Change Maker: Cook Children’s Director Named 2024 Great 100 Nurse
“Nursing was something I always knew I wanted to do,” says Shakyryn Napier, DHSc, RN, CPN, NEA-BC, Director of the Heart Center at Cook Children’s.
By Ashley Antle, APR
Advocate is not her middle name, but it might as well be. Shakyryn Napier, DHSc, RN, CPN, NEA-BC, Director of the Heart Center at Cook Children’s, is known for championing those who need support and shining a light on issues that deserve the spotlight.
This leadership won her a spot on the 2024 Dallas/Fort Worth Great 100 Nurses list. Napier will be honored for the recognition on May 3 at the annual Great 100 Nurses dinner and celebration. The event honors 100 Dallas/Fort Worth-based nurses nominated by their peers for being role models, leaders, community servants, compassionate caregivers and significant contributors to the nursing profession, according to the DFW Great 100 Nurses organization.
“I am so humbled and honored to even be nominated and so grateful to be named a DFW Great 100 nurse,” Shakyryn said. “I feel very blessed and so appreciative.”
Shakyryn’s nomination form described her as “a commendable example for aspiring health care professionals” demonstrated by her completion of a doctoral degree. She’s also said to be a “risk taker” as evidenced by her bravery in sharing her personal tragedy so others may learn from what she endured. Her peers praise her “leadership prowess,” saying she has a unique ability to motivate and support her team even in the face of unprecedented challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ardent Advocate
Shakyryn’s staff can always count on her to go to bat for them and get results. When a member of her nursing team met resistance from the Texas Board of Nursing for disclosing a treated mental health condition while renewing her license, Napier worked with the Texas Nurses’ Association to successfully advocate for policy change concerning a question about mental health treatment on the license renewal form. She and many of her fellow nurses believed the question could penalize and stigmatize nurses who had or are seeking treatment for a mental health condition.
Shakyryn advocated that nurses should not encounter punitive measures for being honest about their mental health and treatment. In response, the Texas Board of Nursing revised its license renewal process, and removed the question from the renewal application.
The change, Shakyryn says, is one of the proudest moments of her career so far, primarily because the cause of destigmatizing mental illness is a personal one. Three years ago, tragedy struck her family with the accidental fentanyl-related death of her young adult son who had a mental health condition. Shakyryn bravely put her own heartache on display to raise awareness for mental illness and its associated challenges.
“We have huge gaps in this society when it comes to mental health, and the weight of not having adequate mental health coverage for both children and adults is not sustainable,” she said. “Even as a nurse with the contacts I had, it was difficult to know where to turn when my son needed help for his mental health. I can't imagine someone who does not have the resources that I do having to navigate the system. We need policy that directs more funds to mental health providers and services.”
Climbing the Ladder
A native of Pennsylvania, Shakyryn completed her nursing diploma right out of high school. By the time she was 20 years old, she was at the bedside doing the work she loves.
“Nursing was something I always knew I wanted to do,” she said. “I had a younger brother who passed away who had really severe asthma, so we were always in the hospital with him. That is where I got that first interaction with nurses and with the health care system, and seeing how people were so helpful just always stuck with me.”
In 2000, Shakyryn and her husband moved their family to Texas seeking job opportunities and a retreat from the harsh winters. She joined the Cook Children’s family in 2008. Since then, Shakyryn has risen through the ranks from night nurse manager to director of Med-Surg and Wound Care and now director of the Heart Center where she leads a team of approximately 200.
An active member of the Texas Nurses’ Association, Shakyryn served on the Board of Directors, chaired the Policy Council, chaired the CEO search committee, and has been a member of the Government Affairs and Finance committees. She also served as president of her local Texas Nurses’ Association district, and received the prestigious District President’s Award for her outstanding contributions. She currently serves as the chair of the Texas Nurses’ Association Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging taskforce.
A Mind for Policy
Shakyryn's expertise in public health and nursing policy not only positions her as a prominent figure at Cook Children’s but also distinguishes her as a leader within the industry. She says the lack of health insurance options, especially for children, tops her list of policy concerns today.
She has good reason to be alarmed. Just recently, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) denied Cook Children’s Health Plan (CCHP) a new STAR and CHIP Managed Care Services contract, putting 125,000 CCHP members in jeopardy of losing health care coverage and, in turn, access to vital health services and providers beginning Oct. 1, 2025.
In any given year, roughly 50% of CCHP members will have an encounter with a Cook Children’s provider across the system. That figure is even higher among CCHP’s STAR Kids population.
“It is scary to think that children will be without the great care that we give here because they lose insurance coverage based on the decision of the state,” Shakyryn said. “Finding affordable insurance in the marketplace is hard and expensive, and this decision leaves our kids and families with limited options. It’s just so unfair and sad to see. There definitely needs to be some policy changes with this.”
Cook Children’s is appealing HHSC’s decision, citing that the state's scoring process lacked transparency and unfairly disadvantaged regional, non-profit community plans like CCHP. As a locally operated organization with deep roots in the community and first-hand knowledge of its unique needs, CCHP is able to tailor its many programs and services to address community and member-specific health barriers such as food insecurity, lack of transportation, access to behavioral health care and preventative health programs and much more. The state’s scoring process does not adequately capture and measure this benefit.
Model Mentor
These days, much of Shakyryn’s work is spent planning for the current and future growth of Cook Children’s cardiac program and making rounds to check on staff in the units she oversees. These include the Cardiac ICU, Cardiac Step-Down Unit, Echocardiography Lab and Cardiovascular Operating Room. Along the way, she never misses an opportunity to share the wisdom she’s acquired in nursing over the past 20 years.
Her advice to new nurses? Never compare yourself, your progress or your journey to others.
“When new nurses start orientation, they see the other nurses who can document quickly or do an assessment from across the room and they compare themselves to those nurses and feel inadequate. Absolutely not,” she said. “I tell them that they’ll be that skilled one day, too. And I tell our seasoned nurses to be kind to the new nurses because we have all been there.”
Congratulations, Shakyryn! Thank you for modeling, teaching and living the Cook Children’s Promise of “Everything for the Child,” and for advancing the practice of nursing with excellence.