NEW YORK NURSE: May 2010
Mary Dewar was presented with the Sigma Theta Tau Alpha Omega Chapter Lifetime Achievement Award at the sixth annual Adelphi University School of Nursing Sigma Theta Tau Leadership Conference in April. Dewar was acknowledged for an extraordinarily accomplished 50-year career in nursing practice, education and healthcare policy reform. Her devotion to sharing her nursing skills and improving nursing care internationally has taken her as a missionary nurse to Angola, China, Ghana, and Zimbabwe. For the past 20 years she has directed the efforts at home of the Long Island Coalition for a National Health Plan, as president and a member of its executive board. Dewar, a former long-time president of NYSNA District 14 (Nurses Association of the Counties of Long Island), member of NYSNA’s Committee on Bylaws, and assistant professor at Adelphi University, remains involved in church-related activities within her community, attributing her continued dedication to making a difference in society to her “religion and strong values.” Her life in nursing was described as “…a model for and testament to the vital importance and efficacy of nurses’ involvement in humanitarian activism and grassroots health care reform advocacy.”
The 369th Infantry Regiment Historical Society recently honored United States Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Glennie Millard with its Outstanding Achievement Award. Millard, a nursing representative with NYSNA’s Economic and General Welfare Program for the past 21 years, celebrates a nursing career spanning more than three decades that began in 1974 as a staff nurse at Brooklyn Hospital. She served in the Reserves for 28 years until her retirement in May 2007. Currently the president of the Brooklyn chapter of the U.S. Reserve Officers Association, she spent every annual training session from 2001 to 2006 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, caring for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Millard serves on the membership committee for NYSNA District 14 (Nurses Association of the Counties of Long Island); is past president of Theta Chi Chapter, Inc. of the Chi Eta Phi Sorority; is a delegate to the 2010 American Nurses Association House of Delegates; and a board member of Nurses House, Inc. New York City Mayor Bloomberg congratulated Millard for receiving this “well-earned recognition and upholding the principals upon which this nation was built.” The 369th Historical Society promotes and preserves the history of the regiment and promises to ensure the contributions of all African-Americans and other minorities in the military are recognized, preserved, and accurately represented to the public.
Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioners Martine Bouzi, Suzanne Courtwright, and Melissa Narvaez of the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center were honored recently for their dedication and efforts on behalf of children who receive life saving open-heart surgery through the Rotary International’s Gift of Life Program. Fellowship Awards were presented to the nurses at Rotary District 7470’s Gift of Life Gala in March. The New Jersey district has sponsored hundreds of children with congenital heart defects from overseas who were operated on under the program. The mission of Gift of Life, Inc., is to save the lives of underprivileged children inflicted with life-threatening congenital heart defects, and to offer assistance regardless of race, color, religion, or national origin. The humanitarian, non-profit corporation is funded by the Rotary Clubs of New Jersey, as well as corporate and private donations.