ANA Honors Nursing's Best

Eleven Honorary Awards Bestowed at Convention in Minneapolis

Washington, DC - Since the early 1900s, the American Nurses Association (ANA) has presented awards to prominent nurses to recognize their outstanding contributions to the nursing profession and the field of health care. On Monday, June 28, as part of its 2004 Biennial Convention in Minneapolis, MN, ANA bestowed 11 Honorary Awards in 10 categories:

Barbara Thoman Curtis Award - for significant contributions to nursing practice and health policy through political and legislative activity

Kay Ball, MSA, BSN, RN, CNOR, FAAN

On a national level, Kay Ball, MSA, BSN, RN, CNOR, FAAN, represented specialty nurses during the 1994 health care reform activities led by President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. While chairing her state nurses association's Council on Health Policy, she was instrumental in providing thoughtful, responsible direction in developing the association's legislative strategies and agenda. Additionally, she has helped numerous nurses get involved in grass-roots activity, as well as sharpen their media skills.

Karen A. Ballard, MA, RN

Karen Ballard, MA, RN, has been a consistent advocate on behalf of nursing and ensures that state policymakers know how nursing contributes to the well-being of all New Yorkers. Not only is her knowledge of complex issues immense, but she also has an ability to translate arcane regulatory language into the understandable. Ballard has forged effective working relationships with New York lawmakers and regulators, held forums for RNs to strengthen the nurse practice act, and participated in numerous electoral campaigns.

Honorary Human Rights Award - for outstanding commitment to human rights and exemplifying the essence of nursing's philosophy about humanity

Lolita B. Compas, MA, RN, CEN

Since arriving in the U.S. in 1969, Lolita B. Compas, MA, RN, CEN, has championed human rights issues. With diligence and compassion, she helped nurses adjust to the culturally different role of the professional nurse here, and assisted them with other issues, such as finding housing and studying for state boards. Compas also was instrumental in providing documentation to the New York State attorney general during the 1980s nursing shortage regarding the exploitation of foreign nurses. Her efforts led to sanctions against offending employment agencies.

Honorary Nursing Practice Award - for outstanding direct-patient care

Nancy E. Kline, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN

Nancy Kline, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN, is deeply committed to the care of children with cancer and other terminal diseases and continues to make important nursing contributions in the areas of HIV/AIDS, infection control, pain management and end-of-life care in the United States and abroad.

Her accomplishments include creating a nurse practitioner mentorship program at Texas Children's Hospital; developing research and nurse clinic roles focusing on the care of children with HIV and AIDS in Romania; and leading a massive train-the-trainer effort for nurses in sub-Saharan Africa on HIV/AIDS care. She currently is responsible for ongoing quality measurement of nursing care at Children's Hospital, Boston.

Honorary Recognition Award - for distinguished national or international service to the nursing profession

Erline Perkins McGriff, EdD, RN, FAAN

Erline Perkins McGriff, EdD, RN, FAAN, has made important contributions to the nursing profession for nearly 60 years, notably in nursing education and within professional organizations. During her tenure as an academic administrator - most recently as head of the Division of Nursing at New York University (NYU) - she helped build solid, nationally renowned baccalaureate and graduate education programs, advocated regionally and nationally for a bachelor's degree for entry into practice and promoted a culture of collegiality among academic administrators and faculty within her institution and beyond.

Mary Mahoney Award - for significant contributions to advancing equal opportunities in nursing for members of minority groups

Harriet L. Brathwaite, MSN, RN

The commitment of Harriet Brathwaite, MSN, RN, to making the nursing profession more accessible for persons from diverse backgrounds has been sustained throughout her professional career. As a clinical specialist, educator and administrator, she has facilitated the establishment of programs and services that have made it possible for minorities to become part of educational systems, professional organizations and health services delivery systems.

As a role model and a mentor, she has encouraged minority nurses to join their professional organizations, become involved in the political process and serve as mentors to others to advance the educational and professional achievements of nurses from all backgrounds.

Pearl McIver Public Health Nurse Award - for significant contributions to public health nursing

Naomi E. Ervin, PhD, RN, APRN,BC, FAAN

The significant contributions of Naomi Ervin, PhD, RN, APRN,BC, FAAN, have highlighted the important role that public health nursing plays in the overall picture of U.S. public health. At a time when the number of public health nursing positions has been reduced in many parts of the country, she has helped raise the visibility and importance of public health nursing through a textbook and other publications that integrate public health nursing into aspects of public health and nursing practice.

Mary Ellen Patton Staff Nurse Leadership Award - for significant contributions to the professional advancement of staff nurses and improvement of the general welfare of staff nurses

Linda S. Warino, BSN, RN, CPAN

Linda Warino, BSN, RN, CPAN, has served in leadership positions at the local, state and national level, and she holds the distinction of being the first-ever local unit staff nurse to be elected president of the Ohio Nurses Association. Warino has been able to advance staff nurses' issues by successfully articulating their perspective to other nursing leaders, the media, legislators and the general public. At the bargaining-unit level, Warino persuaded her employer to help nurses develop professionally by giving them opportunities to take certification exams locally. And at the national level, she used her coalition-building skills to create an even stronger relationship between the United American Nurses and ANA.

Hildegard Peplau Award - for contributions to the field of psychiatric nursing

Sharon Valente, PhD, ARNP, FAAN

As a national leader in the field of suicide prevention and end-of-life-care, Sharon Valente, PhD, ARNP, FAAN, has championed improved care for vulnerable populations nationally: suicidal children and refugees; bereaved survivors of suicide; the elderly and terminally ill cancer and AIDS patients. Her book, Suicide: Assessment and Intervention, has been an excellent guide for practitioners across clinical settings and her innovation, providing research-based fact sheets to nurses at the bedside, has significantly improved the delivery of care.

Jessie M. Scott Award - for demonstration of the interdependent relationships among nursing education, practice and research

Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, RN, CPNP, NPP, FAAN

Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, RN, CPNP, NPP, FAAN, is a stellar educator, a committed practitioner and a renowned researcher who fosters the interdependence of practice, education and research. Melnyk founded and directs an evidence-based mental health promotion campaign for children and teens (KySS=Keep your children/yourself Safe and Secure) through the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, now with 22 national collaborating organizations.

In addition, her COPE program for parents of critically ill children and premature infants is widely used in pediatric intensive and neonatal intensive care units throughout the globe.

Shirley Titus Award - for outstanding contributions to the ANA economic and general welfare program

Karen Patek, BSN, RN

During her 37 years working in the Economic and General Welfare Program of the Minnesota Nurses Association, Karen Patek, BSN, RN, has organized hundreds of bargaining units and negotiated literally hundreds of contracts for nurses.

She was the staff leader of the 1984 Twin Cities Nurses' Strike, which was settled beneficially for the nurses, and remains the largest RN strike in the world. She also was part of a team that negotiated the country's first lifting restrictions and contract language that enabled nurses to temporarily close their unit, if patient acuity or lack of staffing meant they could no longer give a safe level of care to patients.

A primary goal of the awards program is to inform - not just nurses - but also other health professionals, government officials and the general public of the tremendous accomplishments and significant achievements of individual registered nurses in the delivery of health care.

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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million registered nurses (RNs) through its 54 constituent member associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

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