Bay Area Nurse Honored in Nation's Capitol for Saving Teens' Lives.

News Editors/Health & Medical Writers

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--May 3, 2000

Concord resident Monica De Witt, RN, will receive an American Red Cross Nurse Heroine Award at a ceremony in Washington DC, Friday, May 5. The annual award is given to 10 nurses throughout the country for their "selfless acts of heroism and for going above and beyond the call of duty in saving, or attempting to save, the life of another person under adverse conditions."

Monica is receiving the award for coming to the aid of two car accident victims last June. "I'll never forget that day," says Monica. "It was about 105 degrees, and I had been in a fender bender, so I decided to take a different route to my insurance agent's office." When she saw the overturned car, she immediately ran over to help. There were two teenagers, one seriously injured and still in the car. Monica ripped her dress and applied a tourniquet to an almost severed right arm. Emergency services were called by cell phone. Monica stayed until the victims were transported to a nearby hospital. Both teens recovered fully.

"I'm very honored but it's a little embarrassing to be receiving an award," says Monica. "Anyone would have done the same thing. I'm very lucky and very blessed that I have the skills to do it."

Monica is a Kaiser Permanente/California Nurses Association Quality Liaison for the Kaiser Permanente Walnut Creek Medical Center and Pleasanton Clinic. She has worked at Kaiser Permanente since 1976.

The day after Monica returns to the Bay Area, she will graduate as a family nurse practitioner with a Masters degree in Nursing from Holy Names College in Oakland. The following day, she will be inducted into Sigma Theta Tau, the nursing research honor society.

Kaiser Permanente, California, is a prepaid, group practice health maintenance organization (HMO) serving more than 5.9 million members throughout the state. More than 7,000 Permanente medical group physicians in both The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) in Northern California and the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG), as well as 55,300 Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals employees, provide care to Health Plan members. There are 28 major medical centers organized into 12 service areas throughout California.