“I function day to day on a simple premise,” said Mervis Smith, RN, a post anesthesia care unit nurse at New York Methodist Hospital. “If I take today and live it well, work to the best of my ability, then that day becomes the premise on which tomorrow is built.”
Smith was chosen by her peers to receive the hospital’s 2009 Nurse of Distinction Award at the annual Nurse of Distinction Award Ceremony. The celebration honors registered nurses, nurse technicians and unit secretaries who make invaluable contributions to NYM, 506 Sixth Street between Seventh & Eighth avenues, each day. The annual awards ceremony is part of a series of events held during New York Methodist’s Nursing Appreciation Week.
“I like to think of every nurse in this institution and every ancillary individual as a person of distinction,” said Rebecca Flood, RN, senior vice president for nursing.
In addition to Smith, a resident of Laurelton, Queens and a hospital employee for 35 years, the event also honored: Adrian Crispino, RN, Miner 5, of Kensington; Carmen Deflorimonte, RN, Operating Room, of Marine Park; Caroline Rizzo, RN, 6 North, of Dyker Heights; Charlene Webb, LPN, Sickle Cell⁄Thalessemia, of Prospect Heights; Dori Elefterakis, RN, Critical Care, of Marine Park; Eunhee Park, RN, Mother Bay Unit, of Kensington; Galina Fedorenka; Helene Almeyda, RN, 6 South, of Bensonhurst; Iona Senior, RN, Infill 4, of Kensington; Jane Lamorthe, RN, Neonatal ICU, of Crown Heights; Karen Watson, RN, Hemodialysis, of Crown Heights; Myrtle McBean, RN, Infill 6, of Brownsville; Mulayim Mammadova, RN, Infill 5, of Bensonhurst; Natalie Iburg, RN, Coronary Care Unit, of Bay Ridge; Petrina Giaimo, RN, Presurgical Testing, of Bay Ridge; Rosabelle Loo, RN, Miner 8, of Sunset Park; Ruth Matthews−Rowe, RN, Miner 6, of Canarsie; Sandra Caze, RN, 8 South, of Brownsville; Shamia Singh, RN, Progressive Care Unit, of Marine Park; Svetlana Grishchenko, RN, Labor and Delivery, of Mapleton; and Monique Reefer, unit secretary, Infill 6, of Crown Heights.
