Exceptional nurses to be recognized at 22nd Nightingale Awards

Oakland University's School of Nursing and its Board of Visitors will recognize exceptional nurses from all over Michigan and Canada at the 22nd Annual Nightingale Awards for Nursing Excellence®, beginning at 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 6, at the San Marino Club in Troy.

The awards ceremony includes a sit-down dinner and silent auction. Items for bid include a seven-day cruise to the Caribbean, a Courtyard Marriot Golfers Getaway package, a Blu-ray DVD player and many other items. Cyndy Canty, Magic 105.1-FM Morning Show host, will be master of ceremonies.

For this year's event, the theme "The Science of Caring" recognizes nurses who have the gift of balancing compassion and knowledge.

Award winners were nominated by their peers, supervisors, friends or patients for their superior service and contributions in one of eight specialty areas. Each winner receives a check for $1,000, a bronze statue of Florence Nightingale and a pin.

Winners of the Nightingale Awards for 2010 are:

• Administration: Nadia Boulos – Oakland Community College
• Advanced Nurse Practice: Patricia Clark – Huron Valley Sinai Hospital
• Education & Research: Kristen Pelshaw – Beaumont Hospital
• Long Term Care / Rehabilitation: Kori Woodruff – Crittenton Hospital Medical Center
• Nursing in the Community: Barbara Williams – Henry Ford Home Health Care & Extended Care
• Oakland University Distinguished Alumni: Catherine Wenz – Beaumont Hospital
• Staff Nurse Practice: Karen Brewer – Providence Park Hospital
• Staff Nurse Practice: Melody Ann Jolly – Karmanos Cancer Center
• People's Choice: Linda Jordan – Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital and currently serving in the U.S. Army in Landstuhl, Germany at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center

Nightingale Award runners-up receive a plaque and Nightingale pin. The runners-up for 2010 are:

• Administration: Christine Bowen – Harper University Hospital
• Advanced Nurse Practice: Donna Bednarski – Detroit Medical Center
• Education & Research: Barbara Putrycus – Oakwood Healthcare System
• Long Term Care / Rehabilitation: Hawah Tuon – Redford Geriatric Village
• Nursing in the Community: Jackie Duncan – Adult Well-Being Services
• Oakland University Distinguished Alumni: Carol Ann Frey – Harper University Hospital/Harper Hospital
• Staff Nurse Practice: Carrie Peraino – Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital
• Staff Nurse Practice: Shelly Thomas-Katta – Beaumont Hospital
• People's Choice: Elizabeth Volyes – Detroit Medical Center Children's Hospital of Michigan

Presenting sponsor for this year's event is Oakwood Healthcare System. Other sponsors include the Detroit Medical Center, William Beaumont Hospitals, Henry Ford Health System, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Crittenton Hospital Medical Center, St. John Health System and St. Joseph Mercy Oakland.

The Nightingale Awards were created to promote nursing's critical role in health care and the array of ways that nurses care for America's citizens. The Nightingale Awards event is the only one of its kind in the state.

Nurses, physicians, nurse administrators, family and friends of winners and runners-up are invited to attend the ceremony.

For more information or for tickets to the event, call Alison Wagner at (248) 370-3799.