Andrea Highfill, R.N., Vitality for Life Program Director, along with more than 50 woman throughout Douglass County, Nevada, were nominated for the Record Courier's inaugural "Carson Valley's Most Remarkable Woman" awards, highlighted for their contributions to the community.
Andrea has been employed at Carson Valley Medical Center (CVMC) for nine years. During that time she has advanced from ICU staff nurse to her current roles as the Nurse Manager of the Vitality for Life Program and Clinical Educator.
Developing new registered nurses and supporting our current nursing staff has been a passion of Andrea’s especially in the past few years. She is the chairwoman of the committee that brought the Daisy Award, an internationally acclaimed recognition program for outstanding nurses to CVMC and oversaw inviting the nominator and 25 members of the recipient’s family to recognize the first nurse in Nov. 2017.
Andrea also assisted in the implementation of the CVMC Nurse Apprentice Program. This allowed for senior nursing students to be placed in paying positions in the Emergency and Medical-Surgical Departments and receive a wonderful transition between a student nurse to a staff nurse.
She worked with WNC Nursing Program Dean Judy Cordia to bring first year nursing students to CVMC for their first clinical rotation in October 2017. In a time where nursing students vie for clinical rotation sites, adding 16 spots at our local hospital assisted in launching these young professionals. It introduced CVMC to potential new graduate RN’s therefore assisting in the recruitment of these valuable resources. Andrea continued her partnership with WNC and has offered CVMC Nurse Managers and herself as mentors for senior nursing students for their leadership rotations for the last few years. She sits on the Nursing Advisory Council at Western Nevada College and acts as a liaison between the college and the hospital.
Andrea is the coordinator for the annual CVMC Nursing Skills Days. She works with instructors to provide annual training to CVMC staff in high risk or problem prone areas so that nursing competency and patient outcomes are improved. Subjects are presented in a fast-packed interesting format and the nurses look forward to the great learning environment.
She recently became a certified instructor through the Crisis Prevention Institute so that she can now offer hospital staff classes in non-violent crisis intervention. This fosters staff as well as patient safety.
Andrea teaches American Hospital Association Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support classes to hospital staff as well as firefighter-paramedics and other community members. She instills excellent information that allows for the attendees to save lives and meet employment criteria throughout Northern Nevada.
She also offers her time in supporting community activities. She is an active member of the Suicide Prevention Board and placed second in last year’s Gotta Dance fundraiser.
Andrea has unwavering energy and enthusiasm for any new projects. She quickly steps up to volunteer her time and talents. She does an excellent job of recruiting a team of people to assist on committees and can always be counted on to see assignments through with wonderful results.
Congratulations to Andrea, a true blessing and an asset to her hospital, community and to UltraGroup.
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