Nursing Section 2010

o f t h e N o r t h O l y m p i c Pe n i n s u l a

Lily Thomson

David Kanters

Quen Zorrah

Plus meet six other Peninsula nurses touching lives in our communities

School nurse cares for Port Angeles kids

Public health nurse works with families

Fills a town’s health care needs for two decades

a special publication of the Peninsula Daily News

NurSeSc e L e b r A T i N g

OcTOber 2010

of the North Olympic Peninsula

2 Celebrating Nurses 2010 Peninsula Daily NewsPeninsula Daily News Celebrating Nurses 2010 3

The Peninsula Daily News would like to recognize all the Clallam and Jefferson County nurses who were nominated by the North Olympic Peninsula community — many of whom received multiple nominations.

A special ‘thank you’ goes to all the exceptional nurses who each day go above and beyond caring for patients.

Ellen Adams

Becky Andrews

Cathy Abandonato

Bridgett Bell Kraft

Michael Berg

Paula E. Bertaud

Dee Beverford

Sten Christiansen

Katie Curtis-Seal

Kathy Craven

Marca Davies

Meg DePew

Suzanne Dinius

Jenny Edwards

Janel Finley

Lynn Fosket

Michelle Gann

Robin Gay

Randy Gore

Kim Gracie

Ann Holleman (posthumously)

Mary Jackson

Nancy Johnson

David Kanters

Mary Klock

Laura Kinsley

Chuck Lilliandahl

Terry Markishtum

Marti Melcher

Linda Mellon

Linda Minor

Ileana Murphy-Haggerty

Lee Norton

Roberta O’Dell

Lotta Pearl

Crystal Placos-McCullough

Jaimi L. Primrose

Mary Reynolds

Paula Richter

Diane Root-Racine

Irma Schneider

Mary Sherwood

Brandi Smith

Elizabeth “Liza” Smith

Gayla Spratt-Nuffer

Lily Thomson

Paula Wahl

Kim Warner

Tara Wilhelm

LaDona Wilson

Bette Wood

Resa Yamamoto

Quen Zorrah

Celebrating nurses

We were blown away by the nominations received for our first annual Celebrating Nurses special section.

Nominations for nurses to spotlight were solicited throughout September and into October from PDN readers.

Clearly there are many quality nurses on the North Olympic Peninsula who touch the lives of their patients, co-workers and employers.

Through your letters we learned about:• School nurses who are responsible for

students and staff at several schools, at times traveling back and forth in one day.

• Surgical nurses who patients may see only briefly, but who labor tirelessly behind the scenes to secure a positive surgical out-come for each patient.

• The many dedicated nurses who work in long-term care facilities caring for the needs of our aging population.

• Public health nurses who visit low-in-come pregnant mothers to teach them about prenatal care, parenting and ending the cycle of violence and abuse that many of them face.

• Hospice nurses who tend to terminally ill patients while also administering to the patient’s relatives and caregivers to help them deal with the loss before and after their loved one passes.

• Family health nurses that see patients throughout the year for general checkups and medical ailments, who get to know them over the years.

And the list goes on.Choosing whom to profile in this section

was difficult.From your letters, we tried to pick a cross-

section of nurses working in various settings around the Peninsula because we wanted readers to see the myriad ways these nurses contribute to the health of our communities.

To be sure, nursing is a field full of many men and women who have found their calling to serve, to inspire, to advocate for and extend compassion to their patients. We celebrate you!

published by the Peninsula Daily NewsMain office: 305 W. First St.,Port Angeles, WA 98362360-452-2345

John C. Brewer, editor & publisher

Suzanne Williams, advertising director

Jennifer Veneklasen and Trisha McMahonspecial section editors

Advocate for a villageElizabeth Smith continues to provide advice and education

Elizabeth “Liza” Smith has taken care of many people in all her years as a nurse, but she also makes sure they are educated on how to take care of themselves.

“Several generations seek Liza’s advice and gentle but persuasive personal direction,” says friend and registered nurse Joan Ridel, who nom-inated Smith for Celebrating Nurses.

“She teaches in the clinic, post office, store, school, community hall — wherever her people are gathered,” Ridel writes, describing her friend as a nurse/advocate for an entire village.

Smith is the case manager at the Sophie Trettevick Indian Health Center in Neah Bay.

