Frankfort Regional Medical Center is pleased to announce that Charlotte O’Neal, MSN, RN, CEN, is the recipient of the Emergency Nurses Association’s 2014 Barbara A. Foley Quality, Safety and Injury Prevention Award. The Barbara A. Foley Quality, Safety and Injury Prevention Award is one of the Association’s 12 Achievement Awards bestowed annually. The Annual Awards recognize emergency nurses who exemplify exceptional professional practice, innovation, leadership and advocacy in emergency nursing.
O’Neal, who serves as Trauma Manager/ED Clinical Educator/EMS Liaison for Frankfort Regional Medical Center, will be recognized at the ENA Annual Conference Awards Gala on October 11 in Indianapolis.
“Ms. O’Neal has made a lasting impact on emergency nursing and serves as a true role model to healthcare professionals everywhere,” said Michelle England, Chief Nursing Officer at Frankfort Regional Medical Center. “We are grateful for O’Neal’s contributions. We are confident she will continue to positively impact emergency nursing for years to come.”
A resident of Lawrenceburg, O’Neal earned her associate’s degree in nursing from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System in Hopkinsville in 1984. She earned her bachelor’s degree in 2005 and her master’s degree in 2007 from McKendree University. In a nursing career that has spanned over 30 years, she has worked in pediatrics, oncology, intensive care and emergency care.
This award honors O’Neal’s efforts to improve quality and safety for area residents. Charlie’s Challenge – Kid’s Safety Day was established in 2012 in memory of Charlie Semones, a 6 year old child that was struck by a vehicle and killed while riding his bicycle. The event is developed to provide parents and children with information designed to help keep kids safe. Each child in attendance is given a bike helmet and entered into multiple drawings for donated bicycles. Kid’s Safety Day is a community effort, initiated and coordinated by O’Neal and Lindsey Baker, RN. Frankfort Regional Medical Center provides extensive annual support for the event. The Good Samaritan Foundation, in conjunction with the Kentucky Hospital Association, awarded grant monies to the event in 2012 and 2014, for the purchase of bicycle helmets.
O’Neal is an instructor for the Trauma Nurse Core Curriculum and Emergency Nurses Pediatric Course. She serves on the Kentucky Trauma Advisory Committee and the Kentucky Safety and Prevention Alignment Network. In addition, Ms. O’Neal serves as the hospital’s Emergency Medical Services liaison.
O’Neal is actively involved with numerous performance improvement projects, coordinates the hospital’s trauma program and serves as the adult clinical educator for the Emergency Department.