Health people

Sandra Voyak of Mountain Top has received the Nightingale Award of Pennsylvania in the Clinical Practice, Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) category. Voyak received the nomination while working as a LPN on the sixth floor medical/surgical and pediatrics units of Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Plains Township. Nurses nominated for the Nightingale Award are recognized for providing outstanding quality of patient care, superior nursing clinical skills, active community involvement and extraordinary compassion.

Ann Kolanowski, of Kingston, Penn State's Elouise Ross Eberly professor of nursing and director of the Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence at Penn State, received the 2012 Doris Schwartz Gerontological Nursing Research Award from the Gerontological Society of America at its recent 65th annual scientific meeting in San Diego, Calif.

The award is given to a society member in recognition of outstanding and sustained contribution to geriatric nursing research. During her career, Kolanowski has been devoted to improving the quality of life of older adults with dementia. She has developed and disseminated research that focuses on building a strong body of scientific evidence that supports the use of theory-based nonpharmacological interventions for behavioral symptoms in persons with dementia and delirium. Kolanowski's practice initiatives have been incorporated into national practice guidelines for the care of persons with dementia. Kolanowski is also a professor of psychiatry in Penn State's College of Medicine and an adjunct professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania.