TYRONE —Tyrone Hospital officials have announced that Linda Morrison, RN, is the recipient of Tyrone Hospital’s Spirit of Nursing Award for 2014. Each year the hospital’s nursing staff nominates one of their fellow nurses to receive the award.
Morrison is a registered nurse who works full-time in Tyrone Hospital’s emergency department. She joined Tyrone Hospital in 1980 and has given more than 34 years of service to the hospital.
She is a graduate of Altoona Hospital School of Nursing. She has served in various roles during her career at Tyrone Hospital. She started as a staff nurse and was later moved into leadership positions first as a night nursing supervisor and later as head nurse in the emergency department.
She also served as the chairperson for the hospital’s documentation committee and was a CPR instructor.
Addressing a crowd of her co-workers, Morrison said, “This is home to me. We are all so close. This is a family. I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. I love knowing all of you and working with all of you.”
The co-workers who nominated Morrison for the Spirit of Nursing Award described her as a highly dedicated nurse who has oriented, educated and served as a strong mentor to many new nursing staff members.
Her co-workers said she is always very professional in her demeanor while providing soft, caring and empathetic care to all of her patients. They said she is also appreciated as a team player.
According to them, she always willingly accepts her assigned duties and offers to help co-workers. They said she is very compassionate and is often sought out by others for support on both a professional and personal level. She is a strong patient advocate, they said.
During her career, Morrison has received many compliments and much praise from patients in her care. She is also generous in donating her free time to help with many of the hospital’s special events, her co-workers said.
Morrison has also volunteered for the American Red Cross, Bald Eagle Volunteer Fire Department and Little Juniata River Clean-Up. Morrison is a Eucharistic Minister at St. Matthew’s Church in Tyrone and serves as financial secretary for Catholic Daughters of America.
Morrison resides in Bald Eagle. She enjoys spending time with her family, which includes her husband, Paul; her two children, Paul Jr. and Heather; and three grandchildren, Olivia, Anthony and Sierra. Morrison’s leisure interests include gardening, bird watching and traveling. Her most recent travel adventure was a trip to Israel. She is also an avid recycler and an animal lover. She has one rescued dog, Bella and one cat, Bridget.
The individual that receives the Spirit of Nursing Award is selected by their peers. Members of the nursing staff submit the names of fellow nurses that they think should be honored with the award. It is through this process that the nursing staff selects one nurse to honor.
Nurses may qualify for the award if they provide direct patient care, have a comprehensive knowledge about the art of nursing, demonstrate a commitment to giving excellent nursing care, serve as an advocate to patients and families and serve as a role model for other nursing staff.
Sharon Fisher, chief nursing officer, said, “We receive a lot of positive feedback about the nursing care provided at Tyrone Hospital. It is a pleasure to honor Mrs. Morrison who is a shining example of the personalized care that our nurses provide.”
The hospital’s nursing department instituted the Spirit of Nursing Award in 2006 and grants the award on an annual basis to a nurse that demonstrates outstanding performance.
