2011 Award Recipient
Betty Nowlin, RN

Congratulations to Betty Nowlin, RN, the recipient of the 2011 Compassionfirst Award. She has been a registered nurse for over fifty years and has worked as a Field Staff Nurse at Accentra Home Health in Oklahoma City, OK for the last six years. We are pleased to honor her hard work and commitment to caring.

Nominated by Tina Goble, RN Case Manager at Accentra Home Health, the following letter describes Betty’s incredible dedication to caring for others and her passion for nursing, touching the lives of everyone who knows her.

Betty Nowlin, R.N. is the closest nurse to a modern day Florence Nightingale I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and working with. She could have retired over ten years ago, but has such a compassion for those in need she continues to work as a home health nurse and make home visits to clients in their homes. She has ventured into places where you would think a four foot, ten inch, all of 110 pounds elderly woman would be afraid to go. She has climbed over fences, gates, through yards with large animals, and endured snow storms to get to her patients.

When you talk about someone who “goes the extra mile,” you must be talking about Betty Nowlin! She has driven everywhere from the cities to the remote areas in the rural areas that have no street signs. Some of the directions she has been given by clients have been, “You will know you are there when you see the the big green tractor out by the road, and if you see the neighbor’s cow, you’ve gone too far!”

She has encountered everything from storms, traffic jams, police officers, disgruntled family members, to places she had to wade through animal excrement, roaches, mice, biting dogs, cats and homes with no air conditioning or heat.

Betty has such a way with her patients that by the time she leaves their homes she is like a part of their families. Clients have baked her cookies, sent her cards, and always request her as their nurse when they need home health care.

She has also provided food for those in need and assisted others in getting all the community resources available to her patients. We have so many veterans that are not aware of the resources available to them and she always asks if anyone in the home is a veteran and if they need assistance.

I could tell you story after story regarding Betty. I have tried to get her to write a book about her adventures in her nursing career, but she says she will some day after she gets through taking care of the “sick and wounded.” I doubt if she will ever write that book, which is a loss for the nursing profession, but she has touched more lives than anyone knows and she is not finished yet! The world is a better place with the blessing of this awesome little woman with a huge compassionate heart. I can’t think of anyone who is more deserving of this award.

As the award recipient, Betty Nowlin received a trip for two to the 2011 National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, NV. While in Las Vegas, she was formally presented the award by Bobby Robertson, CEO & President of HEALTHCAREfirst at a special award banquet.

Award Finalist
Kathy Austin, RN

Congratulations to Kathy Austin, RN, a finalist for the 2011 Compassionfirst Award. She has been a registered nurse for many years and has worked as a Field Staff Nurse at Hospice of Texarkana, Inc., in Texarkana, TX. We are pleased to honor her commitment to caring.

Nominated by Stefanie Brazile, Director of Development/PR at Hospice of Texarkana, Inc., the following letter describes Kathy’s incredible dedication to caring for others and her passion for nursing, touching the lives of everyone who knows her.

Kathy Austin's compassion shone like a beaming lighthouse when she volunteered to be the primary nurse for a pediatric patient with a brain tumor. The 10-year old girl bonded quickly with Kathy, responding to her honesty, her easy laugh and her commitment to the family’s well-being. The young lady needed someone who would be “her” nurse, willing to answer the hard questions, willing to be strong when she needed a shoulder, and a professional who had the wisdom to step back to the edge of the room at times and allow mom, dad and siblings to have personal, precious moments together.

As co-workers, we knew the case was taking a toll on our friend, but she was committed to be her Nightingale to the end. For more than two months, Kathy went to her home and watched her decline – yet never complained and even asked to be contacted on the weekend if she was needed. She saw our young patient and her family all the way through. The girl’s mother bragged about Kathy’s compassion, saying she had become like a member of the family and was always welcome in their home.

Because of the goodness we saw in her, the staff voted her as “Employee of the Year” last December. Out of 40+ staff members, she received the most votes. We have an exceptional staff and they chose Kathy to represent the best we had to offer in 2010.

Besides her work with patients, the Nursing Staff also has benefited from Kathy’s compassion. Our nursing supervisor, Tracey Houck said, “Kathy is always willing to help with extra visits and perform extra on-call, sometimes without even being asked, to help her co-workers. She is a joy to have around and pleasure to work with.”

Last year our nursing staff had several unplanned leaves of absence, including a spouse with a heart transplant and other personal and family illnesses. Frequently, Kathy would speak up and volunteer to cover their calls, which enabled them to be gone and for our patients to receive continuity of care.

Her immediate supervisor, Penny Pyle, said, “Kathy is always willing to help out with her co-workers and take on new assignments that can be rather challenging. She has a great personality…and is an excellent nurse that provides exceptional care to her patients.”

When you send Kathy to a patient/family, you know you can trust her to be competent, uplifting, and encouraging while being “real.” This unique combination is also enjoyed by those of us who work with her. Kathy is very professional, but loves to be silly. She loves a good practical joke – and can dish it out and take it.

Kathy says that when she came to work at our nonprofit hospice she realized that she had found where she belonged. We’re so glad she came to light our path to a higher level of compassion and commitment and to guide us to be better hospice professionals.

