Rita Stern, the Top National Winner in the RN Category of the 2008 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award.
My life as a Calendar Girl!
When Rita Stern attended a recent Colorado Nurses' Association meeting, she quickly realized that her life would not be the same after winning a 2008 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award.
She had just signed in and joined others milling about when an unfamiliar woman approached her. "You're Miss July!!!" the woman exclaimed. Shocked, Rita soon realized that the stranger – none other than Eve Hoygaard, the president of the Colorado Nurses Association – knew about Rita's national status and picked her out of the crowd, thanks to being featured in the Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award 2009 calendar.
During the meeting several Colorado legislators, including state Senator Betty Boyd (who chairs the Colorado senate's Health and Human Services Committee) acknowledged Rita as a remarkable nurse whose achievements were spotlighted and chronicled by the Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award. "I never thought I'd be a calendar girl, but it definitely has its advantages!" Rita says.