Two Bladen County RNs Named Exemplary Nurses

ELIZABETHTOWN – Two of Bladen County Hospital’s own were recently named Cape Fear Valley Health Exemplary Nurses for 2011.

Sabrina Melvin, RN, BSN, and Teresa Phipps, RN, BSN, were both honored during an awards ceremony, along with eight other Cape Fear Valley RNs. The ceremony was held May 9 at Cape Fear Valley Rehabilitation Center in Fayetteville.

The Exemplary Nursing awards program was created in 2001 as a way to honor outstanding RNs throughout Cape Fear Valley Health. The health system’s staff nominate co-workers whose compassion, hard work and skill make them Exemplary Nurses.

Melvin is a Charge Nurse and serves on Performance Improvement and leadership committees with Bladen County Hospital. She was nominated for her work as a top assistant to the nursing manager, handling often-stressful situations with poise, maintaining working relationships with physicians and outside departments. She also assisted with the hospital’s new hospitalist program launch, guiding physicians and serving as a resource person for policies and procedures.

She executes interdepartmental functions with grace, competence, excellence and a smile, while also lending emotional and financial support to co-workers if needed.

Phipps works in Bladen County Hospital’s Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program, and previously worked in the hospital’s ICU, Medical/Surgical Unit and Emergency Department.

In 1997, she helped establish the hospital’s Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program, serving as Clinical and Program Director. There, she helped shape the program by developing documentation, policies, care plans and admission procedures.

Phipps was nominated for treating patients as a “whole person” and often befriending them on a personal level. She has also shown unwavering loyalty to her job by juggling her career while also taking care of her permanently disabled husband, Bo, a spinal injury patient, over the years.