Sterling nurse educator, leader honored with UIC award

CHICAGO – Linda Olds-Steinert has been named the 2024 Distinguished Alumna for the University of Illinois-Chicago College of Nursing – Quad Cities Regional Campus.

The award was presented to Olds-Steinert at the annual spring dinner celebrating students who are graduating with their master’s degree in nursing or their Doctor of Nursing Practice.

Olds-Steinert earned both her Bachelor of Science in nursing and her master’s degree at the UIC College of Nursing – Quad Cities Regional Campus. She was nominated for the award and selected by a panel of current and former faculty in recognition of her 55-year career as a registered nurse and a nurse leader.

For more than 30 years of that career, Olds-Steinert worked at CGH Medical Center in Sterling, first as an operating room nurse, then as an operating room supervisor, then supervisor of the float pool and director of nursing supervisors and, finally, as administrator of CGH Clinics.

In addition, she has been a nurse educator and nursing clinical preceptor at both Sauk Valley Community College and Eastern Iowa Community Colleges. Olds-Steinert was instrumental in identifying the need for hospice services and settings in the Sterling regional area, and then planning, advocating and developing a solution that has become Rock River Hospice and Home.

She at various times has been a board member of RVHH, the interim director of nursing and a registered nurse actively caring for hospice patients. Olds-Steinert has been an active volunteer for organizations such as the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry, Coats for Kids, CGH Health Foundation, Whiteside County Clinic, Camp Benson and area schools.

She traveled to Haiti after earthquakes devastated the area to provide extra staff support to dental and health clinics. In receiving her award, Olds-Steinert encouraged the new nursing graduates to say yes when opportunities are presented because one opportunity opens the door to more and adds to a full and meaningful lifetime career.

UIC College of Nursing has regional campuses across the state providing access to registered nurses interested in furthering their education at a site closer to home.

For information, visit the UIC College of Nursing website at nursing.uic.edu/programs/six-campuses/quad-cities or the UIC College of Nursing-Quad Cities Campus, 1515 Fifth Ave., Suite 400, Moline, IL 61265, at 309-322-2347 or jjeys@uic.edu.