Community Hospital is excited to announce the hospital’s 2023 Caring Kind recipient is Becky Felker, LPN, a nurse with Community HealthCare and Hospice. She was honored in October as Community Hospital’s Caring Kind recipient during the Nebraska Hospital Association annual convention in La Vista. During the convention, Felker was a guest at the Caring Kind luncheon along with other recipients from across the state.
She was nominated by co-workers and chosen by the Community Hospital PACT committee (Pride, Activities, Communication Team). Her nominations read:
“Becky always goes above and beyond for her patients and their families. She gives amazing, heartfelt care to her Home Health patients. She sews hospital gowns, problem solves for any of their needs and listens with empathy and compassion. Becky never lets a phone call go unanswered from one of her patients, day or night, she’s always available to them.
A few years ago, Becky made the decision to be a living organ donor for one of her co-workers. Although she was unable to donate the kidney to her co-worker, she did choose to proceed with the kidney donation and was able to change the lives of two other individuals on the transplant list. This goes to show what a caring and kind woman she truly is. Her co-worker also did receive a kidney in June, and Becky visited her in the hospital in Omaha often while she was recovering.
In addition to her nursing duties with Home Health and Hospice, she is also the hospice volunteer coordinator. She is in charge of making sure patients have a companion/volunteer when needed at the most vulnerable time in their lives. She is also a hospice volunteer herself and rarely turns down another patient. She is ambitious in recruiting family, friends and community members for hospice volunteers.
Outside of work, she is a very active member of her church, where she is on the worship team playing guitar, singing, or playing the piano. She was integral in recommending our hospice chaplains for Home Health and Hospice as well as hospital services. She volunteers at AWANA and assists with a mentoring group. Becky often makes meals for others and donates her time and talent throughout our community. Becky is not only life giving, but she truly is an amazing nurse, co-worker, employee, and friend. She is the epitome of what it is to be a caring and kind human being to all of mankind.”
Felker’s first job was working at Community Hospital in 1985 on the patient floor. After moving away for a number of years, she and her husband, Reggie, moved back to their hometown when he retired from the Border Patrol in 2015. She returned to working at Community Hospital in September 2016. They have three sons, Jeremy, Christopher and Justin and eight grandchildren- four granddaughters, including triplets; and two grandsons.
For 42 years, the Nebraska Hospital Association has been honored to bestow awards to Nebraska health care employees that have risen to the top by providing service excellence and dedication to their profession. These award recipients commit themselves to the betterment of their hospitals and health systems, their customers, their co-workers and their communities.