For Katie, the road led away from NMC Health only to prove that there really is no place like home. Her journey from a bedside nurse to a travel nurse, and finally to a leader within the healthcare system, is a testament to the fact that sometimes you have to see the world to value what you have in your own backyard.
14 years of growth and a lesson in contrast
Katie didn’t just work at NMC Health; she grew up there. Over the course of 14 years, she built the base of her nursing career. She started on the surgical unit and then moved to the surgery center. She even cross-trained in the ER and took on internal contracts. By the time she decided to hang up her NMC badge, she had spent her entire professional life within its walls.
But even the most dedicated professionals eventually feel the itch to explore. Katie wanted to see how the rest of the medical world functioned. She wanted to know if the grass was truly greener, or if the “NMC way” was as special as she suspected.
Life as a travel nurse provided the perspective Katie was looking for, but perhaps not in the way she expected. Every new facility she entered became a point of comparison.
“NMC Health set the bar high for me,” Katie recalls. “Nothing compared to the facilities, the cleanliness, and the management. I always found myself comparing every experience back to NMC.”
Katie’s time on the road taught her that clinical growth isn’t just about a different zip code—it’s about the standard of care. She realized that the DNA of NMC Health was unique. It wasn’t just a hospital; it was a community where people from every department, from facilities to clinical staff, knew and supported one another.
The return to NMC Health
When Katie eventually walked back through the doors of NMC, she wasn’t the same nurse who had left. She was more experienced, more confident, and had a clear vision of the leader she wanted to become.
She didn’t return with the explicit goal of moving into management, but the “spark” she carried didn’t go unnoticed. With the encouragement of her former manager, Trish—who had always left the door open for her return—Katie began her transition into leadership. Today, she serves as nurse manager for NMC Health’s Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit and Senior Behavioral Health Center.
Protecting the culture
Now sitting on the other side of the desk, Katie uses her experience “on the road” to influence how she supports her own team. Drawing from the incredible mentorship she received from leaders like Trish, Katie chooses every day to lead with that same empowering and supportive spirit.
For Katie, there is one absolute non-negotiable in her department: Teamwork.
“I want every team member to know they are valuable,” she says. Her story serves as a powerful rebuttal to the idea that you have to leave your home hospital to advance your career. While she left to grow as a nurse, she returned to lead as one, proving that when you have a strong work ethic and a supportive environment, the best way to “level up” is to invest in the place that invested in you.