While many of her tasks are now on the administrative side of care, “I still get called in to help and give patients advice,” she says.

And being able to provide care is one of the things she likes best about being a nurse.

Smith, who was born and raised in Neah Bay, wanted to be a nurse while in high school.

She was even accepted into a new nursing program in Boise, Idaho, but

upon graduation, she was unable to afford the tuition.

So with nursing school temporarily on hold, she joined the Navy in 1958, where she would serve as a hospital corpsman — the Naval equivalent to

an Army medic.From Neah Bay, the tiny northwest

corner of the continental United States, she traveled across the country to Bainbridge, Md., for boot camp.

continued on Page 5 >>

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CELEBRATING NuRSES is

photo by Lonnie Archibald / for Peninsula Daily News

Elizabeth Smith served as a hospital corpsman in the Navy before becoming a nurse.

Mary Sherwood was an advocate for the Volunteers in Medicine of the Olympics (VIMO) clinic before it even opened, says VIMO volunteer coordinator Patty Hannah.

The clinic provides primary medical care, mental health care and referrals for specialty care to adults who live and work on the North Olympic Peninsula and do not have access to health care.

As a retired nurse, Sherwood worked to gain support for the clinic within the medical community, and once VIMO opened, she volunteered five hours every Monday for three years as the clinic’s triage nurse.

“In the beginning days of the clinic, most of VIMO’s patients had been unable to receive health care for some time — years in some cases — and Mary was their first medical point of contact,” Hannah says.

“She did the initial assessment of the patient’s overall health, made decisions regarding the acuity of care needed and often recommended immediate intervention because of a health condition.”

Hannah says that Sherwood has no doubt saved many lives because of her knowledge and ability to assess emer-gency situations.

Sherwood is in her 70s and has recently had her own chronic health conditions causing her to reduce her volun-teer work at VIMO to twice a month.

But when she is at the clinic, patients notice.“Our patients love her and she gets rave reviews in our

patient satisfaction surveys,” Hannah says.Sherwood is also a teacher and has offered invaluable

insight to nursing students who rotate through VIMO as part of their curriculum.

In addition to her community contributions through nursing, Sherwood is a guardian ad litem assigned to repre-sent the best interests of children in Clallam County’s juve-nile court system and is a state ombudsman for older adults.

In her capacity as ombudsman, Sherwood visits county nursing homes and assisted living facilities to make sure that residents are safe and cared for.

Patricia Nachreiner is a social worker who also nomi-nated Sherwood for Celebrating Nurses.

She says that Sherwood volunteers countless hours ensuring children’s safety in her role as guardian ad litem.

“Mary advocates for the children,” she says. “But if she sees a glimmer of hope that the parents can

reunify with their kids, then she supports them as well.”With her lilting southern accent, Sherwood uses words

like “honey child” and “baby child” to put her little clients at ease, Nachreiner says.

Sherwood also uses bristly humor to help adults realize that they are in the driver’s seat as far as making decisions to turn their lives around.

“I know on many occasions after a long day of work, Mary will drop off a meal to a struggling family,” Nach-reiner says. “For this reason children and adults keep her number close and she is the one they call first in times of trouble or celebration.”

Fellow VIMO volunteer Judith Morris describes Sher-wood as “no nonsense with a heart.”

Morris volunteers as a VIMO receptionist and says that a number of patients come in asking, “Is Mary working today?”


Mary Sherwood at the Volunteers in Medicine of the Olympics (VIMO) clinic located at 909 Georgiana St. in Port Angeles.

Seasoned nurse ‘no nonsense with a heart’Although technically retired, Mary Sherwood makes a lasting contribution through volunteer work

Student nurses often linger after hours to tap into Sher-wood’s expertise as she goes around the clinic emptying trash cans and closing windows.

“Mary is what many of us think of when we think of the ideal nurse,” Morris says.

“I know that patients waiting for appointments are delighted when they hear Mary’s booming voice say, ‘Darlin, get on in here! Tell me what’s going on.’ ”

Sherwood Spent the first half of her working life as an intelligence analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

She chose to go into nursing, she says, because she wanted to work directly with people.

She attended nursing school in Alabama and later Vir-ginia, all while raising five kids.

At age 40 she began to work in hospital Intensive Care Units — or ICUs —and spent 20 years as a registered criti-cal care nurse.

