Methodist Nurses Honored With Nurses Week Tributes

During National Nurses Week, nurses from across Methodist Health System were honored with special tributes from local newspapers. 

Tim Hoarty

Methodist Hospital Critical Care Unit service leader Tim Hoarty began his leadership role in the fall of 2019 — the eve of the coronavirus pandemic, the greatest health care challenge in modern history. COVID was his baptism by fire in the ICU, where he’s responsible for the unit’s training, hiring, safety, qualifying and updating.

Omaha World-Herald: Tim Hoarty: Accepting baptism by fire in ICU

Omaha World-Herald VIDEO: Nurses - The Heart of Health Care

Brian Wilson

Methodist Hospital Progressive Care Unit nurse Brian Wilson won a national DAISY Award for extraordinary nursing care in November of 2019. The prestigious award, he said, was a confidence booster. COVID in 2020 proved to be a confidence shaker. Wilson’s unit on the sixth floor of the Methodist north tower became the closed COVID unit.

Omaha World-Herald: Brian Wilson: Learning on the fly and soaring

Omaha World-Herald VIDEO: Nurses - The Heart of Health Care

Mary Jane Colburn

Mary Jane Colburn has worked for Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital for 45 years, and throughout that time, she has made impacts both professionally and personally. When Colburn started at Jennie Edmundson, she was a nursing assistant. She then became an LPN, then RN and kept moving up until she was a director of the fourth floor. Colburn fell in love with nursing when her mom was a nursing assistant at Jennie Edmundson.

Daily Nonpareil: 'Compassionate Care': For 45 years, Colburn has been there for her patients

Dianna Getler

Dianna Getler, a registered nurse at Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital, is known for her encouragement and compassion with patients. Especially in the COVID-19 Critical Care Unit. A former patient who nominated Getler said they had been recovering for almost two weeks in the COVID-19 Critical Care Unit, and Getler was a joy and comfort to have around.

Daily Nonpareil: 'Earth angel': Getler makes impact on patient recovering from COVID-19

Ashley Kaestner

Going “above and beyond on a daily basis” has endeared Ashley Kaestner to patients and peers alike at Methodist Physicians Clinic in Council Bluffs with Dr. Thomas McElderry. Her positive work ethic also garnered her a nomination as a nurse who should be recognized for her contributions to the practice and its patients.

'Above and beyond': Kaestner balances personal and professional goals while helping patients

Kyle Kreger

native of Council Bluffs, Kyle Kreger has worked at Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital since receiving his bachelor of science in nursing from Nebraska Methodist College in Omaha in 2007.

Daily Nonpareil: 'Service and dedication': Kreger Salute to Nurses People's Choice honoree

Kelly Raes

For more than 20 years, Kelly Raes’ “home” at Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs has been the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. “We see and care for the worst of the worst,” Raes said of her long career as an ICU nurse.

Daily Nonpareil: 'Hidden halo': Raes reflects on the health care lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic

Valerie Siegrist

Like many professions, the best of those who have opted to become nurses possess a broad range of professional skills and personal attributes. High on the list of those personal attributes is compassion, and it was her compassion that people remember about Valerie Siegrist, an Intensive Care Unit nurse at Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital.

Daily Nonpareil: 'Like family': Siegrist recognized for compassion to patients and their families

Alicia Zoucha

Alicia Zoucha quotes Mahatma Gandhi when she talks about her role as a nurse: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” If that’s the case, then it sounds like Zoucha has found herself. “That’s why I do nursing,” said Zoucha, a registered nurse at Methodist Fremont Health. “That fills my bucket. That makes me complete and that makes me whole along with the mother and wife role.”

The Fremont Tribune: Nurse talks about good, sad memories caring for patients

Sybil Porter

Sybil Porter is a registered nurse at Methodist Fremont Health, where she and her colleagues have worked through some of the most intense times of COVID-19 pandemic. As medical-surgical and ICU nurse, Porter describes those time as a blur. She’s had more sad moments in the last year than she cares to recall, but she’s had some good ones, too.

The Fremont Tribune: Nurse recalls good, sad times, cherishes moments with patients

Christy Clarke

A former intensive care unit nurse, Christy Clarke is a registered nurse who works in pre-op and post-op/recovery — helping patients before and after surgery — at Methodist Fremont Health. She and other nurses are being honored for going above and beyond and putting others first.

The Fremont Tribune: Even in fourth grade, Clarke had a desire to work as a nurse

Sarah Knuppel

Sarah Knuppel is a registered nurse who works in the intensive care unit at Methodist Fremont Health. Nurses like Knuppel have been on the frontlines in the fierce battle that is the COVID-19 pandemic. An ICU nurse for about 20 years, Knuppel recalls the high-acuity patients in that unit during the pandemic’s early months. She took care of very sick patients, while communicating with loved ones who couldn’t see them.

The Fremont Tribune: Nurse recalls times caring for very ill patients in the ICU

Brittney Ruiz

Brittney Ruiz has always had a passion for serving others. The registered nurse at Methodist Fremont Health said she never had any intention of staying in the city after she completed high school, but was drawn to Midland University after receiving a scholarship. From there, she quickly found her calling in nursing and has made it a career ever since.

The Fremont Tribune: A passion to serve: Ruiz reflects on nursing recognition