Vidant Beaufort Hospital was honored to recognize Rebecca Simmons as the recipient of the 2019 Juanita Jackson Award for Nursing Excellence. The award is given to a nurse who exemplifies excellence in their work throughout the year. The award was presented to Simmons by Vice President of Patient Care Services Patti Hudson, as she was surrounded by her family, coworkers and friends.

Simmons, an oncology certified nurse, has been a nurse for the past eight years and providing care for the community at Vidant Beaufort for the past five years. While working full-time as a nursing supervisor, Simmons completed her master’s degree in 2018, as well as achieved her certification for becoming an adult gerontology clinical nurse specialist. Simmons is involved in her local oncology nursing society chapter and participates in many local community events such as Relay for Life and activities of the Shepard Cancer Foundation.

Simmons’ nomination read, “She approaches all tasks with energy and enthusiasm. She displays a commitment to our patients by continual learning. She is a collaborator on our quality improvement work while being a voice for the nursing staff and patients.”

Simmons is also described by her peers as one who leads by example in helping her team members grow and develop.

The Juanita Jackson Award for Nursing Excellence was first presented to Juanita Jackson in 1991 as the namesake of the award to acknowledge her leadership, caring and positive attitude, and compassion for those that she cared for during her career at Beaufort County Hospital. Jackson began her nursing career in 1948 at the Tayloe Hospital in Washington and was one of the original nurses who helped to transfer the patients from Tayloe Hospital to Beaufort County Hospital when it opened in 1958. Jackson, who was much respected and dearly loved by those she worked with, spent her entire career at BCH as an evening nursing supervisor.

Vidant Health is a mission-driven, 1,447-bed health system that annually serves more than 1.4 million people in 29 eastern North Carolina counties. The not-for-profit system is made up of 12,000 employees, eight hospitals, home health, hospice, wellness centers and Vidant Medical Group, a multi-specialty physician and provider group with more than 420 providers in more than 80 practice sites in eastern North Carolina. Vidant is affiliated with The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. As a major resource for health services and education, Vidant has a mission to improve the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina. For more information, visit www.vidanthealth.com.