March of Dimes Gears Up for 2018 Nurse of the Year Awards
A breakfast held in late May at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt officially kicked off the Ninth Annual March of Dimes Nurse of the Year Awards and outlined the process to nominate an inspiring nurse for 2018.
Kathie Krause, MSN, RN, chief nursing officer at Monroe Carell and 2018 Nurse of the Year event chair, said the nomination process is open online at nurseoftheyear.org/musiccity through June 30. Nurses can be nominated in 17 different categories ranging from advanced practice and nursing administration to women's health and undergraduate student nurse. Patients, colleagues, supervisors, instructors and family and friends are all eligible to nominate an outstanding nurse.
"If you know of someone that you think fits that category and deserves to be recognized for his or her work, then all you need to do is to choose the category and write a couple of sentences about why you believe this nurse is deserving of this honor," said Krause.
While the nomination process is quite simple, it is the glue of the event. Krause said the hope is to hit 200 nominations this year. Once nurses are nominated, the selection committee will reach out to each nurse to complete an application process that requests additional details on the nurse's practice. She encouraged nominators to give their nurse nominees a head's up on the application, which is due by the end of July.
From the large and talented pool of nominees, the selection committee will have the tough job of narrowing to one winner from each category, which is kept secret until the gala luncheon event scheduled for Nov. 1, 2018 at Belmont University's Maddox Grand Atrium. In 2017 the event was attended by more than 300 people and raised over $115,000 in support of the March of Dimes mission. Krause said the goal in 2018 is to raise at least $120,000 to maintain and grow March of Dimes programming activities.
"It's very clear the March of Dimes is committed to nursing, and nursing is very committed to the March of Dimes," said Krause.
The strong link between nursing and the March of Dimes runs deep and traces its roots back to 1954 when 40,000 nurses cooperated on the Salk Polio Trials. The vaccine field trials were sponsored by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis ... now the March of Dimes. Today, the organization's mission is to ensure every child has a fighting chance by addressing prematurity and other issues that threaten children and families.
"At each step, nurses have been an integral part of helping March of Dimes achieve their mission," said Krause. The Nurse of the Year celebration shines a light on nurses across Middle Tennessee and recognizes the hard work of all the nominees.
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Nurse of the Year Nominations are open through June 30. Go online to nominate an outstanding nurse at nurseoftheyear.org/musiccity |
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