The Rita Celmer award was established in 1991 to honor Rita Celmer, RN, one of the founding members of the PA ENA. Rita's dedication to the organization and the profession fostered membership and recognition of the specialty of emergency nursing. This award is presented annually to an emergency nurse who has demonstrated the committment, enthusiasm, professionalism and dedicaton to emergency nursing and ENA exemplified by Rita. The recipients are as follows:
1991 Elizabeth Haydt
1992 Mary Bailey
1993 Pat Carroll
1994 Emma Seibert
1995 Linda Snyder
1996 Pat Ellly
1997 Denise Ramponi
1998 Nancy Donatelli
1999 Jane Goldsworth
2000 Nancy Bonalumi
2001 Kathy Robinson
2002 Lorraine Azzarone
2003 Kathy McPherson
2005 Ann Marie Papa
2006 Beverly Mueller
2007 Sharon McGonigal
2008 Deborah Lesniak
2009 Janice Bistricky
2010 Vivian DeFalco
2011 Sandy Bauman
2012 Dona Tambourine
2013 Allen Fasnacht
2014 Merlann Malloy
2015 Kim Artley
2016 Pat Eckenrode
2017 Rita Celmer ( posthumous)
2018 Jean Colella
2019 Cheryl Ann MacDonald-Sweet
2020 KayElla Bleecher
2021 Michele Buraczewski
2022 Valerie Krasneski-Schreiber
2023 Beverly Mueller