You At Your Best

expected employment growth of registered nurses between 2018 and 2028 That's more than double the average growth estimate for all occupations 15% By KARen RiCe yOu At yOuR BeSt Renae Lipsmeyer has been a nurse for 11 years and has worked in many different areas of nursing: ER, Urgent Care, Primary Care, Long Term Care, Assisted Living. Since June of 2020, she's been a Wellness Nurse with Concordia Retirement of Bella Vista. Wellness Nurses monitor and manage the health and well-being of patients in a community setting. They coordinate with other medical professionals and educate their patients so that the patients can take better care of their own health. We talked with Renae recently about her role in the lives of seniors and why it's so important. What are your duties as a wellness nurse? Being a wellness nurse is a unique and rare position in the nursing field. I am so humbled, and grateful to be serving in this capacity. My focus at Concordia is to be the liaison between our residents and their physician, home health, rehabilitation, or other service(s) that are needed in order to maintain an independent lifestyle. I like to compare my unique position to that of a concierge. My job is to find the service and/or business that will best help the resident's situation/need. I truly believe that my ability to help our resident's stems from my vast experience throughout the medical field. I have had the good fortune of building hundreds of relationships throughout Northwest Arkansas' medical field, and without those relationships with so many different providers, I firmly believe that I could not be as successful in my current position. There are hundreds of services that are available to senior adults in Northwest Arkansas. I constantly challenge myself to continuously learn and study the services and products that are available to make their lives easier, whether it be mentally, physically or spiritually. Tell us more about this field of nursing Wellness Nurses, or more commonly known as liaisons, are quite popular in the medical community. Almost every major company, including health insurance companies, most always have medical liaisons on board in order to help monitor and track wellness services. In 2012, I worked for Humana as a Clinical Liaison. My job was to work with our customers (insured clients) to encourage healthy lifestyles. We encouraged our diabetic patients to have strong relationships with their primary care physicians and followed their progress to make sure they understood the best way to manage their disease. We also tracked women over 40 and encouraged them to schedule and have yearly mammograms. I had the pleasure to work with patients from every walk of life and found such pleasure in helping them understand the importance of yearly physical exams that included lab work. My role was very rewarding and made me understand how important self-care really is, at every age. Why is wellness nursing important for seniors? As a wellness nurse, or patient advocate, I know the ins and outs of bureaucratic systems that can be overwhelmingly complex. Healthcare can be tricky, confusing and stressful. My passion is to help bridge the gap between healthcare and patients and make their health plan as easy and stress free as possible. What is your role as a wellness nurse? I consider my position to be the same as a patient/ family advocate. My mission is to help ensure that our residents are educated about the appropriate doctors for their care; that treatment plans are being followed; and that the resident/family knows the advantages of all available treatment options. Most of the time I work directly with the resident, but there are a lot of families I work with as well. In senior living, we see whole families gather to take care of their loved ones needs. What's something people don't know about aging and senior health? In my experience, I have found that most seniors/ families don't fully know or understand all their Medicare benefits. There are so many health services that are usually paid for if you have a qualifying diagnosis or have a qualifying health event. I do my very best to stay informed about senior services that are available for little, or no cost, and how to access them. Sources: Arkansas State Board of nursing, American nursing Association, u.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, u.S. Census Bureau Registered nurses in the U.S. today, the highest percentage of the US healthcare workforce miLLiOn 3.8 Shortage of nurses by 2022 miLLiOn 1 What is a Renae Lipsmeyer, LPn Back and musculoskeletal on-the-job injuries suffered by nurses each year that are significant enough to prevent them from working 35,000 + In fact, nurses face a greater risk of injury than factory workers, construction workers and other jobs involving nothing but physical labor. 100 + specialties within the field of nursing ? wellness nurse suNday, april 25, 2021 | Best Nurses - May yOuatyOurBest.NWaONliNe.cOM | yOu at yOur Best | 7

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