Nurses

by Stephanie Cunningham, RN Methodist Dallas Medical Center A few weeks ago, I told you my story about becoming a respiratory therapist (RT). My grandfather’s battle with emphysema reinforced my desire as a young child to care for others. For 28 years, I proudly helped my tiny patients in Methodist Dallas Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) overcome their br ...

By Ken Hutchenrider Jr., FACHE President, Methodist Richardson Medical Center The city of Richardson just got some great news. Methodist Richardson Medical Center is planning a $120 million, four-story, 125-bed acute care hospital for the Bush/Renner campus. As the leader of Methodist Richardson, I’m proud, excited, and keenly aware of the tremendous responsibility our orga ...

By Ken Hutchenrider Jr., FACHE President, Methodist Richardson Medical Center The city of Richardson just got some great news. Methodist Richardson Medical Center is planning a $120 million, four-story, 125-bed acute care hospital for the Bush/Renner campus. As the leader of Methodist Richardson, I’m proud, excited, and keenly aware of the tremendous responsibility our orga ...

By Stephanie Cunningham, RN, RRT Methodist Dallas Medical Center Life is full of surprises. That’s certainly true for my career. For 28 years I’ve worked as a respiratory therapist, mostly in the neonatal intensive care unit at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. There I fell in love with helping newborns breathe. As long as I can remember, even as a child, I wanted to be ...

By Kathryn Allen Vice President of Development Methodist Health System When you think of trauma and emergency services, which hospitals in the Dallas–Fort Worth area come to mind? Methodist Dallas Medical Center should be in the top three. The fact is, if you experience a severe injury or serious acute illness in the Dallas Metroplex, there’s a one in three chance you’ll be ...

strong>By Victoria Solis, RN Methodist Dallas Medical Center I love babies and I love nursing. So my choice for a place to care for others wasn’t a difficult one. The postpartum/newborn nursery unit is where I spend my work hours, and it’s where my heart is. Achieving my ideal career followed a natural progression, thanks to Methodist Dallas Medical Center’s coordinated ...

By Ulondia Lee, RN, MSN Director of Med-Surg Acute Care Methodist Mansfield Medical Center Who doesn’t like daisies? They’re bright, spirit-lifting flowers that are often given to show appreciation and affection. That’s why it’s so appropriate that the DAISY Award has become a public way to thank nurses for their dedication and caring. The award grew out of the gri ...

By Karen Barrett, RN, COHN-S, CHSP Director of Employee Health Services Methodist Health System I may have one of the most challenging jobs in Methodist Health System. As director of Employee Health Services, I am responsible for caring for those whose job is caring for others. Keeping our employees healthy is critical to the successful completion of our mission of ...

By Althea Aubrey, RN, BSN Director, Medical-Surgical Nursing, Methodist Dallas Medical Center Life’s exciting when you’re a new graduate nurse. The possibilities are limitless and your zest for your career and your patients is boundless. Sometimes, when I’m working with new nurses, it is a challenge to nurture their positive spirit and instill the importance of setting health ...

By Jerilyn Pope, LPC, RCC Senior Organizational Effectiveness Strategist Methodist Dallas Medical Center I think Dr. Patch Adams was onto something. In the 1998 film by the same name, Robin Williams portrayed the real-life physician who understood the healing power of laughter, joy, and creativity, and how it can impact what is typically a stress-filled environment. At Met ...

By Tony Paterniti, RN, PhD Director, Department of Education, Methodist Health System I’m lucky. In my role as a nurse educator, I get to work with a wide variety of caregivers. Experience has taught me that individuals’ personalities often determine the area of nursing they decide to pursue. All are called to care, to heal. But each is motivated by different factors. Those ...

By Althea Aubrey, RN, BSN Director of Medical-Surgical Nursing, Methodist Dallas Medical Center Ask any nurse why she or he chose nursing as a career and generally you’ll hear a story about how a nurse personally touched his or her life, either directly or through a loved one. My story centers around my mom. I was only 10 when she died. She had Lupus, an autoimmune disease ...

By Fran Laukaitis, RN, MHA Chief Nursing Officer, Methodist Charlton Medical Center I love National Nurses Week. It’s one of my favorite times of the year. This week, at Methodist Health System we’re having a wonderful celebration to honor the extraordinary nurses who are part of the Methodist family. What’s more, we’re kicking off the DAISY Award program to further recogni ...

By Doris Giles, RN, MS, and Debbie Seider, RN, MSN Congregational Nursing Coordinators, Methodist Health System Many hospitals talk the talk about treating the whole person -– body, mind, and spirit. We’re proud to say that at Methodist Health System, we walk the walk. As congregational nursing coordinators, we extend the Methodist Health System mission by partnering with nur ...

By David Campbell, RN, BSN, CEN, CPEN, CTRN Manager of Education, Methodist Richardson Medical Center (Formerly Emergency Department Nurse, Methodist Charlton Medical Center) I loved being an ED nurse. I say loved because eight months ago I took a new position as manager of education for Methodist Richardson Medical Center. But, for the first 12 years of my career, I was a ...

By Jeanne Reeves, RN, BSN, MS Vice President of Nursing, Methodist Mansfield Medical Center I’ve always found it ironic that nurses receive recognition for doing what they have been called to do: giving of themselves to care for others at the frailest point in their lives and nurture them back to the highest level of health possible. I truly believe that nursing professionals ...

By Irene Strejc, RN, BSN, MPH Vice President of Nursing, Methodist Richardson Medical Center For more than 20 years, the health care landscape has changed significantly thanks to many mergers, acquisitions, and government regulations. The momentum behind consolidation has been fueled by providers looking to increase economies of scale, enhance their position with payers and r ...

By Pam Gessling, BSN, MBA, NEA-BC, RNC-OB, EFM-C Director of Nursing for Women and Children’s Services, Methodist Dallas Medical Center April 21 is a day that many Methodist Health System employees are looking forward to. That’s the day we get to show our true color -- Methodist blue -- by supporting the health of babies in our community by participating in the March of Dime ...

By Jeanne Reeves, RN, BSN, MS Vice President of Nursing, Methodist Mansfield Medical Center When I think about the twists and turns my nursing career has taken over the years, I’m reminded of the famous Beatles song, “The Long and Winding Road.” From nursing school graduation in Kentucky in 1985 to caring for patients in a med-surg and ICU hospital setting to becoming a tra ...

Sonya Goffney, RT, Manager Respiratory TherapyMethodist Dallas Medical Center Nicole Higdon, RT Tara Merchant, RT Methodist Dallas Medical Center Working at a tertiary care facility like Methodist Dallas Medical Center provides clinical staff with the opportunity to care for patients with medically complex conditions. Many are critically ill and require careful monitoring ...