For the past 10 years at Pine Rest, Kelly has been the Chief Nurse Executive to the fourth-largest free-standing behavioral health hospital in the nation.
During Kelly's tenure, she was instrumental in developing an RN Retention Lean Project. This project helped to retain staff by implementing "closed" staffing and increase staffing ratios to promote a safe environment and provide excellent quality care for our patients. Another outcome of this project was the development and implementation of the Clinical Professional Ladders in Nursing, which inspires nursing staff to own their own nursing practice and professionalism.
Kelly was one of the first instructors for the nursing practice model of Relationship Based Care; she engaged all disciplines across the hospital. It created a culture of caring where the patient and family are the central focus.
Kelly was instrumental in changing the face of how we educated and updated competencies throughout the hospital by creatively implementing with her team an annual Clinical Skills Fair. This not only made education updates interactive but also added a fun factor to it. All Hospital Based Services leadership was involved with the Skills Fair so that staff could have face-to-face interactions with the leadership of Pine Rest. Kelly has always encouraged and mentored her direct reports and staff to achieve higher education. Several Clinical Service Managers returned to school for their MSN degrees. CSMs and staff RNs obtained board certifications in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing! Kelly stressed that nurses need to be lifelong learners.
Keeping up with the changing needs of both patients and staff has always been on Kelly's mind; it has helped HBS expand services and facilities with the opening of Redwood and Cypress, as well as many renovations of facilities. During her time at PR Kelly helped grow HBS adding 56 more psychiatric inpatient beds and caring for 16,000 more patients! During her tenure Pine Rest as added and renovated more than 100,000 square feet of psychiatric patient care space. Her direct involvement in those projects has yielded state-of-the-art and warm-welcoming space for patients, staff, and visitors.
Kelly's philosophy has always been to have an open-door policy with her staff. She encouraged the CSMs to constantly be open, transparent and professional, while continually having the RBC values and the Pine Rest Mission in mind. Kelly is an inspirational leader. She leads with integrity and courage in all that she does.
No tribute to Kelly would be complete without also recognizing her generosity of spirit and sense of fun. Kelly is always the first to recognize the contributions of her team and to spotlight and enhance the strengths of all who work with her. She brings out the best in people; while at the same time being a safe harbor and comfort for those-in-need. Pine Rest HBS was truly blessed to have Kelly as their Chief Nurse Executive for the past decade, and we hope that her example and love of learning will help to inspire a new generation of nurses through her role as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatric Nursing at Grand Rapids Community College.