Palmetto Gold pin presented to winners

Two Piedmont nurses have received the 2008 Palmetto Gold Award for nursing excellence. The recipients are Mary Kaye Halterman, who is Piedmont’s vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer, and Karen Kohn, who is a staff educator for diabetes and wound management. Also nominated were Ann Calandro, lactation consultant; Laura Cook, nurse in the Cardiopulmonary Department; Joe Guyon, nurse in the Progressive Care Unit; Rachel Miller, lactation consultant; and Mary Ann Verostek, staff educator.  

This is the seventh year of the Palmetto Gold Nurse Award and Scholarship Program that honors South Carolina registered nurses who exemplify excellence in nursing practice and commitment to the profession. Nurses are nominated by their peers.  

Halter and Kohn, committed nurses

Halterman joined Piedmont in 2004 and served as director of acute care services, including critical and progressive care until her appointment as vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer in February. She has been a registered nurse for 30 years and holds a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Ball State University in Indiana and a master’s degree in leadership from Pfeiffer University in North Carolina. “Nursing is about commitment and compassion. I am a better person because of my profession,” Halterman says. “It has allowed me the opportunity to work with people at the academic level down to a bare dirt floor on a mountain. There is nothing as powerful as a hand or a hug someone gives to you because you touched their life.”

Kohn has been a registered nurse for 28 years and joined Piedmont in 2003. She holds a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Wayne State University in Detroit. “One of the wonderful things about nursing is all the venues that are available in the field,” she says. “Because of what I do as an educator, patients become independent in their own care which makes a significant difference in their lives. It’s nice when someone comes back and says ‘I would not have been able to do this without you.” The awards were presented at a gala in Columbia on April 19.