“I made a good choice,” Sherwood beams about her nurs-ing career path. “I graduated on a Friday and then started work on Monday. I loved it.”

Sherwood worked at hospitals in several states, always in the ICU, and chose to work night shifts, she says, so that she could be around for her children during the day.

In 2003 she moved to Port Angeles, and although she came here to retire, Sherwood has stayed very busy.

She works passionately to promote VIMO’s mission to

serve the uninsured and under-insured of Clallam County.The clinic sees patients who are chronically ill, have high

blood pressure, diabetes and much more.She says that lately there have been a lot of new, younger

people coming into the clinic for medical care.Sherwood says that many of those people are hardwork-

ing, but don’t have a lot of money or employers who offer health insurance.

“You know, being poor and not knowing which way to turn is a bad feeling,” she says.

“If the clinic wasn’t there, where would these people go?” As far as advocating for neglected and abused children,

she says it makes her feel special to help them. “If I could do more, I would,” she says. “This is just one

way I can do something.”When asked if she plans to stay in Port Angeles, Sher-

wood says, “oh heavens yes.”“I was getting a little antsy the other day,” she admits. “But I’ve got two dogs and three cats, the garden is grow-

ing and then there’s the canning — I’ve got things to do!”When Sherwood chose to become a nurse some 30 years

ago, she says that people then went into nursing because they cared. Today she sees some people choose nursing because it’s a good, steady job.

But, she says, when you actually get into nursing, “the truth is that you can’t help but care.”

— Jennifer Veneklasen

photo by Chris Tucker / Peninsula Daily News


‘I found my niche’ Mary Klock makes sure she gets to know the residents of Park View Villas

Mary Klock has worked in long-term care facilities for more than 35 years and couldn’t imagine working anywhere else, but that wasn’t her initial plan.

She originally wanted to be a park ranger and obtained a degree in parks and recre-ation from Central Washington University.

But when she couldn’t find a job in the field, she took a job as an activity director for a long-term care facility.

“I found my niche,” she says of working there. “I just fell in love with it.”

Since then, she has continued to work in long-term care, holding positions ranging from social worker to administrator, and is now the resident care director for Park View Villas in Port Angeles.

Klock moved to the North Olympic Penin-sula in 1990 when her husband took a job as a nursing home administrator in Sequim.

The move enabled her to pursue some-thing she had wanted to do for years but had always taken a back seat to the rest of life — become a nurse.

So she enrolled at Peninsula College and obtained her nursing degree in 1994.

While attending courses, she knew she wanted to continue working with seniors.

“I just love working with these folks,” en-thuses Klock, who is a registered nurse with a certification in geriatrics. “We get so much

from them. We are who we are today because of seniors.”

She especially enjoys the stories they tell her — and the history lessons she gains from their stories.

As she talks about her role as a nurse and at Park View Villas, her passion and dedica-tion comes through.

“Every day is different,” she says of her work. “I get to know these people really well, and they start to think of this as their home.”

Since it does become a new home for them, Klock says that saying goodbye is the hardest part of the job — whether it’s because residents move away to be closer to family or pass away.

“You get a sense of satisfaction knowing you have given them good care, but it’s still sad,” she said.

In her role as resident care director, she meets with new residents, assesses the care they need or want, and is responsible for the trained staff at Park View Villas.

But according to residents and colleagues, many of whom nominated her for inclusion in Celebrating Nurses, she does much more.

“Mary goes above and beyond,” says John LeClerc, executive director for Park View Villas. “She uses her own money to get the residents what they need, she sews and knits for them. She is always showing compassion

for both her staff and her residents.”Resident Virginia Pennoyer notes, “She

is ready to come immediately to our aid, whether it be a sprained finger, broken hip or just a medical question.”

Sometimes the impact comes down to the connection she makes with residents.

“When I come into the Wellness Center, I not only get the answers I need, but a hug and an ‘I love you,’ ” Virginia Imhof writes in her nomination.

“She goes beyond the norm by being interested in you as a person,” writes Dion B.C. Sutton.

As Klock simplifies it, “We’re here for the residents.” If they want something from the

store, she makes sure they get it. If they need a doctor’s appointment, she makes sure it gets scheduled.

