A statewide nursing recognition program

First Row: L to R, Erica Korenkiewicz, BSN, RN | Tommy Jean Alexander, BSN, RN, CWCN | Carol McRae, RN | Adriane Gaff, MBA, BSN, RN | Michelle Whitlock, BSN, RN | Heather West, BSN, RN-BC | Laurie Sampollo, RN | Candace Norton, BSN, RN. Second Row: L to R Betty Dukes, RN | Melodie Grainger, BSN, RN, WCC, OMS, DWC | Mary Ann Batten, BSN, RN | Stacy Holley, MSN, RN | Leslie Rogers, BSN, RN | Leslie Aldridge, BSN, RN | Debra Mixon, MS, RN, CPC | Jeffrey McNamee, RN.

McLeod Health is honored to announce that sixteen McLeod Registered Nurses (RN) were selected to receive the 2022 Palmetto Gold Award. These nurses represent McLeod Regional Medical Center, McLeod Health Clarendon, McLeod Health Dillon, McLeod Health Loris, McLeod Health Seacoast and McLeod Health Carolina Forest. They join the ranks of the 211 previous McLeod Nurses who have received this outstanding award.

The sixteen nurses from McLeod Health who received the 2022 Palmetto Gold recognition include: Leslie Aldridge, BSN, RN; Tommy Jean Alexander, BSN, RN, CWCN; Mary Ann Batten, BSN, RN; Betty Dukes, RN; Adriane Gaff, MBA, BSN, RN; Melodie Grainger, BSN, RN, WCC, OMS, DWC; Stacy Holley, MSN, RN; Erica Korenkiewicz, BSN, RN; Jeffrey McNamee, RN; Carol McRae, RN; Debra Mixon, MS, RN, CPC; Candace Norton, BSN, RN; Leslie Rogers, BSN, RN; Laurie Sampollo, RN; Heather West, BSN, RN-BC and Michelle Whitlock, BSN, RN.

The Palmetto Gold Award was created by various nursing organizations throughout South Carolina as a platform to recognize nursing and support nursing education with scholarship funds.

Each year, employers from a wide variety of South Carolina health care settings nominate outstanding nurses from their organizations to be considered as one of the 100 nurses honored with this prestigious award. The nominators are asked to provide evidence of how the nominee demonstrated excellence to the profession by addressing the following criteria: promoting and advancing the profession of nursing; displaying caring and commitment to patients, families, and colleagues; and demonstrating leadership by assisting others to grow and develop.

This is a competitive process, and usually several hundred nominations are submitted with only 100 nurses being selected. Each year the competition for the Palmetto Gold Nurse Recognition Program is more stringent. To select the recipients, a team of six nurses from across the state participate in a blind review process. The nominees are not referred to by name or place of employment on the nomination sections seen by the judges.

The recipients of the 2022 Palmetto Gold Award will be recognized at the Palmetto Gold Gala on September 16 in Columbia. To support the future of nursing, the proceeds from the Palmetto Gold Gala are used to provide scholarships to each registered nursing undergraduate program in South Carolina. In 2008, the Renatta Loquist Graduate Nursing Scholarship was created to honor Mrs. Loquist, a member of the original Palmetto Gold committee and a leader in nursing in our state. This $2,000 scholarship has been awarded each year, and since its inception, Palmetto Gold has awarded over $477,800 in nursing scholarships.