BANGOR – Stephanie Schmermund, a nurse at St. Joseph Healthcare, has been named caregiver of the year by the Maine Hospital Association.

Schmermund, a surgical and orthopedic-unit nurse and nursing team leader, was selected from nominations made by hospitals around the state. The award honors a caregiver from a MHA member institution who demonstrates extraordinary commitment to delivering care to patients and their families daily, according to a prepared statement from the MHA.

“Her peers say she is the model nurse, mixing her superb nursing skills with her effervescent, caring attitude,” commented St. Joseph Healthcare’s president, Sister Mary Norberta, when she nominated Schmermund.

The nomination cited Schmermund, “the Florence Nightingale of St. Joseph Hospital,” for extra efforts including making personalized “hug pillows” for surgical patients, comforting families and patients struggling with severe illness, and volunteering for months of extra night duty to ease a staffing crunch.

“Stephanie is a nurse in the truest sense of the word: part caregiver, part provider, part educator, part therapist,” said Norberta.

Schmermund has worked at St. Joseph since 1991. A graduate of Washington Academy in Machias, she earned a nursing degree at Husson College in Bangor. Her studies included nursing duties at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica.

She accepted her award Wednesday during the MHA’s annual meeting dinner held at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

“Stephanie’s award is a beautiful reminder that effective health care is more than technology, wonder drugs and clinical technique,” said Steven Michaud, MHA’s president, in a prepared statement Wednesday. “It’s also personal dedication and a genuine concern for fellow human beings. Maine people are blessed by having Stephanie Schmermund and thousands of other committed caregivers here to serve them.”