Healthy Learners applaud helping hands

Group honors Providence CEO and A.C. Moore school nurse

A Columbia hospital CEO and a school nurse have been recognized for their efforts to improve the health care of disadvantaged youth.

Healthy Learners honored Sister Judith Ann Karam and Carolyn Duff with two service awards last week. The recognitions came during the organization’s appreciation luncheon for its volunteers, sponsors, financial supporters and others.

Healthy Learners provides health care services to economically disadvantaged elementary- and middle-school children.

Karam — president and CEO of the Sisters of Charity Providence Hospitals and president of Sisters of Charity Health System — received the In All Things Charity honor. The award, the most prestigious given by Healthy Learners, goes to someone who exhibits sincere commitment and dedication to Healthy Learners and acts as a spokesperson for the organization, enhancing community awareness.

‘This award is for everyone who supports Healthy Learners,” Karam said.

Karam has served in the health care field since 1962 as a pharmacy technician, pharmacist and health care administrator. Before becoming president of the Sisters of Charity Health System in 1998, she was major superior of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine religious order.

Duff, a registered nurse and nationally certified school nurse with A.C. Moore Elementary School, received the Dee Dee Chewning Healing Award. The honor is presented to an individual who has had direct contact with the children served through Healthy Learners and who has shown a commitment to the organization.

“There are no two people better deserving of these awards,” said Healthy Learners executive director Jo Pauling-Jones. “Both Carolyn and Sister Judith Ann are assets to Healthy Learners. They share in our ultimate goal to serve all uninsured and underinsured children in South Carolina.”

Healthy Learners, a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System, strives to improve children’s academic achievements by removing health barriers to learning, thereby decreasing absenteeism and allowing students to focus on their education. Healthy Learners serves 109 schools in seven districts across South Carolina.

Since 1992, Healthy Learners has served more than 30,000 elementary schoolchildren in Richland and Lexington counties. In 2005, the program expanded to include the Upstate, the Pee Dee and the Lowcountry.

For more information on Healthy Learners, call (803) 252-0133.