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| The 2002 NURSEWEEK
South Central Nursing Excellence Awards winners
are (from left, sitting):Janet Gilmore, innovation/creativity;
Elizabeth Winslow, advancing the profession; Leslie
Wilson, teaching; and Robin Hardwicke, community
service. (Standing): Louann Breton, mentoring; Nancy
Ray, leadership; Ron Griffin, clinical care; and
Susan Wise Stout, patient advocacy. |
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DALLAS-A crowd of about 300 gathered to
celebrate the unsung heroes of the nursing profession
Nov. 15 during NURSEWEEK's annual Nursing Excellence
Awards for the South Central region.
Out of hundreds of nominations, a panel of judges selected
48 finalists for the awards in eight categories. The
banquet room at the Marriott Dallas Las Colinas echoed
with applause for much of the night as Beth Ulrich,
Ed.D., RN, regional vice president and editor of the
South Central edition, announced the achievements of
the finalists, who represented nurses from Texas, Oklahoma,
Louisiana and Arkansas.
Ulrich kicked off the event by introducing a video
produced by Johnson & Johnson. The video included
interviews with patients who had been deeply moved by
nurses. As the keynote speaker, Ulrich continued the
video's theme of unsung heroes throughout the evening.
"One of the things we believe strongly at NURSEWEEK
is that nurses are heroes every day," Ulrich said.
She highlighted the courage of Florence Nightingale,
who had only 40 nurses to care for 3,000 patients. The
crowd erupted in laughter when she asked the audience
to calculate those nurse-to-patient ratios.
"We do change lives every day, and that's what
we are celebrating here tonight," she said. "If
you want to know if nurses are heroes, try imagining
a world without nurses."
Then the spotlight turned to Cle Rice Riordan who,
with her husband, Dennis Riordan, founded NURSEWEEK,
which has a circulation of about 1.2 million. The couple
was inspired to create the publication largely because
of the influential work of 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.
The awards ceremony began with the presentation of
the Diane Cooper Nursing Ambassador Award, which was
given to Johnson & Johnson for the company's recent
campaign to boost not only the image of nursing, but
also recruitment and retention in the field. The company
plans to spend at least $20 million by the end of next
year in an effort to draw more people into the nursing
field.
"I just want to say we are so thrilled to be here
tonight," said Nancy Lewin, executive director
of the corporate equity nursing campaign and new ventures
at Johnson & Johnson. "We are thrilled to be
involved with nurses."
In recognition of the award to Johnson & Johnson,
Ulrich presented a $10,000 check from NURSEWEEK for
nursing scholarships to the National Association for
Healthcare Recruiters, before calling each of the finalists
to the podium.
The eight category winners included:
Advancing the Profession:
Elizabeth Winslow, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, a research consultant
at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. "I'm grateful
because there are so many people who do good work and
are not recognized."
Clinical Care:
Ron Griffin, RN, nurse clinician II at University of
Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. "This is very
unexpected and an honor. Just being a nurse is an honor.
I love what I do."
Community Service:
Robin Hardwicke, MSN, FNP-C, CCRN, a nurse practitioner
at Harris County Hospital District. "I'm completely
overwhelmed. I'm very proud to be a nurse and to work
amongst all of you."
Innovation/Creativity:
Janet Gilmore, MSN, RN, director of perioperative services
at The Methodist Hospital. "This is truly an honor.
I think nursing is the only profession where you get
an award for solving everyday problems."
Leadership:
Nancy Ray, MA, RN, associate administrator/chief nursing
officer for University Health System. "This is
a pretty humbling award. It's not me who does the work.
It's really the nursing directors and the staff nurses.
Thank you."
Mentoring:
Louann Breton, RN, level III staff nurse at Methodist
Medical Center. Like many of the award recipients, Breton
admitted that she was surprised to be the winner. "I
will say it is a big shock," she said. "But
it takes good mentors to be a good mentor, and those
people for me were my parents, my husband and the management
staff at Methodist Medical Center."
Patient Advocacy:
Susan Wise Stout, MN, APRN, RNC, LCCE, a perinatal
clinical nurse specialist at Memorial Medical Center.
"I was so surprised that patient advocacy was a
category, because most nurses do that every day,"
she said. "I feel blessed to work at a hospital
that values patient advocacy, and for my family's patience
with all the calls on my cell phone and pager."
Teaching:
Leslie Wilson, MSN, RN, staff development coordinator
at Medical Center of Plano. "I have to share it
with all of the nurse educators who have helped to mentor
me."
Contact Heather Stringer at heathers@nurseweek.com
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