Area nurses receive honors

[cougarnurse]

This says it all: Area nurses receive honors | fdlreporter.com | Fond du Lac Reporter

Three area nurses are among seven individuals recently presented with Nightingale Awards by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh College of Nursing and Board of Visitors.

Two Agnesian HealthCare nurses received the Nightingale Award for caring for patients and families with a "selfless spirit of giving," according to an Agnesian press release The award is offered to honor the spirit of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

Each award recipient received $1,000 and a piece of commissioned art work representing the spirit of Florence Nightingale. Agnesian HealthCare nurses include:

Theresa Leppla is a pediatric clinical nurse specialist at St. Agnes Hospital where she has served as the chairperson of the patient education committee and the nurse practice committee. Her work on various committees has been instrumental in introducing an educational system for patient use, teaching records and discharge instructions for all inpatient units.


Leppla currently serves as liaison for the pediatric respite program and oversees pediatric outpatient transfusion patients. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Marian University in 1988 and her Master of Science in Nursing degree from Marquette University in 1995.

Karen Redeker is an inpatient dialysis nurse with Agnesian HealthCare. The patients she encounters often are at their sickest point, and she uses her 20 years of experience to teach each patient the basics of dialysis, making them more comfortable with the process. Redeker often goes above the normal call of duty, working on her days off and caring for patients unconditionally. She is a role model for her fellow nurses and provides hope, healing and strength to all of her patients.

Tami Moffat-Keenlance, director of acute care at Ripon Medical Center (RMC), is the winner of two nursing awards: the prestigious Nightingale Award and the 2009 Ripon Nurse of the Year.


Moffat-Keenlance is the 12th consecutive Nightingale award winner for RMC.

"Tami is richly deserving of this high honor. She embodies the skills, talents and motivations that count her worthy of the Nightingale Award," said Jim Tavary, CEO of RMC, in a press release. "We look forward to her continued excellence in leadership, sense of commitment to her profession, and to her passion for high quality health care."

Twenty-seven nurses were nominated for the Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice.
Moffat-Keenlance has been with the hospital for 17 years.