McLeod Dillon is pleased to announce that Sharon McLain, RN, Director of Surgical Services at McLeod Dillon, and Mary Adams, RN, Women’s Services, have been selected to receive the 2012 Palmetto Gold Award.
Overall, ten McLeod Health Registered Nurses were selected to receive the 2012 Palmetto Gold Award.
These nurses represent three McLeod facilities: McLeod Regional Medical Center, McLeod Darlington and McLeod Dillon.
They join the ranks of the 98 previous McLeod nurses who have received this outstanding award. With the 2012 recipients, McLeod has the honor of having more than 100 grand total winners in a program that recognizes 100 nurses annually.
“In the eleven years that Palmetto Gold has been honoring nursing, ten percent of the total recipients are McLeod Nurses,” said Leanne Huminski, McLeod Regional Medical Center Chief Nursing Officer.
“McLeod Health continues to be the choice for medical excellence because of the intense focus that is placed on quality at each McLeod facility, said Debbie Locklair, Administrator of McLeod Dillon. “Our nurses are to be commended for devoting their considerable skills and talents to the selfless service of others. Being honored as part of this elite group of South Carolina nurses speaks to their level of skill. The Palmetto Gold recipients are leaders in the field representing a philosophy of commitment to caring for the individual patient that underlies the profession of nursing and the mission of the McLeod organization.”
Sharon McLain, RN, of Dillon, has 15 years of experience as a Nurse. Sharon is the Director of Surgical Services at McLeod Dillon where she directs the day to day operations of the Operating Room, Recovery Room and Same Day Surgery Unit. Under her leadership, the Surgical Services department received five-star ratings on the latest medical staff survey conducted by Professional Research Consultants, Inc.
Sharon is a member of the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses.
At McLeod Dillon, Sharon serves on Nurse Council and Quality and Safety committees. She is the Surgical Care Improvement Project Implementer and is the chair of the Nursing Policy Committee. She is also an instructor of the Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) program, a program designed enhance patient care and safety by improving communication and teamwork.
Sharon is active in civic, community and church activities.
Mary Adams, RN, of Hamer, SC has 26 years of experience as a Nurse. Mary is a registered nurse in Women’s Services at McLeod Dillon.
Mary is a member of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetrics and Neonatal Nurses and the South Carolina Perinatal Association.
At McLeod Dillon, Mary is the creator and editor of “Our Buzz” newsletter for Women’s Services. She is also the Lost Revenue Champion and is a chart auditor for the department. Mary serves on the Dillon County Teen Pregnancy Task Force committee. She is also an instructor of the TeamSTEPPS program.
Mary is the May of 2011 recipient of the Merit Award, the highest peer recognition program at McLeod Health that recognizes employees for consistently exceeding the standards of excellence and quality set by McLeod and demonstrating cheerful and compassionate service to others. She was the 2011 Patient Choice Award recipient, based on patient compliments she received throughout the year, and has been recognized by her peers numerous times with “My Caring Comes First” awards for demonstrating the values of McLeod Health
She is engaged in community activities, such as Relay for Life, the American Heart Association and the March of Dimes. She plays an active role in her church.
Past McLeod Dillon Palmetto Gold winners include: Betty Jo Barnes, Nancy Barnes, Tracey Campbell, Joan Ervin, Tiffany Miller, Pat Jones, Beverly Sandifer, Linda Sue Adams, Cindy Byrd, Alexia McKoy, and Teresa Sapp.

About the Palmetto Gold Award
The Palmetto Gold Award is a program that was started by various nursing organizations throughout South Carolina as a platform to recognize nursing, and support nursing education with scholarship funds.
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 four areas of criteria. Those areas include: promoting and advancing of the profession of nursing; displaying of caring and commitment to patients, families, and colleagues; demonstrating leadership by assisting others to grow and develop; and contributing to the overall outcomes in the practice.
This is 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. To select the 100 RNs, a team of twelve nurses from across the state participate in a blind review process. The 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.
The recipients of the 2012 Palmetto Gold Award were recognized at the Palmetto Gold Gala on April 21 in Columbia. To support the future of nursing, the proceeds from the Palmetto Gold Gala, are used to provide a $1,000 scholarship to each of the approved registered nursing programs in S.C. Since the program began in 2002, Palmetto Gold has awarded $200,000 and an endowment has been established that now exceeds $100,000.