| Biography: |
The first ten years of my nursing career (1959 – 1969) were in general duty nursing at the General Hospital of Syracuse and at Community–General Hospital where I was involved in the development of the first Psychiatric Inpatient Unit at Community–General Hospital in Syracuse, NY. This experience is what convinced me to focus my career in the specialty of psychiatry nursing. In 1969, I applied for and was hired by the Elmira Psychiatric Center (EPC), in Elmira, NY, a facility within the NYS Office of Mental Health. I was the third person hired as staff at the Elmira Psychiatric Center. At that time this was an outpatient mental health clinic only. I worked in the Outpatient Aftercare program , providing individual and group therapies and served as the Community Liaison for education. During this time, I was involved in the development of the Elmira Psychiatric Center-Inpatient and Aftercare services. In addition, I worked with the Schools of Nursing within our service area and beyond, developing affiliation programs between the schools and the psychiatric center. I was also a member of the EPC Mental Health Players, a community education program, which became the model, both nationally and internationally, for the use of role play and psychodrama as an educational approach to mental illness. From 1969 to 1979, I held positions at EPC as a Mental Hygiene Treatment Team Leader, Nurse Administrator I, Nursing Instructor/Coordinator of Nursing Inservice and Continuing Education, Development/Instruction Center’s educational program for nursing, served as community liaison and education, and served on the facility’s executive and departmental committees developing policies and procedures for the facility overall in compliance with federal, state, and New York State Office of Mental Health (NYS OMH) regulations. I developed and implemented the Center’s Utilization Review program. I assisted with development of the Center’s first and subsequent inpatient units. In 1979, I assumed the role of Director of Nursing Services at the Elmira Psychiatric Center, Elmira, NY holding it until December, 1984 when I became the Statewide Director of Mental Health Nursing Services, NYS Office of Mental Health, in Albany, NY. As the Statewide Director, I was responsible for developing and providing direction for nursing policy in mental health and health programs for 26 facilities within the NYS Office of Mental Health. In April, 1988, I returned to the Elmira Psychiatric Center to resume the Director of Nursing (DON) position which I held until my retirement in September, 2004. In additional to the DON duties,
I served as a liaison for OMH Nursing with the Office of Mental Health, Central Office, on nursing issues-clinical, legal, resource management, recruitment and retention of nursing personnel. The highlights of my nursing career were not the many “firsts” that I experienced, although these meant a great deal to me, but were, instead, the people I met along the way. I was fortunate to have met and worked with many of the leaders in the profession, including state, national and international leaders, of whom three in particular became personal mentors. These women taught me the value of nursing and what it means to be a professional. They taught me the values of honesty and fidelity-to my patients, to myself, to my colleagues, and to my profession; of ethical interactions with others; and of keeping promises. Through them, I also learned how to utilize and implement the foundations of leadership-persuasion, negotiation and compromise. In addition to these individuals, I am forever grateful for the colleagues and friends I met along the way who supported me in both the good and the not-so-good times. |
| Expertise: |
Psychiatric nursing; Serves on a variety of statewide OMH committees including the OMH Directors of Nursing as Chairperson, the OMH Directors of Nursing Advisory Board- Member/past Chairperson, NYS OMH Clinical Directors Committee, NYS OMH Clinical Directors. Sub-Cabinet, NYS OMH Taskforce on Direct Care Staff Training, NYS OMH Taskforce on Mental Health Therapy Aide Traineeship Program, NYS OMH Nursing Best Practices Committee as Chairperson, NYS OMH Taskforce on Medication Errors, resulting in the development of a new Medication Error Reporting and Prevention Program for Office of Mental Health |
| University/Degree: |
B.S., Psychology, 1969, State University of New York Cortland; M.S., Education, 1973; Ph.D., Health Administration, 2009, Warren University |
