Oklahoma’s greatest nurses to be honored

by Bobby Anderson
Staff Writer

Carol Robison, RN, has been responsible for finding, recruiting and placing great nurses for decades in Oklahoma.
And for more than 30 years, the Great 100 Nurses Foundation has been recognizing the qualities that Robison has long prized through its Great 100 Nurses Celebration.
Nearly 10 years ago Robison and her mother were invited to the festivities in Louisiana and she knew she was witnessing something special.
“It was just really moving,” Robison said. “My mom actually said ‘Well, you can tell where all the good nurses are tonight.”
“I thought that was really sweet. Once I saw the event I immediately wanted to start having one in Oklahoma.”
Robison expects more than 800 attendees ranging from past Great 100 honorees, to sponsoring hospitals and current nominees.
Robison credits the Cherokee Nation as a group that immediately saw the value in honoring Oklahoma’s top health care providers.
The Cherokee Nation will host the celebration next month.
The movement is spreading with the group hosting its inaugural celebration in Arkansas in April.
Maybe it’s because the atmosphere is electric.
“They’re cheering, holding up their posters – some were blowing air horns,” Robison says. “It’s so awesome.”
“I’ve had several nurses say it’s the first time they’ve been honored during their career in nursing.”
The honor has risen to epic proportions in Louisiana with nurses even including their status as a Great 100 Nurse in their obituaries, Robison says.
“I think when you include it in your obituary it meant a lot,” she said.
Great 100 Nurses become a family.
“The other thing that’s neat about it is we are creating a network of great nurses,” Robison said. “Once you’re a Great 100 Nurse you’re always a Great 100 Nurse. Each event we reach back and invite those previous honorees so there’s always a network for these nurses to come back to. Almost their own community forms around it.”
Excellence in their field is a given among Great 100 Nurses.
To submit a nurse for nomination you must ensure nominee is currently a registered nurse in the state of their nomination and has not been previously selected as a Great 100 Honoree.
For the Oklahoma Celebration, the completed nomination form must be received no later than July 17 to be eligible for consideration.
Forms may be completed electronically and emailed to [email protected], faxed to (504)831-3686, or mailed to the address on the form.
Announcement of the Great 100 Nurses for Oklahoma will be made in early August 2017.
Each Great 100 Nurse will receive a certificate and custom pin in honor of their accomplishments. You may nominate as many qualified nurses as you feel appropriate.
Robison stresses judging is done through a double-blind system.
“We don’t know who the nominee is and we don’t know who judges,” Robison said. “Highly respected nurses across the state are involved. It’s judged on a very intense scrutiny of the merits and what their nominator wrote about them.
“I always try to remind people it’s the story that’s told about the nurse.”
HISTORY OF GREATNESS
The Great 100 Nurses Foundation was founded by PK Scheerle, RN in New Orleans, Louisiana thirty-one years ago. Since its founding, the Great 100 Celebrations have honored thousands of Nurses across Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma and now Arkansas.
These exemplary Nurses are selected based on their concern for humanity, their contributions to the profession of Nursing, and their mentoring of others. It is a great honor in the life of the Nurse to be selected as a Great 100 Honoree and the Foundation helps each RN recognize themselves as Nurse Heroes.
Each year, community, health care, government leaders, family, friends and peers join together to honor these Great 100 Nurses.
The funds raised through the celebration are used not only to honor the nurses you will meet at the annual celebrations, but to also support nursing advocacy, nursing scholarships, and nursing research for the betterment of lives, publication of nursing discoveries and the implementation of those discoveries.
Robison says The Great 100 Nurses Celebration belongs to everyone who has met and been touched by an exceptional Nurse.