The Indiana University East School of Nursing will honor five recipients with excellence awards during the nursing gala. The ‘09 Celebration of Caring gala will be held on Saturday, July 25 from 7-9:30 p.m. on the IU East Hayes Hall patio.

Jewell Spears will receive the Lifetime Achievement in Nursing Award. This award honors a nurse with a distinguished career as a registered nurse and exemplary contributions to health and wellness. Spears is a graduate of Richmond High School, the Reid Memorial Hospital and the Earlham College nursing program. She earned her bachelor’s degree in 1957 from Earlham College.

After completing her education, Spears was an instructor at the Reid Memorial Hospital School of Nursing before it closed in 1958 and was appointed as the hospitals’ assistant director of the nursing in-service department where she was instrumental in developing the nursing technician program. She then worked for the Wayne County Health Department in the prenatal and tuberculosis clinics before joining the Richmond School District where she initiated a pilot project for school social workers that became a precursor to home school counselors.

Spears returned to Reid Hospital in 1967 as the emergency department nurse. The following year, the downtown explosion in Richmond would lead her to work with others to develop a detailed disaster plan for the hospital. She became the hospital’s first nursing director before becoming the first vice president of Nursing Services and then a vice president at Reid until her retirement in 1995.

Spears received many state honors and was a member of a five-person delegation to visit Serpukov, Russia. She was appointed by Governor Robert D. Orr to the Indiana State Board of Nursing Education and Registration; was a Diplomat of the American College of Healthcare Executives; served on the Reid Hospital Governing Board; and received several state and local honors and awards including the Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Orr in 1986. 

The Quigg family will receive the Friend to Nursing Award honoring their commitment as an advocate of the nursing profession and healthcare. Receiving the award are Bill, Rob and James Quigg.

The Friend to Nursing Award honors those who have achieved distinction in their own field. The Quigg family has supported the IU East School of Nursing through the Campaign for Community by donating funds for upgrades to the learning laboratory and assisted in purchasing laboratory equipment and patient simulators which provide students the opportunity to use critical thinking and decision-making skills while practicing in a real world environment.

The Quiggs will be recognized for their contributions to the community and health care. Bill is a member of the Reid Hospital Governing Board where he serves as the chair for the audit committee and on the long-range planning and community benefit committee. Rob is active with the IU East alumni and the IU East Board of Advisors and he served as the Campaign for Community chair. James currently serves on the Friends Fellowship Board of Trustees and previously was a member of the Reid Hospital Governing Board.

Carolyn Slagle will receive the Outstanding Nursing Alumni Award which honors alumni who have contributed much to nursing, Indiana University and beyond. She is currently a clinical nurse specialist at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis. Slagle earned her Associate of Science in Nursing from IU East in 1994. She has also completed professionals in residence training in chemical dependency from Hazelden in Center City, Minn.; completed training in electroconvulsive therapy at Duke University in North Carolina; and completed her RN to Master of Science in Nursing in Adult Psychiatry from Indiana University at the Indianapolis campus in 2001.

Previously, Slagle worked as a clinical nurse specialist at Reid Hospital and Health Care Services in Psychiatric Services and at the Dunn Center.

Slagle is a member of state and national nurse’s organizations including the Indiana State Nurses Association, the Indiana Association on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse. She has had several articles published in Nursing Focus.

The lead sponsor of the nursing gala is Reid Hospital and Health Care Services and the premier sponsor is Dr. Jagadeesh Gaddipati. Reservations to attend the event are due by Friday, July 17. Contributions from the gala benefit the enhancement of teaching and learning in the School of Nursing at IU East.

For more information about the award recipients or the gala, please contact the IU East School of Nursing at (765) 973-8213.