ZONTA NAMES WOMAN OF ACHIEVEMENT

Karen C. Hendrickson was named the 1993 Woman of Achievement by the Zonta Club of Cape Girardeau Area Tuesday.

"This award has been presented annually since 1987 to an outstanding woman in our community who exemplifies the Zonta ideals of dedication to career, family, self-improvement and service to the community, youth, women, church or temple," said Renee Tlapek, co-chairman of Zonta Status of Women Committee.

Co-chairman Beverly Rust said, "Karen Hendrickson was unanimously selected by our committee in recognition of her lengthy and significant contributions to Southeast Missouri."

For the past 11 years, Hendrickson has served as assistant administrator for patient care at Southeast Missouri Hospital. This past year she was appointed by the governor to a four-year term on the Missouri State Board of Nursing.

Hendrickson is a native of Jackson. She graduated from Barnes Hospital School of Nursing and later earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing and her master's degree in psychological counseling at Southeast Missouri State University.

She also has completed postgraduate education at Southeast and Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. She was the first nursing graduate to be honored as an Outstanding Nursing Alumnus from Southeast.

She has served as president of the Missouri Organization of Nurse Executives, 8th District Missouri Nurses Association and Southeast Missouri Director of Nurses' Council.

Activities which highlight her service to the community include: vice chairman of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce in 1991 and 1992, with service on the Health and Human Services Committee; Community Counseling Center Foundation Board of Directors; Community Advisory Counsel for Nursing and University Relations Committee at Southeast; and membership on seven committees that provide assistance to youth and young career women.

In presenting the award, Stephanie Kasten of Zonta said: "Karen Hendrickson is directly responsible for the quality assurance of nursing care rendered at Southeast Missouri Hospital. During the past 11 years she has been involved in the decision-making at Southeast, which will provide the foundation for nursing services rendered in the year 2000."

Also cited was the 1990 Missouri Nurses Association selection of Southeast Missouri Hospital as one of the first hospitals in Missouri to be designated a "magnet hospital" on the basis of management practices that promote quality patient care and contribute to job satisfaction for registered nurses.

Kasten said: "The magnet award accomplishment was in large part due to the endeavors of an outstanding practitioner who functions as a health-care leader, serves as a true friend to every woman colleague, inspires and empowers other nurses and women, strives to constantly maximize her own potential, places service to others above self and exemplifies the goals and ideals of Zonta."

Previous recipients of the Woman of Achievement Award include Mary Foote Miller, Dorothy Matthews, Marsha Limbaugh, Birdie Rader, Rep. Mary Kasten and Judith Crow.