My Professional Bio

I have been a registered nurse (RN) for nearly 18 years, and have worked in a variety of arenas. In inpatient hospital care, I practiced acute care nursing in critical care, medical-surgical, ortho, mother-baby units, and even worked per diem in the hospital, along with being an agency RN for multiple hospitals in the local metropolitan region I lived in at the time.
In long term care (LTC), I've been a restorative nurse educator, resident care manager, and a non-skilled LTC nursing director. I pulled one small LTC facility out of state deficiency in 2 months, had to hire/fire staff, and learned quickly that my love for geriatrics was being squelched by the endless state paperwork trails, rules, regulations, etc. that a nurse in long term care wades through each shift to take care of a few elderly residents.
I did enjoy coordinating restorative care, working with physical therapists and restorative aids, setting up restorative programs for the elderly residents, and helping families support their loved ones.
My next arena was in home health care. I thoroughly enjoyed this, as it allowed for a generous expansion of my nursing knowlege and practice, along with opportunities to educate the community in preventative health care, wellness, and managing acute and chronic illness. I think I learned the most form my patients in this arena. I touched a lot of lives 1:1 and they touched mine.
I then was introduced to ambulatory care, and fell in love with telephone triage services. This has been my true love since around 1992, and I've been doing it regularly since about 1995.
My background in the many arenas which built my career over this time served to provide me with invaluable experience and today I can honestly say, by God's grace, I'm an expert in telephone advice, community health education, and chronic disease management. I aspire to get a Masters in Nursing Education & possibly Health Care Administration as well. Currently, rearing a young family, I'm fulfilling my calling as a mom first, and then I'll will decide if God still has my dream in His sites, and I'll go from there.

Currently, I'm an aspiring blogger, and hope my expertise will help open other's minds about the available resources and guidelines to accentuate one's own health and well-being.

I thought this would prove helpful in outlining my professional background. For a time a few years ago, I served as a health expert on a site then called "AskMe.com". I think it is called something else now, but I certainly found the challenges of this small volunteer experience to stretch me in using all that I've attained in the many arenas of nursing I've been exposed to since graduating with a BSN at IWU. Of course, being a mom of three has stretched me as a nurse as well, as many of you parents can probably relate.
As I develop Right Turn - Your Turn, I hope you will expand my horizons, sharing with me what my readers find most fascinating about health and medical care.