Page 14 - May 2019 with HCHeroes

Salute to Nursing... Salute to Nursing... Salute to Nursing... Salute

South Florida's
Monthly
Healthcare Newspaper

PO Box 812708
Boca Raton, FL 33481-2708
Phone: (561) 368-6950 National Nurses Week: May 6-12

Website: Nurses Week is celebrated from May 6-12, 2019, and “South Florida Hospital News
www.southfloridahospitalnews.com and Healthcare Report” would like to salute nurses across the U.S.

The following nurses are some of South Florida’s best!
CHARLES FELIX
CAROL FELIX
Publishers
VITAS HEALTHCARE IN BROWARD COUNTY
NANCY LAMMIE
Editor

JUDY GRAMM
Editorial Manager & Webmaster Ricky LeBaron, RN

JMC GRAPHICS His coworkers in the VITAS inpatient hospice unit at North Broward Medical Center praise Ricky
Art/Production LeBaron for his warm bedside manner, his compassionate care and his willingness to go above and
lammienancy@aol.com beyond his regular nursing duties when a need arises.
412-877-5321
“I always had an interest in hospice,” says LeBaron, who graduated in 2013 with a degree in nursing
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS from Broward College, worked as an intensive care unit nurse at Memorial Hospital Miramar and
joined VITAS in 2017.
Daniel Casciato
“My mother was a home healthcare nurse in Louisiana, so I’ve always been familiar with the nurs-
Barbara Fallon ing profession,” he says. “Yes, hospice nursing can be very stressful, and it takes a lot out of you; but
Vanessa Orr
the interactions with the patients and their families—to me, it just feels like a really good thing to
Lois Thomson
do.”

Sheila Michel, RN
LOOK FOR OUR
NEXT ISSUE Most of Sheila Michel’s nearly 20-year nursing career has involved pediatric nursing throughout
Broward County. Three years ago, her search for a career change led her to a role as a home care hospice
IN JUNE nurse for VITAS® Healthcare, where she provides end-of-life care to both adult and pediatric patients
and their families in their homes.
TO REACH US “Caring for pediatric hospice patients can weigh very heavy on my heart,” she acknowledges. “But I
FOR know nursing, and I know pediatric nursing and I love what I’m doing. I wouldn’t change it for any-
thing. It really makes me appreciate the value of living.”
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Families of her patients praise Sheila for her warmth and compassionate care, while her team mem-
OR EDITORIAL bers appreciate her ongoing support, including a recent fund-raiser for a teammate. “When someone is
Call (561) 368-6950 in need, you step up and you help,” she says with humility. “And if you’re not able, you rally everybody
around and you help.”
or e-mail
carol@southfloridahospitalnews.com

VITAS HEALTHCARE IN PALM BEACH COUNTY

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Florence Toussaint-Bellegarde, RN
One Year $40
Two Years $60 Florence Toussaint-Bellegarde knew she wanted to be a nurse when she was seven years old, as she
watched her grandmother struggle with asthma and felt called to learn to care for her. Florence’s
Three Years $75 father, however, had other ideas: He wanted her to be a dentist.
A sudden relocation shook up those plans and opened the door for Florence to pursue her child-
To subscribe, hood dream. In 2011, she joined VITAS as a home care nurse in Palm Beach, where she still works
today.
call (561) 368-6950
For Florence, the best part of the job is the feeling of having helped someone at the end of the day,
or subscribe online at even if it’s a single step out of bed.
southfloridahospitalnews.com. “I love nursing,” Florence says. “Nursing to me is second nature, it’s what I’ve committed my life
____________ to. And I love what I do right now with hospice: bringing comfort to both patients and their families.”

All rights reserved. Reproduction Lisa Powers, RN
in whole or part without written
permission prohibited. Copyright © 2017.
After graduating from the University of Connecticut in 1989, Lisa Powers, RN, pursued her dream
of working as a traveling nurse, spending five years in hospitals, emergency departments and intensive
care units in Hawaii and Washington, D.C.
Hospice nursing had always intrigued her, especially after experiencing the death of her grandparents
Don’t forget to include on hospice care. She switched to hospice nursing 25 years ago, and today she cares for VITAS patients
in assisted care facilities in Palm Beach County.
South Florida Hospital News “My grandparents’ hospice nurses were wonderful,” she says. “They put everyone at ease, got every-
& Healthcare Report one on the same page. I knew then that hospice nursing was my calling, and I fell in love with it. In
my personal life, I really like to get to know people, and I don’t like fluff. In hospice nursing there’s no
in your Marketing Plans fluff. People share their most personal secrets and thoughts with you, and you help them die at home.
To be a nurse in the last stages of someone’s life is just wonderful.”
Call Charles at 561-368-6950 for a Media Kit

14 May 2019 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News