CARTERSVILLE MEDICAL CENTER NAMES 2017 NURSING AWARD WINNERS

Cartersville, GA; May 18, 2017 – Five Cartersville Medical Center nursing service employees received top awards during the annual Nurses Week Appreciation Ceremony yesterday at the hospital. The individuals were nominated based upon specific criteria and selected by their peers.

Often the first person seen when entering the CMC Emergency Department entrance, Keith Duncan, PCT received the Patient Care Tech of the Year award. Duncan always has a smile on his face and a “can-do” attitude. He greets and registers patients with compassion, maintains composure in every situation and helps manage the flow of patients in a very busy emergency department.

Melissa Shorrock, RN and nurse manager of the medical/surgical floor, 2 North, is the recipient of the Nursing Manager of the Year award. Shorrock’s peers referenced her attention to detail, consideration and appreciation of staff and her ability to bring everyone together as a team.

Named Nursing Director of the Year, Cheney Fennell, RN is the director of throughput. Responsible for the flow of patients throughout the facility, Fennell is described by her peers as calm, professional, graceful, compassionate and always willing to assist staff. One individual even referenced Fennell as “the house superwoman”.

An all-around favorite by staff and patients alike, Rosanna Sanders, RN, received the Heart of Nursing award. Nominated by her peer and friend of ten years, the entry included, “Rosanna’s smile greets patients with a warm welcome” and “Her patients come first and it shows when you work with her”.

Nominated by a peer for extraordinary care during her mother’s severe illness, Teresa Stone, RN, director of critical care services, was named the Daisy Award Winner for the first quarter of 2017. The DAISY Award is a nationwide program that rewards and celebrates extraordinary clinical skill, compassionate care and super-human work nurses do in direct care of patients and families every day. Every nomination tells a story of extraordinary care and compassion and the nurse may be nominated by patients, families, colleagues, physicians and other staff. Many ceremony attendees were moved to tears as the nomination was read about Stone, detailing her efforts to help bring a mother closer to her daughter for the healthcare she needed.

The entry included, “My mom was in Nashville and very sick. I could not figure out how I was going to care for her there when my home, family and job were all in Georgia. Teresa said, ‘Let’s bring her here!’ Later, on Christmas Day, I was alone with my mom, who was suffering, and knowing that hospice was the next step. I had no family or friends with me, until (Teresa) walked in. I was trying to be so strong for my mom and be her rock, that I never realized how much I needed someone to be there for me. Teresa was my family when I did not have any. I cried on her shoulder and she made sure I was taken care of.”