Diane Kozik doesn’t remember the trauma of rupturing her appendix as a 4-year-old, but she’s never forgotten how loved she felt under the hospital’s care.
For the past 45 years, Kozik has made her patients feel the same way.
The longtime Orland Park resident, who began working for Advocate Health Care shortly after graduating from nursing school in 1980, was selected as Advocate South Suburban Hospital’s Nurse of the Year.
“I spent some time in the hospital as a kid so I think it all started there, that I wanted to be a nurse,” she said. “They really put an impression on me and I think I always felt that I would become one.”
Kozik followed her brothers into the military. It gave her an opportunity to pursue nursing.
“I wanted to be a nurse but didn’t have the money for school so I joined the Army,” she said. “I knew they wouldn’t send me to Vietnam. I had a high school friend who was going to medical school and they encouraged me to go to Monmouth College in a dual program with Rush.”
Kozik’s commitment to providing best-in-class care then began within the Behavioral Health Unit at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. It has continued at Advocate South Suburban in Hazel Crest. Her tenure also includes the year-and-a-half she spent working in the outpatient behavioral health within the Advocate Christ Behavioral Health Department.
From the Army to school to marriage to the hospital, Kozik really has never slowed down from living and giving, even now at 72.
“I got transferred to Rush then went to the job at Christ and I got in with the behavior staff, which was very inviting,” she said. “I started and never left. We’ve had a lot of ups and down in the department. The Army taught me to be resilient.”
It’s allowed her to move forward after losing her 26-year-old daughter, Kristen, to a fentanyl overdose in 2018.
“The environment we live in today, it’s hard for people to survive,” she said. “I connect with people. When my daughter passed in August 2018, I thought I couldn’t work another minute. I couldn’t help her, but how can I help my co-workers and patients? They’ve helped me to provide what I could with hands-on experience of what people go through. I have gotten so many thank you and hugs from patients and families by giving them perspective. Not taking over their experience, but relating to how difficult it is for the patient going through it and the family experiencing it.”
Advocate South Suburban’s Behavioral Health Unit provided acute and intensive care for over 650 patients in its first full year in 2024. Kozik undoubtedly impacted many as a certified psychiatric mental health nurse.
“I’ve always rolled with the punches,” she said. “I don’t know if the Army taught me that. I never give up. I try to impress that upon my patients. This too will pass. They worry about things that haven’t even happened. It’s just being able to be resilient and thanks to the support of everybody.”
Lena Pettus is a registered nurse who works with Kozik and nominated her for the award.
“I’ve only known her since last summer,” she said. “I’m newer to Advocate but have known of her for the past decade. When you are a psych nurse, the community is a small one. Everybody tends to know everybody in different facilities. It’s an enigma as a community, very inspiring.”
Pettus quickly understood why Kozik was so highly spoken of within the behavioral health community.
“She buddied up to me since I was new and wanted me to be comfortable so I could see why she is so well known since she never stopped going above and beyond,” Pettus said. “Nurses can get burned out and lose sight, but the things that drive us, the same qualities are her core qualities. And everything with her is effortless compassion and empathy. People will never really know everything she does, she’s so quiet and unspoken.”
Kozik’s supervisor, Ren Robinson, manager of clinical services at Advocate, knows her well, considering she was his mentor.
“I’ve known her since 2015. She was my preceptor as a new grad nurse,”’ Robinson said. “She even jokes about it to this day. She’d say in orientation that I was going to be her boss. She really kind of pushed me. Diane does that with a lot of people. She helps a lot of nurses and does mentorships out of her own pocket. She’s just very generous.”
She was inspired to support students after losing her best friend from high school who died at 30 just a year after earning his fellowship to become a doctor.
“When I was in nursing school, he was my support and he pushed me when I wanted to give up,” she said. “When he passed I made a scholarship and would take one mental health counselor or nursing assistant and give them (a financial) scholarship every semester until they finished. I call them my kids.”
After losing Kristin, Kozik’s efforts have grown, as has her family.
“When my daughter passed I upped it and upped it,” she said. “When she passed I had three and I’ve kept taking them and am now up to 25. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my career. I try to keep up with them. They’ve all gone on to great careers, all kinds of different careers.”
And what about Kozik’s own career? 45 years is a long time to provide such care in a stressful, emotionally exhausting environment. She also has to think of her rock: her husband, son, daughter-in-law, two grandsons and countless student scholarship mentees, colleagues and friends.
Kozik said she’s thought about retiring and works in three-month increments.
“It depends on how effective I feel that I can do it,” she said. “If I make it to May 5 then that’s another increment and it’s 45 years. My family and friends have been my rock. My 25-plus kids have made me proud. They have kept me going.”
As has the need for the kind of mental health she provides.
“I was totally shocked by this. Getting this award means that I’m valued and that mental health is valued in our society,” she said. “Our patients are the neglected patient population in our community. They come in with multiple issues, and to shine this light on this area of healthcare is valuable to me.”
The value she’s brought to Advocate is immeasurable.
C.R. Walker is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
