NEW NURSES OFFER RELIEF SERVICES TO VMH

Five new nurses have joined the Veterans Memorial Hospital nursing staff, filling part-time position openings.
Carol Daughton, RN, Rita Newton, RN, Karen Caballero Mathis, RN, Mary Verthein, RN, and Wendy Welch, LPN, have all accepted positions at Veterans Memorial Hospital as Pool RN's. The hospital has a number of Pool RN's who are trained nurses who only wish to work on an “as needed” basis. Most of the Pool RN's at Veterans Memorial Hospital have other nursing positions at other medical facilities, but are willing to help out at the hospital when the ever fluctuating census of patients rises and extra RN's are needed.

Carol Daughton, RN
Carol Daughton, RN, is currently employed with Helping Services for Northeast Iowa and looks forward to getting back into direct patient care nursing. She graduated from the Iowa Methodist School of Nursing in Des Moines and has many years of nursing experience from Winneshiek County Memorial Hospital.
Carol and her husband, Michael, reside near Decorah, and have three grown children; Shawn, Nancy and Steven.

Karen Caballero Mathis, RN
Karen Caballero Mathis, RN, is the Eastern Allamakee Community Schools District Nurse. Prior to taking that position, she worked in the Neurosurgery Department (OR) at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in LaCrosse for over 10 years. Karen also spent six years as a staff nurse at Veterans Memorial Hospital from 1984-1990.      Karen obtained her registered nursing degree from Rochester Community College, and recently completed her bachelors of science in nursing from Viterbo College in LaCrosse. Karen and her husband, Dave, live in rural Lansing with their two children, Mara, age 10, and Mackay, age 8.

Rita Newton, RN
Rita Newton, RN, also has past work experience with Veterans Memorial Hospital as a staff RN. Currently, she is the Medicare, MDS Coordinator at Northgate Care Center in Waukon. Rita obtained her nursing degree from North Iowa Area Community College, Mason City, in 1985. Following graduation, she was a staff RN at Thornton Manor Care Center in Lansing.
Rita and her husband, Dave, have two sons; Dylan, age 13, and Levi, age 10. They reside in rural Waukon.

Mary Verthein, RN
Mary Verthein, RN, of Waukon, and her husband, Mark, have four children; Nick, age 21, Eric, age 18, Lindsay, age 14 and Alyssa, age 9.
Mary has been the assistant Director of Nursing at the Waukon Good Samaritan Center since 1990, and has been employed there since 1976. She is also the MDS Coordinator at the Good Samaritan Center. She obtained her nursing degree from Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar, and is currently a certified nurse assistant instructor.

Wendy Welch, LPN
Wendy is graduating with her RN degree this month, and has already practiced nursing for nearly 10 years as an LPN. She is currently an LPN at the Green Lea Manor in Mabel, MN, where she has been employed for the previous five years.
She has many years of other nursing experience, including three years at the Patty Elwood Center in Cresco, three years at Aase Haugen Homes in Decorah, and six years in the Ossian Senior Hospice program.
Wendy and her husband, Todd, live near Decorah.