Nosbisch is Senior Director, Nursing Specialties, Home Health & Hospice at RHS
Wed, 09/06/2017 - 1:57pm
admin
By:
Sara Stromseth-Troy TPD Staff
CRESCO - Audrey Nosbisch began her new position as Senior Director, Nursing Specialties, Home Health & Hospice at Regional Health Services of Howard County on July 10.
Nosbisch will work with her former Mayo Clinic colleague and friend since childhood, Carolyn Kerian- Masters, Chief Nursing Officer at RHS, who also returned to Cresco after years of employment at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn.
Kerian-Masters describes Nosbisch’s role at RHS as follows:
“Audrey will have an administrative role over our Community Health and Hospice programs, which is her main responsibility, but she’s also going to take on our support services on the nursing side, respiratory therapy, cardiac rehabilitation and additional services we may be bringing on, which will come under her support. Given her strengths and skill sets, I’ve expanded the role with Audrey to bring someone to support the patient care side and hospital side.”
Nosbisch said, “I am very excited about the diversity of the role.”
Nosbisch, a Ridgeway native, began her career at RHS, and returns to the hospital after 31 years at Mayo Clinic.
She said, “I started my nursing career here, when it was Howard County Hospital in 1976, and I was a staff nurse here from 1976-1986. I worked in Home Health, the Emergency Room, everything. I was also a nursing assistant instructor at Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) in Calmar.”
In 1986, Nosbisch began working at Mayo Clinic.
“I worked for Cardiac Surgery Transplant for 31 years and within that time, I was assistant nurse manager, and I chaired house-wide committees. I worked in the role in the past 20 years of physician extender, and was in charge of the transplant orientation and care delivery.”
Nosbisch attended NICC in Calmar and North Dakota State School of Science.
She and her husband, Mike, have three grown sons and six grandchildren. In her spare time, she enjoys riding horses and her four-wheeler, and loves flowers.
She and Kerian-Masters are childhood acquaintances. Kerian-Masters recalls, “We knew each other through 4-H at their family farm. We were colleagues at Mayo, and I’ve known her family. We are delighted to have her come back here at our facility, and to bring her experience and knowledge back to our community.”
Nosbisch said, “I’ve come full circle: I started here, left, and hope to build an already good program into a great program. I’m amazed at the amount of resources here for a community hospital.”
Kerian-Masters said one of the goals with Nosbisch on board is to further train nurses in order that transfer patients would be able to stay at RHS.
“Perhaps if we were to refine our skills a bit, we would have the ability to take on more patients we would otherwise send out,” she said.
Nosbisch adds, “I respect and want to build on the environment that is already here, and take it to the next level. I’m learning new skills, because the position of home care director is new and exciting challenge for me.”
Kerian-Masters said Nosbisch will bring new ideas to RHS.
“Audrey is a think-outside-the-box person and that will help us grow our community health programs, hospice and reach out to a larger community,” she said. “Audrey is an awesome teacher and educator, and she emulates a lot of what my goals are, to grow our staff team and give them the support they need to improve the care of our patients.”
Nosbisch adds, “My least favorite word is ‘can’t’. I’m excited to give back to and really engage with the community.”
To learn more about the hospice or health programs at Regional Health Services, call 563-547-2101.