Employees Honored at Awards of Excellence Ceremony
| The Medical Center’s Sterile Processing leadership team, Michael Arnold and Chief Nursing Officer Mary Helen Forrest were honored May 22 at the Awards of Excellence Ceremony, an event sponsored by the UAMS Medical Center Auxiliary.
Steppe Mette, M.D., interim vice chancellor for clinical programs and interim CEO of UAMS Medical Center, presented the Team Impact Award to the Sterile Processing leadership team in recognition of innovation, health improvement, commitment to the UAMS mission and core values and interdisciplinary collaboration through teamwork.
Michael Arnold, (center) a Nutrition Services employee in the Cafeteria, was presented with the Helen May Compassionate Care Award. He is pictured with Jim May and Katelyn Johnson, Helen May’s husband and daughter.
The Sterile Processing Department includes about 120 employees who ensure instruments needed for surgeries and procedures are sterile, safe and in working order. Renita Jackson-Hoof is the director of the team. The Joint Commission cited this team as the “gold standard” for sterile processing during a 2017 survey visit.
Other nominees for this year’s award include palliative care social workers; the specialty pharmacy program; the Clinical Decision Unit; Reaching Educators and Children (REACH); the Emergency Department; the UAMS Emergency Team; Child Diagnostic Unit nurses at PRI; palliative care volunteers; the child unit at PRI; the diabetes education team at UAMS East; and the Integrated Clinical Enterprise human resources recruitment team.
UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., presented the Helen May Award to Michael Arnold, an inventory control technician in Nutrition Services. His nomination for the award described how he searched through bags of trash to find a patient family member’s wallet that had mistakenly been thrown away when he left the cafeteria. Arnold also works to meet the needs of patients and family members with dietary restrictions. He has worked in the cafeteria for 10 years.
The Helen May Compassionate Care Award was established in 2003 in memory of Helen May, who died in 2001 after working at UAMS for 11 years. Nominees are recognized for delivering patient- and family-centered care guided by the service standards of safety, respect, excellence, image and efficiency.
Mary Helen Forrest, chief nursing officer, was honored with the inaugural UAMS Nursing Legacy Award.
Other nominees for the Helen May Award include Jessica Daniel, R.N., in the Emergency Department; Tami Hula, R.N., in the PRI adult inpatient unit; Travis Ivy, a patient services technician in the float pool; Thomas Kiser, M.D, from the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic; Sara Peeples, M.D., neonatal intensive care unit director for the Women and Children’s Service Line; Deborah Tull, R.N., from the neonatal intensive care unit; and Chrissy Wright, R.N., from the neonatal intensive care unit.
Forrest, MNSc, R.N., NEA-BC,retired, was honored with the inaugural UAMS Nursing Legacy Award. She also serves as inspiration for the award, which will be presented annually to a nurse who has demonstrated significant contribution to UAMS nursing, patient care and the mission of UAMS. Nominees must also have worked at UAMS for at least 20 consecutive years.