NURSES ASSOCIATION TO HONOR HALIFAX REGIONAL
Only Hospital in NC to get Healthy Workplaces Award
ROANOKE RAPIDS, NC – (April 24, 2007) – The North Carolina Nurses Association has announced that Halifax Regional Medical Center will receive its distinguished Hallmarks of Healthy Workplace award.
Halifax Regional will become the only hospital to win the award this year and the second hospital ever to earn the honor. Duke Medical Center’s Raleigh hospital received the award last year.
The award recognizes Halifax Regional for creating an environment for quality nursing care, said Karen Daniels, Vice President of Nursing. “The Healthy Workplaces award is a reflection of the high value our leadership places on the role of nursing,” she said. “It means our nurses are well qualified to meet the highest standards of nursing care.”
Daniels and Shantea Connell, RN, BSN are among the Halifax Regional employees who will accept the award at a special ceremony in Winston-Salem Friday night. Connell chaired a committee of 16 nurses who worked on the award application for more than one year.
“What this award signifies is that the administration of Halifax Regional provides registered nurses with what they need to provide quality care to patients,” said Connell. “It says we are valued members of the healthcare team who have input at the highest levels of the organization.”
“We are so very proud of our nursing staff and this recognition,” said Will Mahone, CEO. “We are even prouder because our nurses volunteered to seek this award and spent hundreds of hours on their own time to earn it. The award sends a message to our community that our nurses provide outstanding patient care.”
Daniels said the award will have a major impact on Halifax Regional. “Winning the Healthy Workplaces award will help us retain our best nurses and attract new ones with outstanding skills and knowledge. Nurses want to work where they are valued.”
To qualify for the award, Halifax Regional demonstrated that nursing is represented on the Executive Committee of the Medical Center, that nurses have input in decision-making in such areas as policy-making, patient care initiatives and expansion of services, and that nurses have opportunities to grow professionally.
In addition to Connell, committee members are Susan Bullock, RN, Barbara Moore, RN, Lisa Cooke, RN, Carrie Davis, RN, Belinda Jones-Hill, RN, and Beth Kennedy, RN; Shannon Miles, RN of Roanoke Rapids; Sylvia Dickens, RN and Terri Hudson, RN of Littleton; Wanda Flythe, RN and Gwen Davis, RN of Conway; Ellen Glover, RN of Jackson; Maxine Green, RN of Emporia, Virginia; Barbara Scott, RN of Weldon; and Sheryl Watson, RN of Margarettsville.
The award is for three years. Halifax Regional may use the Healthy Workplaces logo during that time. “We have plans to inform the community of this award because it says so much about the quality of our nursing care,” said Val Short, Vice President.
The Nurses Association says the purposes of the Hallmarks program are: 1) to give recognition to facilities that have developed healthy workplaces for nurses, 2) promote open communication, respect and solution-focused actions to enhance the delivery of care, and 3) to assist in nurse recruitment and retention.
The Hallmarks program has received national attention and is funded by grants from the Center for American Nurses Demonstration Project, the North Carolina Foundation for Nursing, the North Carolina Organization for Nurse Leaders, and the Nursing Spectrum-Gannett Foundation.
About Halifax Regional
Halifax Regional Medical Center is licensed for 206-beds, including psychiatric and nursery. A non-profit organization, Halifax Regional is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. For more information, visit www.halifaxregional.us