(Florence, SC, March 16, 2026) – McLeod Health is honored to announce eight McLeod Nurses were selected to receive the 2026 Palmetto Gold Award. These nurses represent McLeod Regional Medical Center, McLeod Health Clarendon, McLeod Health Dillon and McLeod Health Seacoast. They join the ranks of the 250 previous McLeod Nurses who have received this outstanding award.

The eight nurses from McLeod Health who received the 2026 Palmetto Gold recognition include: Laura Bolella, MSN, RN; Tracy Ganes, CRNA; Amber Jacobs, BSN, RN; Katie Marlowe, RN; Johnathan Moody, RN, WCC, OMS; Landon Simmons, MSN, RN; Rebecca Vincent, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC; and Lawanda Williams, RN.

The Palmetto Gold Award was created by various nursing organizations throughout South Carolina as a platform to recognize nursing and support nursing education with scholarship funds.

Each year, employers from a wide variety of South Carolina health care settings nominate outstanding nurses from their organizations to be considered as one of the 100 nurses honored with this prestigious award. The nominators are asked to provide evidence of how the nominee demonstrated excellence to the profession by addressing the following criteria: promoting and advancing the profession of nursing; displaying caring and commitment to patients, families, and colleagues; and demonstrating leadership by assisting others to grow and develop.

This is a competitive process, and usually several hundred nominations are submitted with only 100 nurses being selected. Each year the competition for the Palmetto Gold Nurse Recognition Program is more stringent. To select the recipients, a team of six nurses from across the state participate in a blind review process. The nominees are not referred to by name or place of employment on the nomination sections seen by the judges.

The recipients of the 2026 Palmetto Gold Award will be recognized at the Palmetto Gold Gala on April 11 in Columbia. To support the future of nursing, the proceeds from the Palmetto Gold Gala are used to provide scholarships to each registered nursing undergraduate program in South Carolina. In 2008, the Renatta Loquist Graduate Nursing Scholarship was created to honor Mrs. Loquist, a member of the original Palmetto Gold committee and a leader in nursing in our state.

Photo Caption (left to right): Katie Marlowe, RN | Landon Simmons, MSN, RN | Laura Bolella, MSN, RN | Johnathan Moody, RN, WCC, OMS | Lawanda Williams, RN| Rebecca Vincent, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC | Amber Jacobs, BSN, RN | Tracy Ganes, CRNA