Monday, June 13, 2016

Colorado Nurse Receives National Nursing Association’s Excellence Award
Amy Dempsey Accepts AWHONN Award for Practice

Washington, DC, June 13, 2016 – The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) today presented its 2016 Award of Excellence in Practice to Amy Dempsey, MSN, RN, for her 25 year career providing superior care for women and newborns. The award was presented at the AWHONN national Convention in Grapevine, Texas.

AWHONN presents its Award of Excellence in Practice each year to an AWHONN member who exemplifies outstanding clinical expertise, dedication to promoting a professional image of nursing through practice, and contributions in their area of practice that have national or international significance. 

Ms. Dempsey is an obstetric clinical practice specialist at Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. She has previously worked as a charge nurse, birth center educator, and staff nurse in labor and delivery.  An AWHONN member since 2001, Ms. Dempsey is a leader in the area of family-centered childbirth practices.  She has implemented changes in her hospital to improve the patient experience and to better align with the evidence base, including the implementation of a “golden hour” of protected time after birth for parents to focus on bonding and breastfeeding; providing skin-to-skin contact for mom and baby following both vaginal and cesarean births; and delaying newborn bathing.

“Ms. Dempsey is well known as a clinical expert in the area of perinatal care, which is reflected in both her individualized care of childbearing families, as well as her interactions with other obstetric clinicians,” said AWHONN’s Chief Executive Officer, Lynn Erdman, MN, RN, FAAN. “Her consistent compassion and patient advocacy are admirable.”

Ms. Dempsey is an AWHONN Fetal Heart Monitoring Instructor and was honored as the Colorado AWHONN Outstanding Nurse in 2013. She is an invited presenter at regional and national meetings on a variety of obstetric topics and has co-authored research articles on the second stage of labor and postpartum perineal pain management.

Ms. Dempsey earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota and her Master’s of Science in Nursing from Saginaw Valley State University in Saginaw, Michigan.

For media interviews, contact:
Kelly Mack for AWHONN
202-296-2002
krm@awhonn.org

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About AWHONN
Since 1969, the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) has been the foremost authority promoting the health of women and newborns and strengthening the nursing profession through the delivery of superior advocacy, research, education, and other professional and clinical resources. AWHONN represents the interests of 350,000 registered nurses working in women’s health, obstetrics, and neonatal nursing across the United States. Learn more about AWHONN at www.awhonn.org.