Friday, November 11, 2005
St. Mary’s vice president named distinguished alumna in nursing
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A nursing graduate who is a vice president with St. Mary’s Health System in Evansville is the 2005 recipient of the Distinguished Nursing Alumna Award at the University of Southern Indiana. The award was presented to Elizabeth “Betty” J. Brown by the USI Nursing Alumni Society at its annual meeting in October. It recognizes Brown’s leadership in health care, her service as a model of scholarship in her practice, her career advancement in the field of nursing, and her support as an alumna of the College of Nursing and Health Professions. Brown was a nontraditional student who enrolled in USI’s nursing program after she “learned a lot about health care and what great people work in health care” when her infant son was ill. Born with a primary immune deficiency, Rhett Brown died at age 17 months, having spent much of his short life at hospitals in Evansville and Indianapolis. Brown and her husband Jerry are parents of a daughter Andrea, who was 3 years old when Brown began thinking about a career in nursing. She also credits her mother Dorothy Thornburg of Evansville with giving her the confidence to enter the health-care field. “She said I’d be good in nursing,” Brown said. Brown was a member of USI’s first nursing class, earning an associate of science in 1990 and a baccalaureate degree in 1992. She completed a master’s degree in nursing at University of Evansville. “I could have stopped at the associate degree, but the nursing faculty at USI instilled in me the importance of having the higher education,” she said. In 2004, Brown graduated again from USI, this time with a master’s in business administration, a degree that has complemented her nursing education. “In health care, we need to be more business-oriented,” she said. “There needs to be a revolution in health care. In order to accomplish that, we must know business tenets.” In the MBA program, Brown appreciated the opportunity to complete research and work on team projects with fellow graduate students who were working professionals from other walks of life. “As I have had vertical movement in my roles, that has been valuable to me,” she said. Brown worked at the former Welborn Baptist Hospital in Evansville while a student and upon graduation took a full-time position in the intensive care unit. She later became an instructor in the education department and served as director of quality and infection control. She also has worked at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, Indiana, as director of medial/surgical services. Since 1999, she has been associated with St. Mary's Medical Center where she worked as advanced health team project director and director of quality/medical management before being promoted to her current position. She is vice president of strategic physician integration. Brown has served as president of the Indiana Association of Healthcare Quality and received the National Association for Healthcare Quality State Association Gold Award in 2002. Throughout her career, Brown has maintained close ties with the University. She serves on the advisory committee for the graduate program in health administration and is an adjunct instructor. During this semester she is teaching a graduate-level course on administration in health-care organizations. It includes graduate students in both nursing and health administration. A distance-education course with instruction delivered through the Internet, enrollment includes students from Idaho, Illinois, Ohio, and Florida, in addition to Evansville. “The course is heavily weighted to teach about the quality of care we deliver to patients and their families and about how safe the environment is,” Brown said. Brown was a member of the USI Alumni Council from 1992-95. During that time, she said the council focused on spreading the word about USI to a broader audience with emphasis on the modern campus, the growth in enrollment and programs, the quality of the faculty, the quality of the educational programs, and the affordable price. A member of the USI Nursing Alumni Society advisory committee, she encourages nursing graduates to become active in the group. “It’s wonderful to be able to network and reconnect,” she said. A native of Gibson County, Indiana, Brown lives in Evansville. |
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