Rachelle King, who works with Klock and also nominated her, says, “She advocates for the rights of the residents and continues to strive to make Park View Villas the best place for the elderly to live.”

According to Klock, this role as a patient advocate is one of the most important roles for a nurse.

“You need to honor their choices and respect them,” she said.

So perhaps it was a good thing she couldn’t find that ranger job.

— Trisha McMahon


Mary Klock been the resident care director at Park View Villas for almost three years.

Public health nurse comes full circleAs a 19-year-old, single mother, Quen Zorrah was

visited by a public health nurse who showed up on her doorstep with information about prenatal care, childhood immunizations, breastfeeding and nutrition.

“I was probably what would have been considered high-risk at the time,” Zorrah says, “but I was really motivated to make changes and have a healthy baby.”

The continued visits not only taught Zorrah how to care for her young child, but they steeled her determination to become a public health nurse, too.

“I had been a high school dropout and had no real job skills,” she recalls. “But I kept making changes.”

The nurses, she says, were always very supportive and positive — their encouragement changed Zorrah’s life.

She completed her GED and went on to get her associate degree in nursing from Seattle Central Community College.

She says her goal was always to work in public health, but for that she needed a bachelor’s degree.

So, for the time being she worked in general nursing at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

She later moved to Port Townsend, bought a home for herself and her two children and got a job at what was then Jefferson General Hospital.

Years later she learned that the University of Washington, in conjunction with Peninsula College, was offering a bach-elor’s degree program in Port Angeles.

She immediately enrolled and went on to fulfill her dream of becoming a public health nurse.

John Austin, a Jefferson County commissioner, nomi-nated Zorrah for Celebrating Nurses, and says that she began work at Jefferson County Public Health in 1992 with a

desire to improve the lives of families throughout the county. “She continues now to change lives and improve quality

of care,” he says.Zorrah works primarily with families and together with

her team, the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP), provides vis-its to low-income families with young children and pregnant women. NFP educates parents and helps them find their own path to positive change.

Zorrah teaches parents how to protect their children from the same adverse experiences they lived through as children.

She made a formal presentation to the State Board of Health on NFP’s programs, Austin says.

The board commended Zorrah and the team’s work to curb the spread of violence, substance abuse and neglect in Jefferson County.

Austin says that children served by the NFP program do better when entering school, have better health outcomes and spend less time in the juvenile justice system.

Quen Zorrah

photo by Steve Mullensky


The of Olympic Medical CenterNurses:

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Smith received her education from the Naval Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes, Ill., and returned to Maryland, where she was stationed for three years.

When she got out of the Navy, she returned home to Neah Bay and started her family, but her traveling and education weren’t done yet.

After her husband at the time got out of the Army, they moved to Michigan, where his sister lived. Still wanting to be a nurse and not wanting her G.I. Bill benefits to go to waste, Smith enrolled in the nursing program

at Wayne County Community College in Detroit and became a nurse in 1975.

“That was a goal of mine,” Smith says. “I didn’t do it right way, but I still ended up doing it.”

She remained in Michigan and began working with the Urban Indian Health Association in Detroit, where she soon started its free Indian Health Clinic.

She returned to Neah Bay in 1976 and has been there ever since.

She worked as an alcohol addiction coun-selor until the health clinic opened.

For 30 years she worked at the clinic while it was managed by the federal Indian Health Service, serving as the head nurse until she

eventually retired from civil service.But she hasn’t retired from being a nurse.Since the health center became self-governed

by the Makah tribe a few years ago, Smith has continued to work there, transferring to the administrative side as a case manager.

She remains dedicated to patient advocacy and education and acting as a liaison.

As Ridel describes her, she is “an ombuds-man for her people” and the health officer “tasked with public health and environmen-tal concerns.”

During the 2009 flu pandemic, Smith was appointed Makah health officer and worked with the tribe to provide community educa-tion, information and health kits.

She continues to educate herself and teach others about healthy living.

She teaches a workshop called “Living Well with Chronic Conditions,” a course designed by Stanford University that pro-vides tools and support for living a healthy life with chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, heart disease, chronic pain, arthritis and hypertension.

In her first course, 14 of the 18 people who signed up completed the six-week workshop.

“It really motivates people to manage their health and know how to communicate with their provider,” she says. “People were enthused about it.”

