Association honors
top nurses

Star-Bulletin staff

The Hawaii Nurses Association recently announced its 1999 award winners.

Registered nurse Carol Winters, dean and professor of nursing at Hawaii Pacific University, was chosen by her nursing colleagues as Nurse of the Year for exemplifying qualities that define a professional and mentor. She has received four research grants, published articles, innovated community programs and teaches more than 500 nursing students at HPU.

Nurse practitioner Margarita Rivera was chosen by her peers to receive the Excellence In Practice Award for her commitment to patients, her profession and her community. She works at Kokua Kalihi Valley Clinic.

Amy Wong, a registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, received the Maternal Child Health Nurse of the Year Award for her expertise and patient advocacy.

Dale Allison, registered nurse and professor at Hawaii Pacific College, received the Advanced Practice Nurse of the Year Award for combining clinical practice, education and research.

Marion Poirier, executive director for the Oahu Alliance for the Mentally Ill, received the Nurse Administrator of the Year Award for using her knowledge and skills to advocate for the mentally ill.

Leo and Irene Roberts earned the special Ruth Kemble Award for Volunteer Service for their dedication to nursing and the community. Irene Roberts, a staff nurse at St. Francis, Liliha, served on the Hawaii Nurses Association board of directors, and serves as the unit chair at St. Francis Medical Center.

Leo Roberts also has served on the HNA board of directors, and volunteers to the HNA and to numerous community agencies, including Career Kokua and Mana O Lana. He is the president of the Honolulu District HNA.

The award is named after Ruth Kemble, an English-born nurse for many years at Queen's Hospital, who set the benchmark for volunteerism at HNA.