Woman of Achievement Award: Gwen Maloney

Gwen Maloney’s decision to become a nurse was a response to the premature death of her father due to a medication error. Her professional credentials include RN, BSN, and Certified Neurological RN.

Maloney began her nursing career at St. Francis Medical Center. She then worked for 28 years at Southeast Health’s ICU where she served as a Charge Nurse and then Lead Neuro Charge Nurse. For five of those years, she served as Neurological Care Coordinator.

When not busy with her nursing career, Maloney serves in other ways. She was a

4-H leader and Fair Superintendent for 30 years. She currently serves on the board for Slow Foods, a nonprofit that teaches people methods for sustainable living.

Along with two other nurses, Maloney was instrumental in establishing a team of volunteers to provide much-needed healthcare services in Jamaica. For ten years the Jamaican Christian Medical Mission, with a team of around thirty volunteers, served in a remote mountainous area Jamacia for a week every other year.

Recognizing the need to provide healthcare to underserved populations locally, in 2012 Maloney co-founded the Samaritan Regional Health Clinic in Cape Girardeau. Operating 2-3 days a week with a volunteer staff, this free clinic provides a wide array of medical services to the most vulnerable in our community. Focusing on disease prevention and continuity of care in an effort to improve positive health outcomes for patients, Maloney works tirelessly serving a population that would otherwise fall through the cracks.

While being a nurse is an essential part of who she is, Maloney is also a leader, teacher, mentor, missionary, volunteer, and humanitarian. Her outlook can be summed up in this quote by Ruth Smeltzer, “You have not lived a perfect day…. unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”

Please join us in congratulating Gwen Maloney as a nominee for the 2021 Cape Girardeau Zonta Club’s Woman of Achievement Award.