— Trisha McMahon

Elizabeth Smith:{continued from Page 2}


Handling the needs of students and moreAs the two nurses for the Port Angeles School District, Lily Thomson and Resa Yamamoto take care of everything from bumps and bruises to vision and hearing tests

Getting Lily Thomson and Resa Yamamoto in the same place at the same time can be a task. There is no single office for the duo, who comprise the nursing staff of the Port Angeles School District.

Throughout the week, they travel between schools to serve a population of more than 3,500 students and handle a multitude of tasks — take care of bumps and bruises or a broken bone, perform hearing and vision tests, administer medications, educate stu-dents and staff, and, of course, care for the students who are ill and injured.

Thomson works with the elementary stu-dents, splitting her time between Hamilton, Dry Creek, Franklin and Roosevelt schools.

Yamamoto is primarily the nurse for the older students, working at Port Angeles High School, Lincoln High School and Stevens Middle School, plus Jefferson Elementary.

“I first thought it would be Bandaids and hearing and vision tests, but it’s become so much more,” says Yamamoto, who has been with the district for 12 years.

In recent years, they have been handling more psychological and social situations and students with significant health needs.

“They go ‘above and beyond’ the call of duty daily in their work,” writes Tina Smith-O’Hara, communications specialist for the school district and one of several people who nominated them for the Celebrating Nurses section.

“I believe it stems from their strong com-mitment to health and learning and their love of children.”

Many of the nominations described all the tasks Thomson and Yamamoto handle as part-time nurses for the district, while always remaining compassionate, caring and fun.

“They are pulled in a number of direc-tions every day and are able to handle it all,” writes Robin Hubbard Swanson, who has worked with them as part of the hearing and vision screening team in the fall.

“Thousands of our community’s children have been cared for by these hardworking, compassionate, professional women.”

“These ladies have to have absolute compas-sion and have to be able to understand their patients sometimes through tears and sobs,” writes Joyce Stockard, who has also worked with them on hearing and vision tests.

With so much to take care of, Thomson and Yamamoto have found ways to keep themselves from becoming overwhelmed and stressed.

“You have to compartmentalize,” Yamamoto says. “Some things have to wait until next week

while you address what’s more important.”Echoing Yamamoto, Thomson says she

makes a list the night before of all the things she wants to accomplish the next day.

“If I can get 25 percent of it done, that’s a good day,” she says.

Their support of one another, ability to consult, and collaboration also help in what they describe as a unique role.

Both agree that e-mail has helped im-mensely with contacting parents, teachers and the different schools throughout the day.

And while an emergency or a meeting might require them to travel from one school to another, they try to stay at the school they are at on a given day.

Both took different paths that led them to be nurses for the school district.

Medical situations with her own family drew Thomson into the medical field later in life.

She had been working at the Peninsula Children’s Clinic in Port Angeles when she decided to put herself through nursing school at Peninsula College.

“It was a challenge, but the clinic was very accommodating,” she says.

Thomson’s daughter, Heather Buckmaster, notes in her nomination how while her mother was in nursing school she was “still working full time, helping care for her grand-child, and all at the ‘advanced’ age of 40.”

As Thomson was finishing school, the

school district was in the process of hiring its own nurses, having previously contracted with the county for nursing staff.

She applied for an opening, and 16 years later is still at the district.

She also continues to work part-time at the Peninsula Children’s Clinic, which fits with her work in the school district.

“A lot of students are patients there so it’s very collaborative,” she says.

nurSing waS a field that combined many of Yamamoto’s interests.

She had an interest in science and “how the body works” early in life, and in high school she became interested in educating people.

That’s when she realized that all those pursuits could be met through nursing.

“I could be an educator of a patient,” she explains. Nursing was “a mesh of my desire to help people plus the science piece.”

She received an associate’s degree from Northwest Nazarene College (now Universi-ty) in Nampa, Idaho, and a bachelor’s degree from Boise State University.

She had worked at a hospital before tak-ing an 11-year hiatus from nursing to raise her family.

When she decided to return to work and to nursing, the school district nurse position provided her a work schedule that correlated with the academic year, which worked perfectly for her and her family.

thomSon and yamamoto find that handling on-going issues can be difficult in their job because deep down they want to fix everything.

