Sunrise nurse gets regional honors

Thursday, May 29, 2003 | 9:20 a.m.

Kathy Kopka, manager of transport and outreach at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and Sunrise Children's Hospital, was named Western Nurse of the Year by Nursing Spectrum, the largest nursing magazine in the United States.

Kopka received the award for her design and creation of the Sunrise Operations Center, a centralized location that controls and monitors all hospital entry/admission points and exit/discharge points to evaluate the status of all hospital beds.

In another Kopka Operations Center initiative, critical care nurses cover transport and outreach functions 24 hours daily and staff the Sunrise toll-free outreach beeper.

Kopka also supervises separate neonatal, pediatric and maternity transport teams that are available around the clock for ground or air transport from rural areas and surrounding states to Sunrise Children's Hospital or Sunrise Hospital for patients requiring specialty care.

Also, Marion Hancock, manager of Child and Family Services and the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect program at Sunrise Children's Hospital, has been recognized for her work in helping children by being named one of the four finalists for the 2002 Frist Humanitarian Awards.

Hancock was selected as a finalist from nominees from more than 200 HCA hospitals and facilities in the United States, England and Switzerland.