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TO HONOR AND COMMEND VERSIE J. BELLAMY ON THE OCCASION OF EARNING A DOCTOR OF NURSING PRACTICE DEGREE AND TO APPLAUD HER FOR HER TIRELESS EFFORTS TO OFFER EXEMPLARY HEALTHCARE SERVICES.
Whereas, South Carolina native Versie J. Bellamy places the patient at the center of everything she does. Beginning her career as a direct care nurse, her passion for quality patient care was quickly evident. She has devoted her three-decade career to helping some of our State's most vulnerable people. As a result, she has been called upon to serve in increasingly influential leadership roles; and
Whereas, after joining the South Carolina Department of Mental Health in 1988 as a quality assurance nurse, she advanced to nurse administrator, nurse executive, chief nursing office, and chief of staff; and
Whereas, in 2009, she took the helm of the agency's inpatient division. At the time of her appointment to the role of Deputy Director, the State was experiencing the recession. While other states were outsourcing, or even closing, mental health facilities, Ms. Bellamy successfully maintained operations for the Palmetto State's citizens at all inpatient facilities with no loss of services and no layoffs; and
Whereas, her innovative initiatives have been bringing an almost two hundred-year-old system into the twenty-first century. Utilizing a co-management model of care, including nurse practitioners, she is integrating primary care and psychiatry, as well as implementing electronic health records to enhance continuity of care, efficiencies, and better patient outcomes; and
Whereas, an estimated fifteen hundred patients and residents are served each day, amassing five hundred thousand bed days annually in a multi-hospital and multiple skilled nursing facility system accredited by The Joint Commission, Commission of Accreditation Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), and certified by the Veteran's Administration. A labor force of almost three thousand provides services which include psychiatric, substance abuse, long-term care, and forensic for ages four to over one hundred; and
Whereas, Ms. Bellamy earned a Bachelor of Science and Master of Nursing degrees from the University of South Carolina in 1985 and 1990, respectively. Her post-graduate work includes the Amy V. Cockcroft Leadership Fellowship at the University of South Carolina, College of Nursing. She is also an alumnus of the South Carolina Executive Institute sponsored by the State of South Carolina Budget and Control Board in affiliation with the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. In May 2018, she will receive a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree also from the University of South Carolina; and
Whereas, she is an inaugural recipient of the South Carolina Palmetto Gold Award for Recognition of Excellence in Nursing Practice and Commitment to the Profession. She has served on the nursing advisory boards for the University of South Carolina, College of Nursing and Midlands Technical College; and
Whereas, Ms. Bellamy has been further honored by having the South Carolina NAACP bestow upon her a presidential citation award for being a "Catalyst for Change in Healthcare;" and
Whereas, the members of the Senate of the Palmetto State are grateful for Ms. Bellamy's indefatigable dedication to the betterment of the lives of the citizens of our great State and wish her much continued success and happiness. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate:
That the members of the South Carolina Senate, by this resolution, honor and commend Versie J. Bellamy on the occasion of earning a Doctor of Nursing Practice and applaud her for her tireless efforts to offer exemplary healthcare services.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Versie J. Bellamy.
This web page was last updated on May 8, 2018 at 4:00 PM