Kelly Wade is an RNII at Colorado Mental Health Institutes in Pueblo. On May 12, 2017 she won a state of Colorado Nightingale Luminary Award based on her leadership in supporting and treating dual diagnosis, psychiatric and substance use disorder patients.

Helping patients learn how to manage their emotions and self-regulate is often a goal for psychiatric nurses. They most often do this through talking with the patients and giving them prescribed medications. When Kelly learned about the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association 5-point ear acupuncture protocol and that she could be
trained in this procedure, she jumped at the opportunity and went through the training.

She has embraced it as a simple but effective treatment she can offer the patients, that has immediate calming benefits without significant side effects and has really expanded her "tool box". She has worked hard at making sure it is available to the patients as often as possible and she encourages every patient to try it. She has been instrumental in leading other nurses and health care providers to this treatment option and she has taken it out into the community, educating others about the benefits.

For the past 8 years, Kelly has taken on the role of educating people about the availability of the NADA acudetox treatment, encouraging patients to try it and encouraging doctors and other nurses to consider it for their patients as a stress management technique. She definitely demonstrates the "NADA spirit"and she recognizes that a big part of the treatment is the intention of the practitioner when providing the treatment.

This treatment contributes to the healing touch that nurses can provide and Kelly exemplifies this and passes it on to others when educating or supervising others.

The outcome has been to significantly increase the number of people getting trained in this protocol and providing the treatment in a variety of settings. This treatment is not something that makes anyone any money and currently can not be billed for - therefore it is spread by word of mouth as opposed to pharmaceuticals.

Patients love the acudetox and ask for it on a regular basis. It helps them calm down and improves sleep. The acudetox has also helped with the health care environment as Kelly often suggests and offers it to staff who are stressed due to chaos on the unit or vicarious trauma from hearing patients' stories.

Kelly was considered for all three areas of recognition with this award, in that she has been a leader in introducing many people to this innovative treatment tool and is a strong advocate for expanding the use of this tool in all areas of health care.