AJC salutes 11 of the region’s top nurses

For the 19th consecutive year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has hosted an event celebrating 10 of the region’s best nurses and one outstanding nurse leader.

This year’s Celebrating Nurses awards luncheon was held May 7 at Cobb Energy Centre in Atlanta. Monica Kaufman Pearson, longtime Atlanta television news anchor and host of “The Monica Pearson Show” on ajc.com, and Leroy Chapman, the paper’s editor-in-chief, served as masters of ceremony.

Andrew Morse, publisher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said the newspaper was “proud to recognize and honor our region’s exceptional nurses.

“Nurses are on the front lines of medicine, providing compassionate, lifesaving care to those in need, protecting public health, and advocating for patients and their families,” Morse said. “It is with great respect and admiration that we present the 2024 Celebrating Nurses award winners.”

Bosses, colleagues, friends and patients are invited annually to nominate nurses who they believe exemplify the best in their profession. Ten of the nominees will receive an AJC Nurse Excellence Award, and one will be given an AJC Nurse Leader Award.

This year, the paper received 780 nominations, plus 87 for nurse leaders. Among the winners were a nurse who helped a patient turn his life and health around, one who goes out of her way to help families of the dying, and one who still lights up a room with her enthusiasm for the job and her patients.

A committee of judges spent five weeks reading through the nominations and selecting the winners.

Credit: File photo

Credit: File photo

Beth Reilly, an advanced practice registered nurse with Empath Tidewell Hospice; Felecia Sanchious, a family nurse practitioner with Tampa Bay Radiation Oncology; and Jo Shuford-Guice, a nurse practitioner with River Region Dermatology & Laser and past president of Advanced Practitioners for the River Region, judged the nominees for the 10 Celebrating Nurses awards.

Selecting the Nurse Leader award winner was Iris B. Hamilton, RN, MPA, director of Health Care Management, the Government Business Division of Amerigroup, and Angela Pointer, MS, BSN, RN, director of talent acquisition for Sentara Healthcare.

The luncheon guest speaker was Tim Cunningham, RN, DrPH, FAAN, co-chief well-being officer at Emory Healthcare and the Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University. An international speaker, Cunningham founded Clowns Without Borders in 2003. The nonprofit sends professional artists into war zones, refugee camps, and other areas in crisis to spark laughter and playfulness.

Read about our winners