Thomson explains how she might wake up at 3 a.m., wondering how to fix a situa-tion a student may be going through.

“It’s hard to let things go,” Yamamoto adds.But despite any difficulties, they still

enjoy their roles.“I love the incredible variety of what

I learn every year,” Yamamoto says. “It doesn’t get routine.”

For Thomson, one of her favorite mo-ments is when she is recognized by her young students outside of school.

“Someone goes, ‘Mom, there’s my school nurse!’ ” she says. Sometimes they will even come up and give her a hug.

There is a wonderful feeling in “know-ing you helped and made a difference,” she says.

— Trisha McMahon

“They are pulled in a number of directions every day and are able to handle it all. ... Thousands of our community’s children have been cared

for by these hardworking, compassionate, professional women.”

— Robin Hubbard Swanson, who nominated Lily Thomson and Resa Yamamoto

Port Angeles School District nurses Lily Thomson, left, and Resa Yamamoto are responsible for more than 3,500 students in eight schools.


Behind the scenes, surgical nurses are a patient’s best friend.Each patient’s comfort and security before, during and

after a procedure is safeguarded by a surgical nurse who anticipates events, monitors movements in the surgery room, continuously counts and re-counts instruments and sponges, and generally makes the busy operating room — or OR — environment run smoothly.

Not only do they assist the surgeon, but also the scrub tech-nician and anesthesiologist.

The many complex tasks that these nurses juggle directly contribute to each patient’s outcome.

“The reason we have such an outstanding safety record in our operating room is due to the diligence of these unsung heros,” says Dr. Carleen Benson, chief of surgery at Olympic Medical Center.

Benson nominated Irma Schneider for Celebrating Nurses, saying that Schneider is the quintessential OR nurse.

“She performs her job not only competently, but with an obvious joy for what she does,” Benson says.

Schneider got into nursing in the early 1970s after realizing that her “sit-down job” at a bank wasn’t working for her.

She was fascinated by the human body, interested in nutri-tion, and had a passion for science.

“I wanted to teach people about their bodies, and I wanted to be able to get a job anywhere in the U.S.,” she recalls.

Schneider became a licensed practical nurse, or LPN,

through training in Olympia.When Schneider’s husband got out of the Navy, the couple

spent seven months traveling the country and visited 33 states. They chose to put down roots in idyllic Port Angeles.Schneider was hired as an LPN at Olympic Medical Center,

and in 1983 went on to graduate from the Peninsula College Nursing Program.

She continued to work — now as a registered nurse — at OMC and at Peninsula Children’s Clinic.

She also volunteered evenings at Family Planning of Clal-lam County where she was drawn to the work of the nurse practitioners.

“They [nurse practitioners at Family Planning] were so instrumental as role models for me as they taught women all about their bodies and good health habits,” she says.

“I was determined to do that.”Schneider moved to Los Angeles for four months of a nine

month program, right after discovering she was pregnant, and completed her advanced medical training at UCLA.

Because she was pregnant at the time, studying women’s health was exceedingly personal.

Schneider returned to Port Angeles and worked as Family Planning’s nurse practitioner from 1984 to 1998.

By ‘92 she wanted to try something new and chose surgical nursing because of its diversity of patients, medical issues, and surgical specialties.

“In surgery no two days are the same,” she says. “I love my patients and the surgical team is almost like a family. The stressful environment and single focus pull you together.”

The most challenging aspect of her job, she says, is that over the years patients have become sicker due to obesity, cardio-vascular diseases, immune deficiency disorders and cancers.

Increased government and insurance regulations are also a big challenge.

The part of her work that she most enjoys is the rapport she is able to build with patients.

Patients come into surgery feeling very vulnerable, she says. They are apprehensive about their privacy, worried if they are going to live or die, and nervous they’ll come out of surgery with a terminal prognosis.

“They need to have confidence that I will protect their safety and privacy and that I’ll take care of them in a professional manner,” she says.

“Establishing a relationship where they can trust me is so important. I feel fortunate that I can easily connect with most patients.”

Benson says that on many occasions she has seen Schneider go out of her way to connect with a nervous or scared patient and put them at ease.

“It is a pleasure to work with someone who comes in every day with a positive attitude and a willingness to get the job done,” Benson says.

omC SurgiCal nurSe lotta pearl was nominated for Celebrating Nurses by orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Margaret Baker.

