In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the South Carolina Nurses Association, four new awards were created to honor nurses and supporters of the nursing profession. An Orangeburg native and resident, Carrie Houser James, MSN, RN, CAN, BC, CCE, was the recipient of the Distinguished Nursing Award. This new award recognizes the significant contributions of the recipient to the professional development of colleagues and the outstanding leadership that Ms. James has provided to SCNA at all levels of membership in the organization.

Ms. James, the first African-American graduate of the BSN program at USC, is a past, and current, member of the Board of Directors of SCNA; a past president of SCNA; a past president of the South Carolina Nurses Foundation; past Chair of the Constituent Assembly of the American Nurses Association, and current President of the Center for American Nurses Association, one of the two Associate Organizational members of the ANA, thus she holds a seat on the Board of Directors of the ANA. In addition, Ms. James was appointed by the Governor to serve as a member of the State Board of Nursing for South Carolina for the 6th Congressional District. Ms. James is an active community volunteer, especially in the area of Breast Cancer and working with pre-natal education. She is employed at South Carolina State University.

The Distinguished Nursing Award of SCNA represents the very epitome of service and leadership to the South Carolina Nurses Association and thus to the profession of nursing. Ms. James' many contributions are truly extraordinary and she is a practitioner of the profession of registered nursing of the highest order.

####

Further information:

Judith Curfman Thompson, IOM
Executive Director
SCNA
803.252.4781
judith@scnurses.org