NewYork-Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital Celebrates Nursing Certification Day

Cortlandt Manor, NY – (March 25, 2015) – NewYork-Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital has 121 nurses with certification in their specialty, evidence of a commitment to excellence in patient care.

Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital were recognized for their accomplishments on March 19, which is Nurse Certification Day. The day honors nurses who commit to the rigorous requirements to achieve and maintain certification.

“As a Magnet nursing hospital – the first in the region to achieve this designation in 2007 – we are committed to encouraging nursing education and the pursuit of professional certification that contributes to a higher standard of patient care,” said NYP/Hudson Valley Hospital President John Federspiel.

Kathy Webster, vice president of patient services at NYP/Hudson Valley Hospital, praised the nursing staff at a special celebration in the main lobby. Webster thanked the nurses for their commitment to life-long learning, which she said contributed greatly to the hospital’s reputation for clinical excellence.

“Our certified nurses have made continuing professional development a priority and they assure our hospital and our patients that they have the knowledge and skills to deliver the highest level of care,’’ she said. “When we compare ourselves by specialty in the NDNQI (National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators), we have outperformed the benchmark for every specialty.”

Zaida Areizaga, an operating room nurse who recently earned certification in both geriatrics (GRN) and operating room nursing (AORN), told the audience that earning advanced degrees had improved her skills and allowed her to give better care to her patients.

The American Nurse Credentialing Center has designated March 19 as Certified Nurses Day™, a special day of recognition to celebrate the contributions of board certified nurses. The date was chosen in honor of the birthday of Greta Styles. Styles, who died in 2005, was recognized as a trailblazer in nursing for her advocacy of worldwide nursing standards and certification.

NewYork-Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital

Founded in 1889 by the Helping Hand Association, NewYork-Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital, located in Cortlandt Manor, New York, serves residents of the Hudson Valley and Westchester County. The 128-bed facility provides a wide range of ambulatory care and inpatient services, with 350 physicians on staff in 43 specialties. The hospital is home to the region’s only state-of-the-art, 24-hour “no wait” emergency department, which sees more than 39,000 visits per year. In 2011, the Cheryl R. Lindenbaum Cancer Center opened, offering the first comprehensive cancer center in the area, combining infusion, radiation therapy and support services all under one roof. NewYork-Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital has received a string of national awards for patient and employee satisfaction as well as clinical excellence, including the 2014 Guardian of Excellence Award from Press Ganey for scoring higher than 95 percent of hospitals in the country in key quality metrics. For more information, visit www.nyp.org/hudsonvalley or call 914-737-9000.