HUNTSVILLE – The month of May is coming up nurses at Crestwood Medical Center in Huntsville.
In honor of National Nurses Month, Crestwood held a companywide Nurse of the Year Awards luncheon and ceremony recently in the hospital’s conference center.
With everyone wearing colorful leis in accordance with the party’s Hawaiian theme and décor, Crestwood CEO Matthew Banks and Chief Nursing Officer Lance Eiland awarded more than two dozen nursing and administration awards to their staff, recognizing all they do to sustain healthy communities and rewarding them for their outstanding contributions to patients and staff.
Nurses empower patients and their families with knowledge, understanding and peace during what can be a confusing or challenging time for most people, the hospital said.
“It takes a village to do what we do here within our organization,” said Banks. “In doing that, our nurses and our bedside givers are special to us.
“For my part, thank you for what you do, thank you for your leadership you make a difference every day in the lives of people not just in Huntsville but in North Alabama.
“Everybody in my book is an award winner,” he added.
Prior to calling out the names of the winners to come up and accept their award, Clinical Nurse Manager Susan Horn shared an anecdote one of her managers posted on Facebook she feels sums up nursing requirements.
“Nurses have a memory like an elephant, an angel’s patience, a heart the size of the sun, eyes on the back of their head, a nasal filter, eight arms like an octopus, resistant legs, a back to hold the transfer of full-grown adults, a five-liter bladder and an impenetrable immune system,” she said to heavy applause.
The Nurse of the Year in each department or unit went to:
- Sheree Hudson won overall Nurse of the Year for her work in Day Surgery.
- Sam Long, Post Anesthesia Care Unit
- Sheree Hudson, Day Surgery
- Kristin Robbins, Pain Management
- Adriene Harris, Special Procedures
- Giuliana Trochiano, Catheter Lab
- Linda Wilson, Pre-Admission Testing/Post-Operation
- Olivia Spencer, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Postpartum
- Lolita Mack, Labor & Delivery
- Karen Pate, Case Management
- Ricky Cappetta, Oncology/Acute Care of the Elderly
- Justin Putman, Emergency Room
- April Elam, Cardiac
- Roxana Zito, Nursery & Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
- Reggie Surles, Post Surgical (3E)
- Karen Stephens, Intensive Care Unit
- Ivy Dawn Kotary, Medical (4S)
- Penny Simpson, Cardiac Rehabilitation
- Karen Jones, Quality
- Keisha Waddell, Surgery
- Elizabeth Bettis, Outstanding Personal Care Assistant, ICU
- Odetta Phillips, Outstanding Secretary, Medical
- Nicki Graham, Outstanding Charge Nurse, Day Surgery
- Gloria Kim, Outstanding Nurse Leader, RN House Supervisor
- Stephen Weeks, Friend of Nursing, Materiels Management
- Stacey Parris, Preceptor of Year in the Emergency Room
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