Celebrating Excellence in Human Caring - Nightingale Award

About the Award in Colorado

Cyndy Krening, RNC-OB, C-EFM, MS

Olinda Spitzer, MSN, RN, CNS, CCRN

Past Nightingale Honorees

Nursing Excellence at Centura Health

Images of the Nightingale Award Ceremony - Centura Health

The six Nightingale 2010 recipients: Seated L-R: Cyndy Krening, Olinda Spitzer, Darryl Evertsen, Carole Schoffstall, Debra Burns, and Karren Kowalski. Others standing L-R: Sara Jarrett, Jean Watson, Kim Christiansen, Corrine Koehler, and Lola Fehr.

Six Colorado nurses received a 2010 Nightingale Award for Excellence in Human Caring, and Cyndy Krening, RN (Littleton Adventist Hospital) and Olinda Spitzer, RN (Penrose-St. Francis Health Services) were two of six statewide recipients of the award. Nightingale Awards are nursing’s highest honor. The awards were presented at the Colorado Nurses Foundation 25th annual gala event on May 1.

The annual awards were created to honor nurses who best exemplify the philosophy and practice of Florence Nightingale, a 19th century nursing pioneer who epitomized the art of helping people toward their optimal health.

According to the  Colorado Nurses Foundation, the Nightingale Awards for Excellence in Human Caringwas founded in 1985 "to honor nurses who best exemplify the philosophy and practice of Florence Nightingale, a 19th century nursing pioneer who epitomized the art of helping people toward their optimal health". Each year between 200 and 300 nurses are nominated from across Colorado for this award. Only 15 are selected as finalists. From among those 15, six are selected as recipients.

Centura Health is happy to have had 30 Nightingale Honorees working in our hospitals and at Health at Home since the award was established. We wish to celebrate our current Nightingale Honorees and their nursing careers by having them share their thoughts on nursing and what “Excellence in Human Caring” means to them. We hope you’ll take the time to read their stories.

“What we are looking for are nurses who have made a difference in their workplace and to their patients. We are looking for experience at the bedside. We are looking for involvement in the nursing community, professional organizations and in their community at large. We are looking for outstanding and well rounded people. We are looking for nurses with a healthy sense of self care and who value their relationships with family and friends. When I’ve reviewed the packets of the group of nurses being considered for finalist status, I’m often left wondering ‘When do these people sleep?’” ~ Linda Schuyler, Event Coordinator, Colorado Nurses Foundation - Nightingale Event

To Learn more about Florence Nightingale, please visit the Website for the Florence Nightingale Museum in London.