Award Finalist
Carlos Camacho, RN

Congratulations to Carlos Camacho, RN, a finalist for the 2011 Compassionfirst Award. Carlos currently works as the RN/Clinical Manager at Riverside Home Health in Newport News, VA. We are pleased to honor his commitment to caring.

Nominated by Helen Kent, Nurse Manager at Riverside Home Health, the following letter describes Carlos’ wonderful dedication to caring for others and his passion for nursing that has touched many lives.

Carlos joined our agency as an LPN in 2009. Prior to joining our Home Health Agency I had known and worked with Carlos at Riverside Regional Medical Center. At Regional, Carlos worked on the Orthopedic unit as an LPN and I in the capacity of Nurse Manager of another unit. During that era, there was hardly a day go by that I didn't encounter either another nurse or patient who sang their glory of Carlos for being not only an exceptional person, but an exceptional nurse.

I transferred in 2009 to manage our Home Health Agency and was delighted shortly thereafter to receive a call from Carlos to join our team. As I suspected, Carlos was up and running within a few weeks after joining our team and of course with a smile.

Months later, I followed Carlos over to a young female’s home to perform a supervisory visit. As part of this supervisory visit, which is always random and unannounced, I always check to see the level of education the nurse has provided to the patient. Once again, I saw that same familiar twinkle in the patient's eyes when Carlos entered the home. This individual was in her early twenties and had been in a fairly horrific auto accident suffering multiple fractures. After introducing me he got on task by asking the patient what he had taught them about DVT's, their medications, pain, and fall reductions. My jaw dropped open to hear this gal repeat with exceptional detail what a DVT was, how to test for one, what medications she was taking to prevent one and what she needs to report to the M.D.

A month or so later, I again went on a home visit with Carlos. This time it was to the home of one of our aging female patients who happened to be German. Need I say more about the challenges Carlos would face with this individual. She too had that sparkle in her eye. Carlos' role on that occasion was to establish an automatic medication dispenser in the home and educate the patient on how to use it. Wouldn't you know while we were there, this individual had a TIA. Again, slurred words and all, she was insistent that Carlos remain by her side.

On another occasion, Carlos was out at another patient's home providing the same compassionate care that he had provided numerous times over to every patient he encountered. On this occasion, Carlos not only won the heart of the patient, but went above and beyond by saving this patient's dog Mabel. Mabel had apparently lived day in and day out in a very small kennel with little social interaction.

I should also note that not only does Carlos do an exceptional job in providing treatment and education to those he serves, but he can often be found assisting those in need by finding them support for finances, food, shelter, clothing, etc

I am proud to announce that while Carlos was providing stellar care to our patients he also completed the RN program and was promoted to a Clinical Manager within our organization. You must also know that he has just been accepted in the BSN program at VCU which he will start next week. I'm anticipating much bigger and better things for his future than even this.

Award Finalist
Kay Rathgeber, RN

Congratulations to Kay Rathgeber, RN Case Manager, a finalist for the 2011 Compassionfirst Award. She currently works as an RN Case Manager at Heritage Care Hospice in Harker Heights, TX. We are pleased to honor her dedicated work and commitment to caring.

Nominated by Pati G. Thomas, Executive Director at Heritage Care Hospice, the following letter describes Kay’s incredible dedication to caring for others and her passion for nursing, touching the lives of everyone who knows her.

Most people over 65 think of retiring, but this nurse is incredible and acts like the "Energizer Bunny." Although just a few years away from the age of 70, Kay has now been in hospice for a bit over two years. Prior to her conversion, she was acting as Director of Nursing for local nursing homes, until her health started to fail. A woman of modest means and large family, she said she needed something different and fortunately found her niche with Hospice. All I can say is she's darn good at it. By the way, her health is no longer an issue because she LOVES hospice.

Her patients love her due to her "motherly" and compassionate approach. Kay has a talent for finding the right things to say that are not deceptive and in hospice it is very difficult to talk about terminality. She understands family dynamics especially in a time of crisis and she is never in a rush. No matter what time of day or night, she is readily available to attend to our patients whether it is a physical issue, an oxygen question, needed medication or just a simple question from a family member or caregiver. No questions asked, she is readily on the road and talking to family members while on the drive to their home. Rural hospice is not easy and when you have to travel more than 65 miles one-way, just knowing that nurse is on the way and on the phone with you is very calming, especially at 2 a.m.

Kay is a woman who believes in helping others, especially hospice patients who have little or no resources. She "falls in love" with each one and oftentimes you hear her talk about how she took a casserole to one, bought groceries for another, repaired an air conditioner, and threw a birthday party. She even gets her sons to volunteer for us (and they have physical problems as well). They play cards and read and just offer good companionship.

Kay is an exemplary nurse who loves to share her knowledge. Her laidback country personality and sense of humor is so inviting, and she makes learning easy. Not familiar with "computer tech" it was fun to watch her learn firstHOSPICE and now she teaches our new nurses on the system. To her, even the "mouse" was a challenge.

Attention to detail and excellent care are traits any supervisor appreciates, but heart, compassion and the willingness to go above and beyond are not traits you normally find, especially when one has given most of their work years to the sick and elderly.

We believe Kay is worthy of recognition and more of God's blessings.