NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — New Chief Nursing Officer with Hutchinson Regional, Dr. Jonna Jenkins has worked in nursing at every level in her career in Austin, Texas.
"I actually started my career as a patient care tech, working night shift while I put myself through nursing school," Jenkins said. "After graduation, I stayed on the same unit that I had worked as a patient care tech. It was a pulmonary renal unit, so lungs and kidneys. I did that for 13 years, became the night shift supervisor, flipped over to day shift, which was a big change, but real quickly, within a couple of months, took on the manager role of that unit and then advanced to the acute care director. I was over quite a few units and then took on the emergency department during that time. Right when COVID hit, I added the emergency department. I worked as the interim Chief Nursing Officer there and then as the Director of Clinical Operations."
Jenkins understands why there is a nursing shortage.
"When I went through nursing school, I was not prepared to practice in a world where it felt like everything you are doing is futile and all of these people are going to die anyway," Jenkins said. "Some people, they just don't have the capacity to continue to do that day after day. I think that, while we need them in nursing, I think that we also have to be gracious and understand that, for some people, this just was absolutely too much. I would like to encourage any nurse who left the profession. Definitely seek professional counseling. It can be super helpful."
Jenkins sees herself as an advocate for all of those who touch patients.
"I need to work for all of the nurses and all of the healthcare workers in the hospital, to give them the best place to work, so that what they are doing when they are there every day, just thinking about how to provide the most excellent patient care possible," Jenkins said. "For me, it's taking care of the people who work at Hutch Regional, so that they can take excellent care of anyone who comes through those doors."
Jenkins was selected following a national search. She started July 6.