DENVER, COLO. (Sept. 21, 2020) — Nurse-Family Partnership® (NFP), a national program serving first-time moms and their children living in poverty, honored Board of Directors member Sue Hagedorn, RN, Ph.D., with the Robert F. Hill Award for Exceptional Impact—the organization’s highest honor. The award was presented this morning at Re:Imagine, NFP’s first-ever national online event. NFP’s annual symposium was “reimagined” this year as a virtual space for connecting, learning and reenergizing nurses.
Since her appointment to the Board of Directors in 2011, Hagedorn has served on the Nursing and Healthcare Committee and the Advancement Committee. She is a nurse, filmmaker and champion of NFP, who has lent her expertise to the organization over many years. Hagedorn produced education films on nursing practice and has counseled and supported NFP’s Nursing leadership team.
“Sue is a tireless, focused advocate of nursing practice and nurse education. She fiercely champions nursing as essential to the health of communities, families and individuals,” said Frank Daidone, president and chief executive officer of Nurse-Family Partnership’s National Service Office. “Sue has supported nursing innovations at Nurse-Family Partnership and has helped our leadership team think about how we can better support our workforce. Sue’s impact on the nursing profession reaches far beyond Nurse-Family Partnership, and I’m glad we can honor her contributions in this way.”
In 2019, NFP partnered with Hagedorn and Story Center to expand the reach of Nurstory, a project that examines how personal stories of nurses and other providers can contribute to nursing education. Over 160 NFP nurses have participated in the project, exploring how the work of nursing changes them, sharing their personal stories and supporting one another through the difficult and rewarding work of NFP nursing.
“It’s been my pleasure to work with the board, the leadership, the staff and mostly the nurses of Nurse-Family Partnership,” Hagedorn said. “The nurse home visitors are my heroes.”
Hagedorn earned an MS in maternal-child nursing at Boston College and a Ph.D.at the University of Colorado College of Nursing. She is a women’s health and pediatric primary care nurse practitioner, served on the faculty of University of Colorado College of Nursing, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and the American Academy of Nursing. Following her retirement from the University of Colorado, Hagedorn pursued another passion, earning a master’s in media studies and founding Seedworks Films.
The Exceptional Impact Award celebrates individuals and organizations who have made a momentous impact on Nurse-Family Partnership’s mission and vision for the future. Named for Robert F. Hill – our inaugural board chairman and one of the first recipients of the award – this award is given to those that have championed efforts to provide better opportunities for first-time mothers and their children. The award honors those who tirelessly advocate for Nurse-Family Partnership to change the lives of vulnerable families across the country and end the cycle of poverty.