News Release: November 5, 2009

New Mexico’s nurses were recently honored at the 2009 Nursing Excellence Awards hosted by the New Mexico Center for Nursing Excellence. Nurses were recognized in 21 different categories.

Melissa Roberts, RN, BSN, CCRN, and Kathy Ramirez, RN, BSN, CCRN are the two nurses from Presbyterian Healthcare Services honored at the event.

Roberts, recipient of the Excellence in Education/Research Academia award, is the education research coordinator for Presbyterian. She completed her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix and is currently earning her master’s of surgical nursing.

Ramirez, recipient of the Excellence in Critical Care Nursing award, is a board certified medical-surgical nurse through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Ramirez earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing and her master’s of medical/surgical clinical nursing from the University of New Mexico. She is currently completing her post graduate degree in family nursing at The University of Saint Francis College.

More than 184 nominations were submitted for this year’s Nursing Excellence Awards, including 18 nominees from Presbyterian Healthcare Services. Nominations are submitted by peers and members of the community.