Mercy Iowa City awards nursing and staff scholarships, awards

Mercy Iowa City presented awards and honored fall scholarship recipients during a September 22 ceremony.

The annual Legacy Award for Outstanding Nursing Care was awarded to Jean Semsch, a staff nurse in Intensive Care. An anonymous donor initiated the award in 2004 with a gift to the Mercy Hospital Foundation to honor the legacy of the founding Sisters of Mercy. The award is given to a nurse who exemplifies their tradition of extraordinary care in healing and comforting the sick with skill, compassion and respect for human dignity.

The Dr. George S. Anderson Friend of Nursing Award was awarded to Julie Vest, a nursing technician in Mercy Hospice Care. This award was created in 2005 by the family of Dr. Anderson, a long-time member of the Mercy medical staff. It is given to an employee who is not a nurse but supports the nursing care of patients and their families.

The fall nursing education scholarship recipients were also recognized during the ceremony. They are Joan Caes, Assistant Nurse Manager in the Emergency Care Unit and Jenny Freel, a Nursing Technician in Nursing Administration, who received the Erusha Family Educational Scholarships; Veronica McCaffrey, Staff Nurse in Telemetry, who received the Sister Mary Josephus Scholarship; and Laurie Thomann, Staff Nurse in Telemetry, who received the Bill Cory Nursing Scholarship.