Rewarding health care’s unsung heroes

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. —Nurse practitioners are critical players in today’s healthcare system, and all too often these professionals are the “unsung heroes” of health care. In an effort to shine a well-deserved spotlight on their efforts and share their stories, this year’s Retail Clinician Education Congress once again featured Clinician Awards for Retail Excellence.

Taking home the CARE Lifetime Achievement Award (a.k.a., the Loretta Ford Award) was Susan Hassmiller, senior adviser for nursing/director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing at the Institute of Medicine. Additional award winners included:

Unsung Hero Awards—Deb Paffenroth, Aurora QuickCare; Caroline Stein, Target Clinic; and Vicki Mitchell, The Little Clinic;

Lifesaver Awards—Jennifer Tucker, Minute-Clinic; Phyllis Smith, Take Care Health Systems; and Ann Maag, RediClinic;

Healthy Lifestyle Promotion Award—Ann Marie Coppen, Lindora;

Service Award—Angie Swatfager, MinuteClinic;

Leadership Award—Mike Ayotte, CVS Caremark/MinuteClinic; and

Academic Leadership Award—Patricia Starck, University of Texas School of Nursing

To salute the passage of Senate resolution 585, which created the National Convenient Care Clinic Week, Retail Clinician and the CCA presented Lt. Col. Corina Barrow of the Army Nurse Corps and currently the Nurse Corps Detailee for Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawaii, with a special CARE Champion Award. In addition, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who addressed RCEC attendees via a video feed shot from the governor’s office, was presented with a CARE Champion Award for the work he has done to advance the scope of practice of nurse practitioners in his state.

Tine Hansen-Turton, executive director of the CCA, presented a special joint CARE Leadership Award to CCA’s board of directors, including Andrew Sussman, president of MinuteClinic; Web Golinkin, president and CEO at RediClinic; Sandy Ryan, chief nurse practitioner officer at Take Care Health Systems; Janet Teske, manager, Aurora QuickCare; Ken Berndt, director of Bellin FastCare; and Cynthia Graff, president and CEO of Lindora.