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Faculty positionsavailable Now!

• Instructor, Nursing• Instructor, Nursing (Adjunct)

• Instructor, Nursing (Simulation Lead)

To see a detailed job description and to applyfor open positions, please visit us at

www.gtcc.edu.EOE

Denise RhewB R C. L

Special to the News & Record

When she was 5 years old, Denise Rhew had her tonsils taken out.

The nurse attending to her was, Rhew recalled, dressed all in white, and “very compassionate and caring.”

“That was my first experience of being taken care of by a nurse in a hospital,” she said. “I like how she cared for me ... brought me whatever I wanted, like ice cream, fried chicken.”

From that moment on, Rhew said, she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up.

Today, Rhew, 53, is the clinical nurse specialist for five emergency departments and research chair for the Cone Health system.

Her job, as she sees it, is to inspire Cone Health’s nursing staff “to be the best that they can be.”

“I want them to look at their environment to see what we can do to improve care,” she said. “It takes a team effort to care for each patient that walks in. It’s not an ‘I’ here, it’s a ‘we.’”

Rhew has worked as a nurse for 33 years, nine of them at Cone Health.

Growing up, Rhew said she was inspired also by her grandmother who was a neonatal nurse.

“She worked second shift, 3 to 11 p.m., until she was 82,” Rhew said. “At her retirement, they had a picture of her with two babies in her arms. I was very fortunate to have a role model in her. ”

Throughout most of her career, Rhew said, she has held multiple roles and jobs. Among other things, she has taught in nursing schools, worked in hospice

and provided home health care.

In 2015, she was named Practice Nurse of the Year by the North Carolina Nurses Association, and last year, she earned a Ph.D. in nursing research and philosophy from UNCG. She also teaches a number of classes for nurses in the Cone Health system.

Colleagues describe her as a tireless promoter of the profession and say she often volunteers to work during times of low staffing.

“Enough cannot be said about Denise and the way that she cares for others,” her colleague Bryan Gray wrote when nominating her for the 2017 Nurses of Distinction. “She is that nurse that you want taking care of you or your family simply because she exudes compassion, skill and knowledge from the moment that you meet her.”

Rhew said she sets out to establish a bond with all patients, even those with whom she spends only a brief amount of time.

“We may only get to care for them for four or five hours, but I want to see that they’re improving,” she said. “Or, if not, maybe just be able to hold their hand and listen to them.”

Age: 53

Employer: Cone Health, Moses

Cone Hospital

Experience: 33 years in the

field

Currently: Clinical nurse

specialist and research chair for

the Cone Health system

Education: Bachelor’s,

Master’s and Ph.D. from UNC-

Greensboro

Randolph Health &Rehabilitation Center

•RegisteredNurses•LPN

•C.N.A

Asheboro, NC

Please contact Nikki Mount,Area HR Manager at:

919-605-8939