Bellows Falls resident wins Springfield Medical service award

Springfield Medical Care Systems announces that Michelle Tavares, BN, RN-BC, is the recent recipient of the Grayce M. Sills Award for Distinguished Service.  Tavares was honored at the 2017 American Psychiatric Nurses Association New England regional awards dinner, held at Lake Morey Inn in Fairlee.

This honor recognizes Tavares’ ongoing contributions as the Vermont representative to the APNA Board. She began board service in 2012, and served as secretary from 2013 to 2015. Her volunteer board work includes assisting with assembling and publishing newsletters, conference planning, recruitment efforts, and judging scholarship applications and awards.

“I am deeply honored to be selected as this year’s recipient … This is the first year this award has been granted since Dr. Sills’ passing. Dr. Sills’ contributions to psychiatric nursing were remarkable, and I humbly accept this award,” Tavares said.

Dr. Grayce M. Sills held a faculty position at the Ohio State School of Nursing starting in 1964, and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1993.  Sills’ many accomplishments included: development of the graduate level clinical nurse specialist program in psychiatry; helping to develop the doctoral program in nursing; director of the Advanced Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Program; chair of the Department of Family and Community Nursing; director of Graduate Studies; and Acting Dean. In addition, it is reported that she was particularly proud of helping the School of Nursing achieve independent status as a college within the university.

Tavares, a Bellows Falls resident, graduated from the University of New Brunswick, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, with a Bachelor in Nursing in May 2005. Upon graduation, she began her career as a registered nurse at Springfield Hospital’s Medical/Surgical unit. In 2007, her aspiration to become a psychiatric nurse materialized when she accepted the position of inpatient care staff nurse at the Windham Center for Psychiatric Care in Bellows Falls. Tavares was promoted to clinical nurse leader in 2012, and to director of the Windham Center in 2017.