June 2007

TOP-NOTCH NURSES

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and ajcjobs are proud to honor nurses who went above and beyond the call of duty in 2006. We received 255 nominations for the 2007 ajcjobs Nursing Excellence Awards. Because the profession is filled with skilled, compassionate and caring people, it was a challenge for the independent panel of judges to choose 10 finalists.

From these finalists, three top honorees - Stephanie Rollins, Connie Trent and Christina Woods - were named at an awards luncheon on May 9. All the nurses and the people who nominated them had great stories to tell ... more

• Read their bios: Alison Ellison | Maxine Follmer | Traci MacDonald | Sharie McCune | Chris Nell-Dybdahl | Rebekah Rabinowitz | Stephanie Rollins | Connie Trent | Quinetta Williams | Christina Woods
• Photo Galleries: Scenes from the Banquet | Winners on stage
• Visit the Celebrating Nurses site to see video and for more coverage

Digging into the past

You never know what you might find when you dig into your family's past. Searching through birth records in North Carolina, Maria Montgomery, labor and delivery supervisor at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, kept seeing a familiar name, Rosetta Jernigan.

"It turns out that my great-grandmother was a lay midwife in North Carolina and recorded a lot of the births, so working in labor and delivery isn't new in our family," said Montgomery, BSN. "Makes you wonder how much of our personality is nature and how much nurture, doesn't it? I love finding out interesting details like that." ... more

Four-legged therapist

It takes the right temperament and training to be a good therapist. Fortunately, Cito has both.

"If you could just see the look on our patients' faces when he comes in; it's joy. They're excited to work with him," said Theresita Heaggans, CTRS, a recreational therapist with the Rehab Results Group at DeKalb Medical Center in Decatur ... more