Hallym University Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital

Ms. Hyun Ah Kim, a charge nurse of Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, was chosen to be the ‘Nurse of the Year 2015’ by Korean Nurses Association(KNA). The ‘Nurse of the Year’ award is given to those who contributed to enhancing the professional status of nurse to a higher level or who performed good deeds and voluntary activities to the society during the year. It is the 22nd year now since the award was first established in 1995.

Ms. Kim has been working in the Intensive Care Unit for 20 years, taking care of critical patients like her own family. When she was put in cohort isolation after the first death by MERS was reported, she kept vigil beside the patients’ beds for two weeks until they got released from quarantine. Lots of medical staffs were inspired by her writing that says ‘I will fight against the Grim Reapers to protect my patients from death’. She was also given credit for her efforts to improve the image and status of nursing profession by writing a weekly column for the newspaper about the hospital.

By Chul Kwon, Int’l Cooperation Team, HUMC (chris@hallym.or.kr)