May 14, 2010
St. Mary’s Medical Center honors nurses
As part of the celebration of National Nurses Week, May 6-12, St. Mary’s Health System recently honored nursing staff and announced the 2010 Nursing Excellence Award winners.
“Nurses are responsible for countless numbers of lives saved, hands held, tears dried, fears calmed, problems solved and families comforted,” said Darcy Ellison, St. Mary’s senior vice president and chief nursing officer. “Nursing is a wonderful profession. It truly is a calling.”
The recipient of the 2010 “Nurses as Teachers” Excellence Award is Erica Forsee. Her nominators said, “Erica saw a need for her peers to better understand the results of pulmonary function tests and took it upon herself to research and develop an educational tool for the staff.
Forsee received her associate degree in nursing from Ivy Tech Community College in 1999 and has been a St. Mary’s employee since September of 2004.
The recipient of the 2010 “Clinical Nursing Practice” Excellence Award is Vanessa Berlin. Her nominators said, “Vanessa is our go-to person for questions regarding evidence-based practice and up-to-date standards for critical care issues. She is always willing to help others and answers questions and teaches without condescension.”
Berllin obtained her associate degree in nursing from Southeastern Illinois College in 1983. Since becoming a St. Mary’s nurse in August of 1990, Vanessa has dedicated herself to the Intensive Care Unit. She has been accepted into the baccalaureate nursing program at the University of Southern Indiana and plans to start classes this fall.
The 2010 “Nurses as Leaders” Excellence Award was given to Lisa Orth. According to her nominators, “Lisa is a confident and competent nurse, who also serves as a unit ‘cheerleader,’ friend and creative advisor. She is often chosen as a preceptor for new employees, because she has an easy-to-understand teaching style and communicates effectively.”
Orth graduated from Indiana University in 1986 with her baccalaureate in nursing. She began her career at St. Mary’s in January of 1992 in the Intensive Care Unit. She worked in the ICU until December 1993 and then returned in August of 2004 to assume a new role within St. Mary’s Labor and Delivery department. She is a certified lactation specialist and has also obtained her inpatient obstetrical nursing certification.
The 2010 recipient of the “Nurses and the Community” Excellence Award is Rebecca Rister. She volunteers (on an almost full-time basis) at the Boonville American Red Cross. She teaches multiple classes at the Red Cross, including CPR and First Aid, Blood-borne Pathogens and Disaster Man-agement. She is also the chair of the Boonville American Red Cross Volunteer Committee and a member of the Red Cross Board of Directors.
Rister received her baccalaureate degree in nursing from the University of Evansville in 1978. She has been part of the St. Mary’s nursing family since February of 1991 and has devoted herself to the NICU.