RMC nursing awards of excellence honorees include from left, Kartina Harrison, RN, 2011 Nurse of the Year – General Units/Supervisory Care; Barbara Antley, RN, 2011 Nurse of the Year – Specialty Care; and Katrina Coleman, RN, 2011 Nightingale Award.

Three nurses at the Regional Medical Center were honored recently with awards for nursing excellence.

Kartina Harrison and Barbara Antley were honored as Nurses of the Year in General Units/Supervisory Care and Specialty Care, respectively. The Nurses of the Year are selected annually by the RMC medical staff; honorees are chosen based on clinical skills, devotion and compassion.

Katrina Coleman received the Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing. Presented annually, the award is nominated by members of RMC's nursing staff. Honorees must demonstrate clinical excellence and concern for patients, family and co-workers; demonstrate leadership; possess enthusiasm while having a healthy work ethic; and honor a commitment to RMC for two consecutive years.

Kartina Harrison, RN
2011 Nurse of the Year – General Units/Supervisory Care

Walterboro native Kartina Harrison began her nursing career at RMC in 2000 as a staff nurse on the Progressive Care Unit and has continued serving in that role.

A member of the Honor Society of Nursing-Sigma Theta Tau International, Harrison received a bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of South Carolina in 1999.

She is certified in Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Chemotherapy Nursing and recently received certification from the Association of Critical Care Nurses in Progressive Care.

She and her husband, John, have two children, John Jr., 10, and Jasmine, 5 months. She is an active member of New Foundation Outreach Ministry in Orangeburg, where her husband serves as pastor.

“Nursing is my passion,” she said, “but the job that is even dearer to my heart is being a mother to our two children.”

Barbara Antley, RN
2011 Nurse of the Year – Specialty Care

Antley serves as Clinical Coordinator in the Radiology Department, and in her role, she assists in and monitors invasive procedures and provides nursing care in the Radiology Department and the Breast Health Center.

She joined the RMC team as a licensed practical nurse in 1974 and served in all nursing units. During this time, she pursued additional nursing education.

A graduate of the University of South Carolina in Columbia, she received her associate’s degree in nursing in 1976 and joined the Intensive Care Unit as a staff nurse. Three years later she transferred to the Recovery Room and shortly afterwards was named their Assistant Head Nurse. From 1981-1989 she served as Head Nurse. Her role expanded to Coordinator of Surgical Services, and she managed the Operating Room, Recovery Room, Same Day Surgery and Endoscopy from 1989-1994. From 1994-1999 she served as Unit Based Educator for all of those areas, and then transferred to the Radiology Department, where she has continued to serve.

A Certified Post Anesthesia Nurse, Antley is also certified as an Advanced Cardiac Life Support instructor and as a Basic Life Support instructor.

Nursing seems to be in her blood. Antley’s mother is a retired nurse, who previously served as a Nursing Supervisor for RMC. “In addition to my mom’s background in nursing, my dad’s sister was a nurse, and I believe about ten or twelve cousins are nurses,” she said. “Nursing has always been a strong presence in my life.”

She and her husband, Allen, reside in the Canaan Community. During her leisure time, she enjoys traveling and working in the yard.

Katrina Coleman, RN
2011 Nightingale Award

Coleman, a native of Orangeburg, helped develop the PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) program at RMC and has served as Clinical Coordinator for the department since 2008. Prior to that she was a staff critical care nurse for five years.

A graduate of Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College’s practical nursing program in 1993, she received an associate’s degree in nursing from OCtech in 2001. Coleman received a bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of South Carolina Upstate in 2008. She is pursuing her master of science degree in nursing education from the Medical University of South Carolina and is scheduled to graduate in August.

Coleman has national certifications in critical care and peripherally inserted central catheters and is Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support certified.

She says that nursing has long been a part of her life. “At a young age I witnessed a 15-year-old boy drown and CPR being performed, and I remember wanting so badly to do something to help that boy and his family,” Coleman shared. “From that day forward I knew that I would be a nurse some day.”

Her husband, Robert, is also a nurse at RMC, and her daughter, Skyler, will begin the nursing program in the fall of this year.

During her leisure time, Coleman enjoys the beach, boating and spending time with her family. She attends Cornerstone Community Church in Orangeburg and volunteered on a medical mission trip to Liberia in 2010.