Darlington native garners fellowship

By Messenger Staff Reports

Published: July 30, 2008

Darlington native Donna Isgett, the vice president for quality and safety at McLeod Health in Florence, is one of 22 business, government and nonprofit professionals selected from around South Carolina to receive a Liberty Fellowship, according to a release from the fellowship.

Liberty Fellowship is a statewide leadership initiative.

Isgett became the third Liberty fellow from the Pee Dee since 2006.

As a Liberty fellow, Isgett will spend the next two years attending four leadership seminars, completing a community project and working with a senior mentor.

“It’s exciting to me for a couple of reasons,” Isgett said. “First of all, it is just an honor ... Secondly, I think it’s a huge learning opportunity.”

Ben Zeigler, a member of the McLeod Health Community Board and previous Liberty fellow, nominated Isgett for the award.

“Donna was an obvious choice to be a nominee for the Liberty Fellowship,” Zeigler wrote in an e-mail. “She is not only a leader within one of the great institutions in Florence and the Pee Dee, but she has been recognized as a leader in hospital administration in general and clinical effectiveness.”

Isgett began working at McLeod in 1997 as the director of nursing information management. In 1998, she began leading the hospital’s quality improvement efforts in the newly formed Clinical Effectiveness Division, according to a press release from McLeod.

In addition to working at McLeod, Isgett serves on the S.C. Hospital Association Quality Council. She has a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Georgia State University and a master’s degree in nursing from the Medical University of South Carolina.

In 2007, Isgett received the Milliken Medal of Quality Award, which recognizes South Carolinians who have demonstrated leadership, innovation and outstanding achievement in the implementation of quality systems in their organizations, according to the release from McLeod.

“I think one of the things that makes Donna special is that she has a great heart for South Carolina,” said Jennie Johnson, executive director of Liberty Fellowship. “Part of her responsibilities is to make sure that quality health care is accessible to everyone and that the standards of quality are extraordinarily high.

“By achieving that kind of success in her chosen profession and being known regionally and nationally for that ability and for that success, she represents a part of South Carolina that’s extremely important to us going forward as a state.”

Liberty Fellowship founder Hayne Hipp said Isgett’s first seminar will be in September at Wofford College, followed by a trip to the Aspen Institute in Colorado in the winter or next summer.