GERRY HAYNES
Gerry Haynes practiced in a variety of specialties during her nursing career. She graduated from Hermann Hospital School of Nursing in Houston in 1961, earned her BS from the University of Houston in 1971, and later an MPH from the UT School of Public Health. She found her niche as an infection control practitioner in 1973. The specialty of infection control practice was in its infancy and few healthcare facilities even has a job description for the position. Gerry dedicated herself to educating physicians, nurses, and hospital administrators about the importance of infection control and its contribution to patient and staff safety.
Gerry served as the first president of the newly formed Texas Society for Infection Control Practitioners in 1975-1976. She helped create one of the earliest infection control manuals that included policies and procedures to address infection control issues. She worked with the CDC on a program called Surveillance Prevention and Nosocomial Infection. With a volunteer faculty appointment through the UT Medical School in Houston she taught infection control to medical students beginning in 1975.
Gerry Haynes achieved a great deal in a short lifetime. She died in the late 1970s from a kidney malignancy. One can only imagine how much more she would have accomplished in infection control.
GERRY HAYNES AWARD
The first recipient of the Gerry Haynes Award, in 1983, was Charlene Hardy. Since then, 18 infection control practitioners who have exhibited excellence in infection control and prevention practice through individual professional accomplishments, clinical research, or publications that have augmented the body of infection control knowledge.
Past Award Recipients
2019 Winner of Gerry Haynes Award – Lynda Watkins
2018 Winner of Gerry Haynes Award – Stephanie Kreiling
2017 Winner of Gerry Haynes Award – Tom Button
2016 Winner of Gerry Haynes Award – Barbara Herman
2015 Winner of Gerry Haynes Award – Brenda Helms
2014 Winner of Gerry Haynes Award – Val Sparks
2013 Winner of Gerry Haynes Award – Susan Jones