Honorees will be celebrated at Sigma’s March 2025 conference in Phoenix

INDIANAPOLIS—Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma) has announced the clinical and academic honorees for the 2025 Healthy Work Environment Award. The academic honoree is Gonzaga University School of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing: Civility, Respect, and Employee Wellness (CREW) Council in Spokane, Washington, USA. The clinical honoree is Northern Westchester Hospital’s Integrative Health Department in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

The 2025 Healthy Work Environments Awards Presentation is sponsored by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

The Healthy Work Environment Award honorees will be recognized during Sigma’s Creating Healthy Work Environments event, which will be held in Phoenix, Arizona, 28-30 March 2025. Representatives of each honoree will present plenary sessions on Saturday, 29 March 2025.

• Representing the clinical honoree, Northern Westchester Hospital Integrative Health Department Clinical Holistic Nurse Specialist Susan Balamaci, RN, MSN, AHN-BC, RN-BC, LMT, BCTMB, will present Advancing Healthy Work Environments for Nurses through Integrative Health Interventions. She will share how Northern Westchester’s Holistic Clinical Nurse Specialists collaborated with nursing and administrative leadership to create a healing space and scheduling system for holistic support to caregivers. The resulting study suggests that providing integrative modalities during patient care shifts positively influenced wellbeing.
• Representing the academic honoree, Gonzaga Nursing Lecturer and Resource and Simulation Center Director Susan Edwards MSN, RN, CHSE, PCCN, will present Addressing Incivility in Academia with CREW (Civility, Respect, and Employee Wellness council) — Our Journey Towards a Healthier Work Environment. She will share how Gonzaga developed the Civility, Respect, and Employee Wellness (CREW) Council in the years following COVID-19 to address incivility, burnout, and low morale. The CREW Council created departmental norms, an incivility reporting portal, and a more inclusive departmental structure.

Sigma President Sandra C. Garmon Bibb, DNSc, RN, FFNMRCSI, FAAN, said, “The 2025 Healthy Work Environment honorees demonstrate the effectiveness of collaboration in cultivating a caring culture and ensuring a healthy environment. I offer my heartfelt congratulations to our exceptional honorees, and I look forward to meeting them in person and learning more about their winning programs during the 2025 Creating Healthy Work Environments conference.”

Sigma CEO Lucas M. Davis, MEd, CAE, ACC, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, ICE-CCP, shared, "I am deeply inspired by the remarkable dedication and innovation demonstrated by Gonzaga University School of Health Sciences Department of Nursing and Northern Westchester Hospital’s Integrative Health Department. These award-winning programs exemplify the nursing excellence that drives the profession forward. It will be an honor to celebrate these outstanding achievements and personally congratulate our honorees in March."

Sigma’s Healthy Work Environment Awards recognize and honor clinical facilities and academic settings that have demonstrated commitment in promoting a healthy work environment and excellence in healthcare outcomes. Read more about Creating Healthy Work Environments and all the Sigma awards that recognize achievements and contributions in nursing.

Sigma’s Creating Healthy Work Environments event is designed specifically to help leaders in both academic and clinical settings develop, implement, and maintain strategies to improve their organizations’ work environments.

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The Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma) is a nonprofit organization with the mission of developing nurse leaders anywhere to improve healthcare everywhere. Founded in 1922, Sigma has more than 100,000 members and 600 chapters at institutions of higher education and healthcare partners from Armenia, Australia, and Botswana to Thailand, the United States, and Wales. Sigma members include clinical nurses and administrators, academic nurse educators and researchers, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and others working to fulfill the organization’s vision of connected, empowered nurse leaders transforming global healthcare.

Learn more at SigmaNursing.org.