado pediatrics unit, winning a Judges' Choice Award in AJN 's 2005 photojournalism contest, The Faces of Caring: Nurses at Work.
EchoHawk, as part of earning her bachelor's degree in visual cultural journalism from Metropolitan State College of Denver last year, documented nurses at Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville, Colorado. She was given access and permitted to photograph nurses and patients on several units, using a no-flash camera to minimize disruption. In the cover photo, a boy who hadn't eaten for several days listens as his parents discuss his condition with a nurse. His appetite had returned, and the nurse was explaining what to do next.
"His mother climbed into bed with him to comfort him as they talked," EchoHawk says. "The boy said nothing, but his eyes never left the nurse as the parents talked with her."
In the photo on this page, titled Neo-Care, a nurse tends to a premature infant in the neonatal ICU, where EchoHawk spent much of her time.
"There were several tiny neonates that day, and the nurse moved from one to the other," EchoHawk recalls. "Several other nurses helped her perform a few procedures on this particular baby. When they finished, the nurse stepped away, then gently looked at the baby and cooed."
These experiences revealed a connection between nurse and patient that fascinated EchoHawk.
"As I became familiar with a unit, I would select one nurse to follow in his or her routine," EchoHawk says. "I focused on the nurse and patient-watching and anticipating their emotions, interactions, and waiting to catch that moment that tells a story."
Cofounder of Pulmonary Data Services Instrumentation, Inc., a manufacturer of medical equipment, EchoHawk has had photographs published in many newspapers, including the Denver Post, and has exhibited her work at several galleries.