Awards and Recognition
2025 Nurse Excellence Awards
Honoring the Heart of Health Care: Celebrating Nurses
Each year during National Nurse’s Week, May 6-12, nursing leaders, nursing professionals, nursing educators and friends of nursing at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton are celebrated, honored and shown appreciation for all that they do, for their colleagues and peers, and our patients and the families. Our nurses are caring and knowledgeable professionals who put the needs of their patients and families first. Their dedication to providing safe, reliable, high quality care is second to none.
Although all our nurses go above and beyond, some are chosen by their peers to receive special honors. Nursing Awards are given out by the Chief Nursing Officer on the last day of Nurse’s Week.
- Magnet Nurse of the Year Award: Cassidy Ritter, BSN, RN; ICU
- Unit Secretary Award: Magda Callery; LFT 1
- Clinical Tech Award: Parthik Patel; ICU & Alexander Francois; LFT 1
- Nursing Quality Award: Robert Salm, BSN, RN; ICU
- Friend of Nursing: Maria Melendez; EVS
- Provider Collaboration: Cung Dinh, MD
- New Knowledge, Innovations & Improvements: Katelyn Laba, BSN, RN, MedSurg-BC; LFT 1
- Nursing Mentor Award: Mary Beth Ditzler, BSN, RN, MedSurg-BC; LFT 1
- Exemplary Professional Practice: Nancy Baeza, BSN, RN, MedSurg-BC; LFT 2
- Transformational Leadership Award: Cynthia Russo, MSN, RN-BC, APN,C; Center for Professional Development, Innovation and Research
Certified Nurse’s Day
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton takes great pride in recognizing their nationally certified nurses each year on March 19th. Our nurses are encouraged to take national certification exams and maintain their certifications. We provide them with assistance in registering for the exam and they are compensated once they pass and become nationally certified.
DAISY Awards
DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune SYstem. The DAISY Foundation was formed in January, 2000, by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), an auto-immune disease.
This award acknowledges the education, training, skill and care that nurses put into their work each and every day. Our Daisy winners were chosen from among many submissions by patients, family members and co-workers.
DAISY Awards
The DAISY Nurse Leader Award
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Loretta Padulchick, RN, OCN, INS; Cancer Center
- Ellie Pellecchia, BSN, RN; ICU
IRIS Award
IRIS is an acronym for Inspiring Respect in Service
- Stephen Moore, CCT; LFT1
