Marquette University’s College of Nursing, Milwaukee, will roll out the red carpet in November to honor some of the finest nurses in south eastern Wisconsin. Each will make cameo appearances during the school’s first annual Cameos of Caring Awards Gala.

The Cameos of Caring program honors exceptional nurses who work directly with patients in acute care hospitals, long term care facilities, ambulatory care or home care. At the event, the award-winning nurses, who are selected by their hospitals or health care systems, will tell their stories through a short video – or cameo – during the gala event.

“It will be a chance for the audience to hear the impact the Cameos winner has made,” said Dr. Judy Fitzgerald Miller, interim dean of the College of Nursing at Marquette University. “(We hope) nurses will be inspired. (The award winners) will be role models. We will promote their stories so other nurses will have a sense of pride in their profession.”

The Cameos of Caring program was brought to Marquette by Dr. Ellen Rudy when she served as an interim dean for the College of Nursing last fall. She originated the program in Pittsburgh in 1999 after an experience she calls “humbling.”

In 1998, she took a summer sabbatical during her deanship to serve as a staff nurse in the emergency room at a Pittsburgh hospital. She hadn’t been a staff nurse for more than 20 years, so in many ways, she felt like a new nurse. Contemporary nurses were given so many new responsibilities since her tenure as a staff nurse.

“It was one of the most humbling things I’ve ever done,” Rudy said. “What I soon saw by the end of my time was that the ER could not run without the nurses.” But she also witnessed how unappreciated the nurses felt.

“I have to do something to let nurses know they are appreciated,” she thought. The Cameos of Caring program grew from her quest to honor the hard-working nurses that make the difference in the hospitals and health care facilities.

Bonus benefits

While the primary purpose of the program is to honor the nurses in our community, Cameos of Caring offers additional benefits. Participating hospitals and health care systems sponsor the gala by purchasing table space for the award winner, his or her family and colleagues. The funds help support scholarships for practicing nurses who wish to return to school to further their education. This aid is available only for nurses who work at the hospitals and for the health care systems that participate in the Cameos of Caring program.

At Marquette University, any additional money raised will support the Simulation Technology and Learning Resource Center, which provides nursing students the opportunity to apply critical thinking, develop crucial decision making skills and provide safe patient care in an environment with exposure to and practice in realistic patient care scenarios.

These new scholarship opportunities will not only impact nurses; they will impact the community and overall nursing field as well.

“A better-prepared workforce impacts the community,” Miller said. And, with undergraduate degrees, master’s and Ph.D. programs, and the first doctor of nursing practice degree in the state, Marquette will educate these practicing nurses in a college that is cutting-edge, responsive to society’s needs and transformational, she added.

Glamorous gala

These first-class nurses deserve a first-class awards event, Miller said: “Marquette is interested in honoring nurses at the point of service, and we want to do that in a very classy way, showcasing them.”

The black-tie affair will include a dinner, inspirational presentations by the winners and an “after party” event for those who would like to continue the celebration after the gala. The awards program will be emceed by local Milwaukee newscaster Joyce Garbaciak.

The Cameos of Caring Awards Gala will be held Saturday, Nov. 1 at Marquette University, Milwaukee. More information is available by contacting Jennifer Miner, 414-288-4549, or jennifer.miner@marquette.edu.