McLeod Dillon is pleased to announce that Tammy Lowery, RN, Medical/Surgical Services, has been selected to receive the 2014 Palmetto Gold Award.  Overall, nine McLeod Health Registered Nurses were selected to receive the 2014 Palmetto Gold Award.  These nurses represent McLeod Regional Medical Center, McLeod Darlington, McLeod Loris Seacoast and McLeod Dillon.  They join the ranks of the 125 previous McLeod nurses who have received this outstanding award.
“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 a high 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.”
Tammy Lowery, RN, of Maxton, NC has nine years of experience as a registered nurse (RN).  Tammy cares for patients in the Pediatric and Adult Medical/Surgical Services Unit at McLeod Dillon.
Tammy is a recipient of the McLeod 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.  After receiving this recognition, she served on the Merit Award selection committee.
She has also been recognized by her peers numerous times with “My Caring Comes First” awards for demonstrating the values of McLeod Health.  Her patients recognize her with many “WOW” cards complimenting her care.
At McLeod Dillon, she currently serves on the Nurse Recruitment and Retention Committee. She also serves as a unit preceptor for students and new employees, in which she has been complimented for her compassionate, caring demeanor that is willing to teach and encourage the pursuit of their goals.  
Out of the norm of her day to day work, Tammy has taken the opportunity to participate to lean project work at the hospital.
Tammy is active in civic and community activities, such as the Parent Teacher Association and the summer Youth Volunteer program.  She also serves on the speakers bureau for her church and assists in organizing the churches community health fair.
On the unit, Tammy serves as Charge Nurse and has helped improve the patient satisfaction in multiple areas.  The unit has had zero catheter associated urinary track infection (CAUTI) activities or Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLASBSI’s) in over 6 months.  Tammy has also been a leader in the implementation of patient communication boards and bedside shift reporting for the unit.
Tammy is a resource nurse to the McLeod Dillon Intensive Care Unit for pediatric patients.

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 2014 Palmetto Gold Award will be recognized at the Palmetto Gold Gala on April 12 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 $232,000 and an endowment has been established that now exceeds $100,000.