Medford resident Keren Dalsey, BSN, RN was among 22 nurses honored yesterday evening at the 2019 Nursing Excellence Awards hosted by Cooper University Health Care and The Cooper Foundation.
Dalsey is a registered nurse in Cooper’s Trauma Surgical Intensive Care Unit and received The Award for Excellence in Trauma Nursing.
When Dalsey was young, she swore to her parents, both of whom work in the medical field, that she wanted nothing to do with medicine. After her first year in college as a business major, she realized that nursing was calling her name.
As a trauma nurse, Dalsey remains calm in a crisis and brings a soothing presence to chaotic and devastating situations. She treats her patients like they are her own friends and family and her knowledge and personality comfort patients and families, who often lean on her for support. This year marks her 20th anniversary with Cooper.
“The Nursing Excellence Awards are supported by generous donors to The Cooper Foundation to assist our winners with education and training,” said Susan Bass Levin, President and CEO, The Cooper Foundation. “We are grateful to our donors for recognizing the important role of nurses in delivering highly-skilled, compassionate care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
The 2019 Nursing Excellence Awards, held during National Nurses Week, honored 22 Cooper nurses, collaborative care providers and teams for their outstanding contributions to excellence in patient care. Award winners were nominated by their colleagues for their commitment to upholding the Cooper mission “to serve, to heal, to educate.”
More than 250 guests attended the awards dinner, which was held at the Crowne Plaza in Cherry Hill.
The Nursing Excellence Awards recognize exceptional professional nurses and advanced practice nurses, in the ambulatory care and inpatient setting at any Cooper University Health Care location, as well as members of the collaborative care teams that support nursing.
“Cooper nurses are not just healers and caretakers, they are teachers and mentors,” said Kevin M. O’Dowd, JD, Co-President, Cooper University Health Care. “Our nurses are constantly learning and training each other, a hallmark of the profession, and something of which we are very proud.”
