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Health care workers of the year recognized  Ambulatory Care Services held its annual “Healthcare Workers of the Year” reception and awards ceremony on May 16 to honor this year’s nominees and recipients.    Each year, employees, supervisors, and physicians nominate those individuals who exemplify the values of the organization—accountability, respect, excellence, and adaptability—on a daily basis.  There are four categories for nominations, specific to the role of the individual.    This year’s winners are: Registered Nurse of the Year: Bonita F. Gotbaum, R.N., BSN, Hollings Cancer Center From left are Tamara Bowman, R.N., Dave Neff, Sherry Gillespie Miller, R.N., Bonita Gotbaum, R.N., Peggy Anthony, R.N., and Colleen Corish, R.N. Licensed/Certified Healthcare Worker of the Year: Donna E. Gallahorn, LPN, Pediatric Orthopaedics and Neurology From left are Rosemarie Battaglia, Dave Neff, Rebecca Wimmer, Donna Gallahorn, Sherry Gillespie Miller, Kathy Sellers, and Dr. Carol Dobos. Healthcare Assistant of the Year: J. Levette Smith, PCT, Pediatric Ambulatory Care Dr. Carol Dobos, from left, Dave Neff, Levette Smith, Sherry Gillespie Miller, R.N., and Kathy Sellers. Administrative Support Staff of the Year: Georgia T. Huger, Regional Scheduler, Family Medicine From left are Shannon Ravenel, Dave Neff, Paul Provenzano, Queen Haynes, Sherry Gillespie Miller, R.N., Georgia Huger, Sarah De Barros, Dr. Carolyn Thiedke.   Other nominees were: Vivian Huguely, R.N., Tess Morris, R.N.; Ashley Sabo, R.N.; Debbie Webb, R.N.; Tanya Riffe, RDH; Queen Haynes, LPN; Eunice Brown, LPN; Barbara Elbert, LPN; Ella Robinson, PCT; and Sonja Jacques, patient registration representative. All nominees were presented with a certificate at the reception.    Award recipients were also presented with an engraved plaque, a corsage, and a $75 gift card. Their names were engraved on the perpetual plaque that is located on the first floor of Rutledge Tower.   In making the award announcements, Dave Neff, administrator for Ambulatory Care Services; Sherry Gillespie Miller, R.N., director of Clinical Services; and Shannon Ravenel, director of Administrative Services read excerpts from each winner’s nominations. Some of the comments were as follows: Bonita Gotbaum—“Bonita is the coordinator for the multidisciplinary breast clinics. She has functioned as a preceptor, and assisted in the orientation of other disease-specific coordinators. She handles all new patient referrals to her area, and spends many hours talking with patients and families. She developed a brochure and educational video for the breast cancer program, and worked diligently to improve access to our system for these patients. Education for her patients and access to services is a primary focus. She maintains a confident, professional demeanor, which she consistently displays with warmth and understanding. Bonita also educated the community by volunteering at local health fairs and also at the Race for the Cure. She attended conferences to keep updated, and is also a member of the local and national Oncology Nursing Society. She is a resource for the other nursing staff as her vision of nursing is clearly focused on the patients and their needs. Her can-do attitude makes her an integral part of our nursing team. She has a love for her patients that translates into her high standard of patient care.” Donna Gallahorn—“Donna has a caring attitude toward all patients. She always seeks to provide what the patient needs and seeks additional resources as needed. She is the epitome of a team worker with a positive attitude. She was responsible for orienting a new PCT, LPN, and RN all within a three-month period of time. Only one staff member who was familiar with the area was working with her. She was able to impart her knowledge and expertise in a way that made all the new hires feel confident. All staff are now competently performing their roles because of Donna’s precepting. She also oriented all staff to the Medical Record Review process, EOC audits and Patient Satisfaction, and took the responsibility to ensure that all were completed each month. In addition, she was instrumental in unit cost savings by identifying charges that were not captured on the facility ticket for labs. She also initiated a process for centralizing the medication area for the combined units and reducing the unit inventory of medications.” Levette Smith—“Levette is an excellent phlebotomist whose services are requested by returning patients and families. She precepted PCTs in Pediatric Ambulatory Care to acquire the 25 venipunctures required to work in the lab. She is knowledgeable about specimen requirements and assures that specialized tests are drawn correctly. She is an associate member of the American Society of Clinical Pathology. Levette is well-liked by patients and staff. She talks to patients at their level and uses different techniques to divert their attention which helps relieve their stress and fear. She helped establish a staffing schedule for the lab that would meet the needs of the clinics and avoid overtime. She also worked with the coordinator to implement a number system to help with patient confidentiality and efficiency of taking patients into the lab. She handles changes positively and displays a positive attitude to those around her.” Georgia Huger—“Georgia is the ‘face’ of Family Medicine. She resides at the front desk and every patient entering the building from the parking lot walks past her. She registers new patients over the phone, yet manages to answer all queries for directions with a smile on her face. She treats every single person with respect and dignity, demonstrating the golden rule.  Georgia is the benchmark by which the rest of our staff could be measured. On several occasions, I have been called to the front desk to speak with patients and family members who wanted to personally praise Georgia to management. She has cheerfully worked at the front desk during months of renovations at Family Medicine, keeping her cool as walls were moved around her. She is a most deserving nominee and I am very proud to work with Georgia Huger at Family Medicine.”     Friday, June 17, 2005 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. 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