Lee Health remembers one of its own

Jul 3, 2024 By CJ HADDAD 8 min read

A cornerstone member of Lee Health and Cape Coral Hospital was remembered by family, friends, and colleagues Tuesday evening in an emotional ceremony paying tribute to her life.

Candace Smith, who served as chief nurse and operations executive at Cape Coral Hospital, was memorialized in the place she worked, where stories of her tenacity, guidance, and friendship were told.

Not a dry eye looked on as some of her closest colleagues described Smith’s unrelenting spirit as she battled cancer, always keeping a positive attitude despite her diagnosis. A room full of those Smith had a profound impact on laughed, cried, and paid homage to a woman that truly made a difference every day for patients and nurses alike.

Smith ran Cape hospital in a dyad partnership with Dr. Cherrie Morris, who serves as vice president and chief physician executive for CCH.

“It was incredibly comforting and warming and soothing,” Morris said of Tuesday’s remembrance. “We all share the same love of Candace, and how we all admired her. And to be in a room full of people who felt so deeply about another person, evokes an incredible amount of emotion — and that’s a good thing. We were all able to be emotional together. Be joyous together. Be a little bit sad together, but, you know, know that we all feel so strongly about an incredible woman that has touched every single one of us in so many amazing ways.”

Smith, who passed away on June 17 at the age of 61, began her career with Lee Health in 2020 as the Vice President of Operations & Chief Nurse Executive at Cape Coral Hospital. She, along with her team, guided CCH through the pandemic and Hurricane Ian. Before Lee Health, she was the Chief Nursing Officer at UHS Manatee Memorial Hospital in Bradenton, where she is from. In addition to her role at CCH, Smith taught at FGCU and Nova Southeastern University.

Morris described Smith as “full of energy” and someone that could multitask with the best of them.

“As far as to work with, I have learned so much,” Morris said. “She was always open to hearing my ideas and working with those. She was incredibly fun to work with. She was so good at what she did. She never made you feel that you didn’t have something to contribute. She really managed people up, she mentored us, it was just a really, really nice way to work with someone.”

Smith served on the boards of the Southeastern Florida-American College of Health Care Executives, Florida organization of Nurse Leaders, and chaired the State Chief Nursing Officer Council as well as the Florida Nursing Consortium.

She wrote a book entitled “Chapter Leader’s Guide to Provision of Care: Practical Insight on Joint Commission Standards” and is also a nationally known speaker on topics of clinical excellence, speak up, and exemplary leadership. Smith was an adjunct professor at Nova Southeastern University, where she taught Quality Management and Transforming Care in Complex Health Systems and also published a textbook, “Healthcare Quality Management: A Case Study Approach,” with two other colleagues. Smith loved dancing and has always been a lover of music, as her favorite saying was: “This is my favorite song.” Every song was her favorite.

Morris, along with Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Higgins and System Director Patient Throughout and Flow, Rebecca Huff, spoke to those in attendance at the memorial service about the impact Smith had on their lives, and so many others.

Huff, who had worked alongside Smith for more than a decade and was one of her best friends, told fond stories about their time together from when they were colleagues working for Medline in Illinois, to Manatee Memorial in Bradenton, to Lee Health. The pair even joint-authored a book on fall prevention.

“You could really feel the love in the room,” Huff said. “She’s always been a mentor to me and offered a lot of guidance, a lot of help.

“Candace has impacted the entire Lee Health system. She really has brought it to the forefront on educating nurses and building relationships, and really whenever there’s a wall that you’re facing, how do you bring that down together and have great results?

“She was also a mentor for 400, 500 nurses I would imagine. She mentored through her teaching at some of the colleges, as well as at the hospital, so she’s impacted a lot of lives.”

Huff said when Smith walked into a room, she met everyone in a friendly way and made everyone feel comfortable — like you had known her all your life.

“Just brought a lot of happiness,” Huff said. “She was very positive. Had such a good outlook on life, on healthcare, and you just felt very encouraged being around her.”

Following the speeches from Morris, Higgins and Huff, a stone ceremony took place where those in attendance could come to the front of the room and place a stone in a vase of water. As each stone was placed, individuals reminisced about Smith and her influence. As stones continued to enter the water, it began to overflow the vase, signifying Smith’s outpouring of love and spirit to all she knew.

One of the most recent times of tumult for CCH and the entire Southwest Florida community was when Hurricane Ian hit. Smith stayed the course and never left her post, ensuring that care would continue to those already in the hospital as well as new patients.

‘It was hard for so many people during the hurricane,” Morris said. “We had our priority to take care of the facility and the patients in it, and potential new patients that were coming. And you had to be really focused on that, but also very flexible in bending to what was going on in the situation. And (Smith) never lost her cool. I think there were so many of us worried about our family members and what was happening outside our walls, and Candace never lost that at all. She always stayed very focused and pushed hard when she needed to push hard to get things that we needed, like water. She would be the one that you would want to be with if you were shipwrecked or in another disaster.”

Following the stone ceremony, members of the Southwest Florida Nurse Honor Guard, dressed in their traditional white uniform with a blue and red cape, came in and placed white flowers around a picture of Smith. They then invited all of the nurses in attendance to stand and recite the nurse’s code, a reminder of what they do, who they do it for, and why. The honor guard also called Smith for duty one last time before releasing her.

Nurses and Founders of the Southwest Florida Nurse Honor Guard, Connie Girgenti and Tonya Raldiris, helped lead the ceremony with other honor guard members.

“It’s an absolute privilege to be able to represent our profession, and nurse leaders like Candace, as well as other nurses in the Southwest Florida region,” Girgenti said.

Raldiris added, “We’re honored to honor Candace. She was an amazing nurse. And also just to honor her family and to thank them for loaning us Candace for her role as a nurse. It’s hard. She spent a lot of time with Lee Health and appreciate what she gave to the nursing profession.”

The Southwest Florida Nurse Honor Guard conducts tributes for nurses throughout Lee, Collier, and Charlotte Counties.

“It’s an honor to be a nurse. And like our tribute says, it is a calling,” Raldiris said. “Just to bring honor to the profession of nursing while we honor that nurse that spent her life and duty to others. Many nurses devote their whole lives to caring for others.

When I wear the uniform, it reminds me of that calling.”

Smith was the loving wife and best friend of 32 years to Bill Smith; mother of Katelyn Forcucci, Kristin Kopp, Will Smith, and Tracy Robert; and grandmother.

As for what they’ll miss most about Smith, Morris said: “I’m going to miss our friendship the most. I know that whenever I needed Candace, that she would always be there for me. Whether I called her at 5 in the morning or I had to text her on Sunday afternoon — if it was work or personal — I could always count on Candace being there for me in every situation. She was just there for you all the time.”

Huff said, fighting through tears, “I think the thing that I’m going to miss the most is just not seeing her working with our teams, because she was very visible. She would go up and talk to everyone, whether you were the housekeeper or you were the executive. She knew your name. She knew your kids’ names. She knew all the stories if you shared with her. She never forgot. I’m really going to miss that.

“She looked out for us and was so helpful to everyone. She was never above anything. She was very humble and grateful. Always found the good in a bad situation. Always took the time to teach people. I’m going to miss her smile, her teaching, and her interacting with people.”

To reach CJ HADDAD, please email cjhaddad@breezenewspapers.com