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The Beatrice Renfield Caring for the Caregiver Award, given by the American Journal of Nursing, recognizes a significant contribution to clinical facilities in support of nurses and nursing. The award is given to a philanthropist, either an individual or organization, who has provided financial support for the development of excellence in nursing practice.
The award is named in honor of Beatrice Renfield, a trustee and patron of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, who established a fund for the support and development of its nursing staff in 1990. The Beatrice Renfield Division of Nursing Education and Research was named in her honor. The Beatrice Renfield Center for Nursing was established at the medical center in 2002 with the following goals:
To foster growth in nursing that will serve as a conduit to educational advancement; promote innovative thinking and creative problem solving based on the original philosophy of Florence Nightingale; and to create research platforms and opportunities for personal renewal for the hospital's nurses and allied health professionals.
In 2002 Renfield endowed the Beatrice Renfield Nursing Research Program at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York with $1 million to "strengthen the evidence base of home nursing practice" and donated another $1 million to support the Beatrice Renfield-Yale School of Nursing Clinical Initiative Fund for research and special projects devoted to improving nursing care.
Nominations for individuals or organizations for the annual award are accepted from any clinical facility that supports the development of excellence in nursing practice, including hospitals, home care agencies, and long-term care facilities.
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NOMINATION GUIDELINES
1. Write a narrative description of the nominee's support of nurses and nursing at one (or more) facility. This description should explain the type of support given and the result of this support. The narrative should not exceed 1,000 words.
2. Include additional documentation of the philanthropy and its implications, such as announcements published in the facility's newsletter or a newspaper account of the work. Do not exceed 10 pages of attachments.
3. Provide at least two letters in support of the nomination. Letters of recommendation submitted must include one from the chief nurse officer of the facility and one from a staff nurse.
4. Compose a cover letter, complete with the nominator's contact information, to accompany the narrative description, additional documentation, and letters of recommendation. The original nomination package and six copies of the complete nomination package must be submitted.
5. Nomination submissions must be postmarked no later than June 1, 2005.
Nominations will be judged by a panel of nurses and others familiar with the philanthropic support of nursing.
JUDGING CRITERIA
The nominee's philanthropic support should embody the idea of "caring for the caregiver" through educating nurses and providing support to nurture and renew their capacity for caregiving.
1. The nominee should have a vision for health care that values nursing and the contribution nurses make by providing clinical leadership, delivering superior nursing care, and conducting clinical research.
2. Priority will be given to nominees who have supported nursing in clinical facilities rather than schools of nursing.
3. The nominee should demonstrate a long-term commitment of support through repeated gifts or an endowment.
4. Posthumous awards will be considered.
Award recipients will be announced in the October 2004 issue of AJN. Additional media outreach will accompany the announcement to celebrate the philanthropic support of nurses and nursing.
For additional information, contact:
Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN
Editor-in-Chief
American Journal of Nursing
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
345 Hudson Street, 16th Fl.
New York, NY 10014
212.886.1359
[email protected]