“Watching Lotta work is like watching a well-choreo-graphed ballet, or perhaps a finely-tuned Nascar pit crew,” Baker says.

“She hustles so quickly and effortlessly, one can hardly see her feet touch the floor.”

Pearl says that she decided to become a nurse when she was in third grade and has never wavered.

She went to nursing school at Spokane Community Col-lege right out of high school and began her nursing career in a long-term care facility.

Later she worked in succession at two Spokane hospitals and then moved to North Dakota where she worked for 10 years in an emergency room.

She loved the challenging, fast-paced environment of the emergency room, but after starting a family Pearl craved more regular hours. This led her to surgical nursing where she has remained ever since.

In 2002 Pearl and her husband, a retired general surgeon, moved to Port Angeles so they could be near the water and enjoy a life full of sailing.

Pearl made a seamless transition into the surgical depart-ment at OMC.

She counts caring for surgeons and lessening their stress, along with advocating for patients, as the most important aspects of her job.

“You want to provide the best care that you can for pa-tients,” she says.

To do that, surgical nurses must anticipate the needs of surgeons, which in turn will lead to optimal outcomes for their patients.

“Having a nurse like Lotta at my side can be a Godsend, especially in the dark of night with a surgical trauma patient suffering from a life or limb-threatening injury,” Baker says.

According to Baker, it’s Pearl’s unique combination of pro-fessionalism and personal excellence that sets her apart.

“Surgical nurses are primarily assigned to one operating room, one patient at a time,” Baker says.



Toiling behind the scenesSpecialized nurses Irma Schneider and Lotta Pearl ensure that surgical patients at Olympic Medical Center receive the best in care

Irma Schneider, left, and Lotta Pearl sit outside the surgical suite at Olympic Medical Center.

photo by Keith Thorpe/ Peninsula Daily News

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Realizing a community need“Over the past 40 years, this job has been more fun and more rewarding

than anybody deserves. I’ve had a good time, and I’m not done.”

— David Kanters

David Kanters opened nurse-owned walk-in medical clinic in Port Angeles

Family nurse practitioner David Kanters saw the need for a walk-in clinic in Port Angeles.

So in 1989, he opened CliniCare, an acute care facility and the only privately owned walk-in medical clinic in Port Angeles.

“CliniCare became the medical home for many of those in our community with-out access to a primary care physician,” says Len Borchers, one of several people who nominated Kanters for Celebrating Nurses.

Borchers was the admin-istrator for the Port Angeles Clinic, where Kanters worked prior to opening CliniCare.

“Dave chose to strike out on his own when he pioneered the opening of CliniCare,” Borchers writes.

“He has successfully treated thousands of patients over the years and provided a cost-effective alternative to the hospital emergency room.”

CliniCare would receive 35 to 45 visits per day — more than 12,000 per year. It was open seven days a week, and appointments were not needed.

Kanters grew up in Wisconsin and served as a medic in the Army during the Vietnam War.

“That’s probably where most of my expertise came from,” he says.

A combination of factors, including needing a job after Vietnam and essentially picking a city from a map, brought him to Port Angeles.

“They didn’t need any combat medics in the states,” he points out.

So he enrolled in what would be the first class of nursing students at Peninsula College. From there he later obtained a degree from the University of Wisconsin.

Kanters dedicated much time to the clinic; multiple nominations noted that he frequently worked 12 hour days, seven days a week.

When asked what he likes most about the job, Kanters couldn’t pinpoint any one specific thing — there were many.

“I like the different patients and different challenges they present me with,” he says.

“People come in worried and concerned. I like mak-ing them feel better and helping them come up with a solution.”

And after they leave the clinic, he enjoys being able to see them around, knowing he played a role in their lives.

After years of providing care through the walk-in clinic, Kanters will be closing CliniCare in early November.

He chose to step down and sell the clinic after many years of running it with his staff, but was unable to find a buyer.

Although CliniCare is closing, Kanters will remain in the area and explore other pursuits.

“I like the work and I like seeing patients,” he says. “I’m going to keep working in some capacity.”

He adds, “Over the past 40 years, this job has been more fun and more reward-ing than anybody deserves. I’ve had a good time, and I’m not done.”

— Trisha McMahon


David Kanters says he is “not done” and will continue to pursue interests after CliniCare closes.

