McLeod nurse receives Palmetto Gold Award

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McLeod Health Clarendon Registered Nurse Pam Flagler has been selected to receive a 2019 Palmetto Gold Award, joining sixteen other nurses in the McLeod network in winning the honor.

The Palmetto Gold Award comes from a program started by various nursing organizations throughout South Carolina as a platform to recognize nursing and support nursing education with scholarship funds.

The nurses recognized from McLeod represent McLeod Health Clarendon, McLeod Regional Medical Center, McLeod Health Cheraw, McLeod Health Darlington, McLeod Health Dillon, McLeod Health Loris and McLeod Health Seacoast. They join the ranks of 182 previous nurses with McLeod to receive the award.

Flagler serves as the McLeod Health Clarendon associate vice-president of quality and safety and has 32 years of experience as a registered nurse. As associate vice-president, she leads and oversees a variety of improvement work.

With her direction of McLeod Health Clarendon’s Quality and Safety program, patient outcomes have shown noteworthy improvements.," according to a release from the hospital. "For the past three years, there have been zero hospital acquired infections. Due to the most reported quality outcomes data, McLeod Health Clarendon is rated 4 out 5 stars by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and received a Blue Cross Blue Shield Rewarding Excellence Quality award."

Each year, employers from across 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.

“McLeod Health Clarendon is very proud of our 2019 Palmetto Gold Award winners, Pam and Cornelia,” said McLeod Health Clarendon Chief Nursing Officer Kim Jolly. “McLeod Nurses strive daily to deliver quality patient care, and we are pleased that they have been honored by Palmetto Gold for the work they do."

Jolly said in a release that the award is given through a "competitive process, and usually several hundred nominations are submitted, with only 100 being selected."

"Each year, the competition for the Palmetto Gold Nurse Recognition Program is becoming more stringent as the number of nominations increases," Jolly said. "To select the 100 RNs, a team of six nurses from across the state participate in a blind review process."

Nominees are not referred to by name or place of employment on the nomination sections seen by the judges so they are unaware of who they are or for which institution they work.

Joining Flagler in receiving the award from McLeod Health Clarendon was Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Cornelia Jones, who also serves as an adult gerontology nurse practitioner. She holds a master's degree in nursing.

The recipients of the 2019 Palmetto Gold awards will be recognized at the Palmetto Gold Gala, which will be held April 27 in Columbia.. Proceeds from the gala are used to provide scholarships in each of the approved registered nursing programs in the state.

In 2008, the Renatta Loquist Graduate Nursing Scholarship was created to honor Loquist, a member of the original Palmetto Gold Committee and a leader in nursing in our state. This scholarship is for $2,000 and has been awarded each year. Since its inception, Palmetto Gold has awarded more than $232,000 in nursing scholarships.

"Pam’s and Cornelia’s leadership makes a difference in the lives of so many," said Jolly. "We commend our nurses for their daily commitment and dedication to the patients and community in which we serve.”