Mankato Nurse Receives National Honor

On Friday, June 22, the American Lung Association presented Mankato resident and nurse Sandy Renor with the prestigious C. Everett Koop Unsung Hero Award at their annual awards banquet in Chicago.

In 2006, Renor joined the Mankato Area Smoke Free Coalition. She rallied on street corners waiving a “Love your Lungs” sign. Because of her hard work with the coalition, the Mankato City Council voted to make bars and restaurants smokefree.

Then, in 2009 when Minnesota funded the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership, Renor quickly became the “Tobacco Expert.” When tasked with implementing county tobacco-free grounds policies, Renor began extensive research. She spent hours on the phone learning from state level experts including the Lung Association, the Association for Nonsmokers and The Public Health Law Center, reviewed many sample policies, and reached out to other local governments in order to write the most effective tobacco-free grounds policy for her community.

The Lung Association and the C. Everett Koop Foundation present the annual Unsung Heroes' Award to an advocate for tobacco control who has made significant, but frequently unrecognized contributions to reduce the burden of tobacco use.