NurseWeek applauds cream of the crop
with a night of awards and tributes

OAK BROOK, Ill. - From a field of 48 registered nurses, each hailed as "the best of the best," eight stood before their peers Aug. 23 as the winners of NurseWeek's first Nursing Excellence Awards for the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. More than 250 colleagues, friends and family members celebrated as each winner ascended the ballroom stage at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, and accepted the award announced by Katherine Vestal, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, regional vice president and editor of NurseWeek's Great Lakes and Midwest editions.

Vestal highlighted careers as she introduced the finalists and later shared the remarkable achievements of winners in eight categories. Hearing the stories of those so proud to be nurses, Vestal said, "We can't help but be energized and stimulated. We've honored the best of the best."

NurseWeek, with a circulation of 1.2 million, covers Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin with its Midwest and Great Lakes editions.

Beth Ulrich, Ed.D., RN, regional vice president and editor of the South Central edition, captured the richness of the honorees' background and experiences.

"Some of our finalists tonight graduated from diploma programs, some have doctorates. Some practice in outpatient clinics and some in critical care units. Some teach and some manage. All go beyond the call of duty at work and in their community," she said.

"We know these nurses are just the tip of the iceberg," Ulrich said, encouraging them and their supporters to nominate other outstanding RNs for future awards.

Ulrich briefly touched on NurseWeek's heritage and mission. The magazine was founded by Dennis Riordan and his wife, Cle Rice Riordan, and was greatly influenced by Dennis' late twin sister, Diane Cooper, an RN who worked in staff development at UCLA Medical Center and was an undergraduate dean of admissions at the UCLA School of Nursing.

"We want to improve patient care and nursing education, and provide registered nurses with the material and information they need to succeed in their careers," Ulrich said.

Success and the meaning of nursing were themes in the keynote address by Philip Authier, MPH, RN, president of the American Organization of Nurse Executives. He praised the finalists for the difference they make.

"It's easy to get sidetracked on what is wrong with nursing," Authier said. "It's up to us to step forward and be part of the solution. And that is what is so impressive. That is exactly what you're doing. You're bringing forward different possibilities, possibilities for a better world and you're making changes.

"Sometimes, tasks are the easier part of nursing, but less rewarding. The essence of nursing is not the tasks we do. Our focus is the patient, the whole patient: mind, body and spirit."

Winning left Judy Watanabe, a rehabilitation nurse at North Memorial Medical Center in Minneapolis, speechless. Sandee Lawson, a longtime friend and social worker at a Minneapolis elementary school, joined Watanabe at the podium: "I would like to thank the Almighty first of all, and her colleagues who are indeed the best of everything."

Darla Merideth, care team coordinator of St. Joseph's Health Center in St. Charles, Mo., was succinct: "Wow! This is such a wonderful experience. I'm so honored."

Jaclyn Tropp, a clinician at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare in Chicago and national president-elect of the Infusion Nurses Society, said she was honored just to be nominated.

"I've always loved nursing and I wish my mom were here to know. That's all she ever wanted me to be was a nurse and I'm so glad I'm here tonight."

Lisa Pettrey, director of heart services at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, said in an interview: "I don't consider myself an executive. I really feel like I'm a nurse."

June Patton, a professor at Ashland (Ohio) University, told the audience, "It's kind of awesome, as my 5-year-old grandson would say, to get an award for something I love doing."

Dorothy Armens, a staff nurse at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, spoke of how special it was to be a recipient.

"I feel so honored to be part of this group . . . nurses who have given so much to the profession and more importantly so much to our clients. We can make a difference in people's lives and this just affirms that."

Karon White Gibson, an author and host of four cable television health shows, thanked the supporters of her media career: her husband, TV producers and co-author Marcia Joy Smith Catterson, RN, as well as NurseWeek for keeping workplace politics out of the awards.

Helen Merillat, head of the staff registry at The Toledo (Ohio) Hospital, acknowledged that "I work in a wonderful organization. It is a team that makes it happen."

And in one of the more touching moments, Merillat alluded to Authier's keynote speech:

"Phil said everybody has to be encouraged by somebody to go into nursing. That would have been my mother because that was her dream. She wanted to be a nurse and never realized that goal.

"But 35 years ago today, I graduated from nursing school on her birthday."