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Lotta Pearl:{continued from Page 7}

Quen Zorrah:{continued from Page 4}

“Quen is a remarkable woman with an attitude that inspires hope within the families she serves and the nursing team she works with,” Austin says.

In her role as a public health nurse, Zor-rah is charged with finding the people she serves.

“It’s different than working in a hospital where patients come to you,” she says.

“We look for levels of risk and go out to meet people where they’re at.”

The toughest part of her job, Zorrah says, is the lack of funding that is tearing her team’s work apart.

“We’ve built up a system where every family in the county that needs help can get it, but now we’re really struggling to meet the demand of families,” she says.

There are currently less resources for housing, mental health services and subsi-dies for child care available.

“Families are under so much stress and the kids are the ones who are suffering,” she says.

On the flip side, Zorrah finds the longev-ity of her work with families, among other things, to be highly rewarding.

She is able to watch her clients make changes over a long period of time and she says that it’s encouraging to see how hard people are willing to work.

Through her work as a nurse, Zorrah sees women in her community get out of long-term abusive relationships, she sees kids flourish in school, and young “at-risk” moms graduate from college — just as she did.


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We also would like to say thank you to The Jamestown Clinic,

Drs. Carl & Asma Weber of Pacific Primary Care and the

Lower Elwha Clinic for taking on so many of our patients and to

Cedar Grove Recovery for taking on our drug screens.

As CliniCare winds down in the last few weeks of operation we would like

to express our gratitude to all the patients who have entrusted us with their care over the past 22 years and to all the public and private support

extended to us these last few months.

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Look for our second annual Celebrating Nurses special section in 2011.

Nominations for the section will again be solicited from PDN

readers during the weeks preceding publication.

We hope you’ll take the time to nominate a Clallam or Jefferson

County nurse who goes above and beyond the

call of duty.


Just a sampling...So many wonderful nurses were nominated for Celebrating Nurses, and unfortunately, we could not feature all of them. Here are some excerpts from a few of the other nominations we received:

Chuck Lilliandahl, Crestwood Convalescent Center“Chuck always has time for the extras. ...

An example is a resident [who] is constantly interrupting everyone looking for her home over and over. Chuck always gives her a smile and treats her as if it was the first time she has ever asked.”

— Linnie Didier

Robin Gay, Dr. Dan Addison’s office“I have seen her perform brilliantly in

lifesaving office emergencies, as well as com-passionately caring for individuals of chronic illness. She has given our patients her cell phone number, so that they may call her at any time. ... She has carefully created patient education systems to allow people to under-stand not only chronic health problems, but preventative care steps.”

— Dee Groves

Terry Markishtum, Quileute Health Clinic“Terry is a great teacher and often goes out

of her way to educate the native population on how to take care of their health. ... Terry is a great mentor ... and as a result of this men-torship with Terry I really want to further my education and become a nurse myself.”

— Veryl M. Garibay

Meg Depew, Peninsula Community Mental Health“She has been an instrumental part in

serving the uninsured or underserved men-tal health clients of this community. She is professional, caring and has extreme heart

for helping others. She is the only mental health provider for clients at VIMO [Volun-teers in Medicine of the Olympics] at this time and without her, the needs of the com-munity would not have been met.”

— Gina M. Steinmetz

Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County team“Each of these women delivers compas-

sionate, caring and skillful nursing services to hundreds of people in our community who are nearing the end of their lives. ... These nurses administer to family members, relatives and caregivers to assist in ways that help them deal with the loss before and after their loved one passes. ... They are in every sense sensa-tional ambassadors of the nursing profession.”

— Tom Cox

Ileana Murphy-Haggerty, Family Medicine“Guiding patients, staff and students to

see the value and the path to change, she has been a champion for compassionate, respon-sible care. ... Her effect on healthcare services in our community, Washington state and the country is immense.”

— Dr. Stan Garlick

Lee Norton, Olympic Medical Center“Lee is an outstanding nurse. ... She at-

tends to her patients physical needs, as well as their emotional needs, thus treating the whole patient not just the disease. Lee makes everyone feel safe in her care.”

— Edie Thompson

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12 Celebrating Nurses 2010 Peninsula Daily News

Nursing Section 2010

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Transcript of Nursing Section 2010