Nurses say goodbye to beloved co-worker

Special to the Telegram
Posted 8/8/18

For nearly 42 years, Community Hospital registered nurse Vaneta Kerns cared. She cared passionately and compassionately. Her work touched patients, co-workers and the community.

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Nurses say goodbye to beloved co-worker

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Editor’s note: The following was prepared by Sara Quale, public relations director for Banner Health, with the help of the nursing staff at Torrington Community Hospital in memory of long-time hospital employee Vaneta Kerns, R.N., who died Monday, July 23, 2018.

TORRINGTON – For nearly 42 years, Community Hospital registered nurse Vaneta Kerns cared. She cared passionately and compassionately. Her work touched patients, co-workers and the community.

A bit of that care was returned to Vaneta in her final hours in the hospital – this time as a patient rather than nurse. Vaneta, age 66, died Monday, July 23, after a long battle with cancer.

A group of about 20 nurses gathered to honor Vaneta before she died. Many of them wore white for the occasion, said Dodi Walters, registered nurse and co-worker Community Hospital. “She said she wanted to end her career like she started her career: Wearing white.” 

Vaneta set her retirement day for this past Friday – 42 years after the day she began working, July 27, 1976. The party had been planned and everyone was supposed to dress in white. 

Asked how early Vaneta had planned her retirement, Chief Operating Officer Zach Miller said she gave him the date when he started at Community Hospital three years ago. 

Regardless of her interest in retirement, co-workers said Vaneta loved her job. “She loved patients,” said Stacia Willey, quality improvement senior manager at Community Hospital. “She was tough on the outside, but she was so good.”

Willey, who held back tears, explained that Vaneta was the person who could tell you what you needed to know without sugar-coating it. “She was a mentor for me and for so many. I don’t know if I could count how many nurses she trained to work in the emergency room.

“I couldn’t guess how many doctors she trained in the emergency room,” she added.

In 2017, Doug Schmitz, MD, recommended Vaneta for an award in nursing excellence. Vaneta and Dr. Schmitz worked together for more than 20 years in Torrington’s trauma program. Together, they launched the state’s trauma program, “which is responsible for saving many young lives,” Dr. Schmitz wrote.

To maintain her skills, Vaneta worked in other areas of the hospital as well including obstetrics and the inpatient, or medical, unit. Willey said when those shifts were slow, Vaneta snuck back to the emergency room. “Her dream was to have the high-level patients,” Willey said. 

Dana Breeden worked with Vaneta for 33 years. “Vaneta was the first person I met when I started.  She made me a picture for my birthday several years later – it was a cross stitched eagle in flight – it still sits in my bedroom.

“Vaneta was extremely forthright. She was not afraid of doctors or other nurses,” Breeden said.  “She believed in what she did. She wanted only the best for her ER.”

Several other co-workers shared about working with Vaneta.

 “She mentored so, so many nurses and doctors!  She didn’t like being in the spotlight as a teacher, but she was such a good teacher,” said Tena Baldwin, RN, who worked with Vaneta for 40 years.

Vickie Hitt, RN, worked with Vaneta for 22 years said a person always knew where she stood with Vaneta. “She was very goal-orientated and wanted us to all do our job right.”

Rusty Sutherland, RN, worked with Vaneta for at least 22 years.  “It was amazing to me how long she has been involved in the trauma aspect of nursing. She was truly dedicated to her passion.”

Mindy Bugher, RN, worked with Vaneta for almost 15 years. “I respected Vaneta as an experienced nurse who really knew her job. She mentored me from my first day on the job to the day she left us.”

Vaneta’s career was so well-respected that in May the Community Healthcare Foundation renamed its annual nursing award, given to nurses who demonstrate exceptional skill, The Vaneta M. Kerns Award. 

Even though Vaneta was unable to acknowledge the nurses in white on Monday, the co-workers still came. “We wanted to show her and her family how much she meant to all of us,” Walters said. 

Vaneta became a registered nurse after attending Western Nebraska General Hospital School of Nursing. She worked in Cheyenne for three years before coming to work at Community Hospital in 1976. She is survived by a daughter, two sons and six grandchildren.