“I knew nursing was my path,” shares Lovelace Regional Hospital – Roswell CEO Dawn Tschabrun, RN of her 31-year professional career and lifelong interest in nursing. It all began in her South Central Nebraska hometown, where Dawn was introduced to health care through her mother’s job as a materials management tech at their local community hospital. By high school, Dawn volunteered as a candy striper and met a charge nurse named Rita, who took her under her wing and opened her eyes to the field of nursing. “She was an old-school nurse – starched white uniform, white hat and wore her nursing pin every day. She kept telling me what a great profession nursing is and how you serve people at their worst time or at their best time when they are welcoming a new child into the world.”
Due to the size and nature of the community hospital, Rita, the charge nurse, moved from department to department with Dawn always close by. “We went from med/surg to the Emergency Department and the OR – all over that hospital,” she recalls. “It afforded me the opportunity to understand that nursing was very broad and there were many different things that connect you to the patient and that it even goes beyond the patient to their families. That experience solidified my desire to have a career in nursing. I knew I wanted to be the best nurse possible.”
Dawn went on to be the first person in her family to graduate from college. In 1985 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in hand, Dawn said two states were hiring at that time – Alaska and Texas. “For the girl from Nebraska the options were: no snow or snow,” she adds. “I chose no snow.” She began working at a Texas hospital in the med-surg unit then moved into the intensive care unit (ICU) and eventually transitioned to cardiovascular intensive care unit (CV-ICU).
“I began to ask myself, ‘How could I do more and serve more people?’” she recalls. “I believed as a leader I could serve more people.” Dawn accepted a role as the house supervisor, rounding on all the departments throughout the hospital, overseeing quality and patient care. It is essentially the house supervisor’s role to find an answer to every question and a solution to every problem. Her work was quickly recognized and she was asked to oversee the construction of a new med/surg telemedicine unit as a nursing director.
At the conclusion of that project, Dawn stepped back to look strategically at her career moving forward. In 2000, she decided to go back to school to pursue a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA). “I thought a Master’s in Business would give me a solid resume.” Upon graduation, she was recruited to a hospital in Las Cruces, NM, boasting 320 days of sunshine and an opportunity to lead as chief nursing officer (CNO). “I focused on providing exceptional care for patients every day.”
Nearly seven years ago, Dawn was recruited once again – this time to the physician-owned Roswell Regional Hospital. “I was pleasantly surprised at how busy and dynamic a 26-bed hospital could be,” she recalls of her first visit. On her way back to Las Cruces the CEO in Roswell called Dawn and convinced her to make the move. She came on board as the CNO.
“The organization has been through a lot of change,” she explains. Lovelace Health System purchased the hospital in 2012. The following year, Dawn was named the new chief executive officer (CEO) of Lovelace Regional Hospital – Roswell. The role marries her clinical and business experience. “I have an understanding of what our providers are doing. It’s all about quality care. If we focus on excellent outcomes and excellent service to our patients, everything else flows from that.”
Dawn leads not only from within the hospital, but at the community and state level as well. “It’s important to be involved,” she says. Serving on the board at the local community college to the Roswell Chamber of Commerce and Quality New Mexico, Dawn’s path in health care leadership continues to serve others across the state. “I’m passionate about giving back. Every community I have lived in has given me something. I try to take that forward with me. I attend graduation and hand out diplomas to graduating students. It’s exhilarating to see their faces. At the Chamber of Commerce, I want to sustain and grow Roswell to attract and retain businesses. At Quality New Mexico, my passion is to validate New Mexico as a state of excellence.”
Her passion for serving others has caught on at Lovelace Regional Hospital – Roswell. Employees can be found coaching tee-ball on the weekends. Dietary staff caters events for the community. Lovelace is so much a part of Roswell, the son of a nurse, Mayor Dennis Kintigh, often joins Dawn for physician recruitment interviews, sharing his passion for the field of health care and serving others.
“Nursing is care, compassion and respect for humans in both their worst and best times,” Dawn says. At Lovelace Regional Hospital – Roswell, nurses have the opportunity to bring their passion for patient care to an environment that fosters their professional development as well.
To learn more about current opportunities in nursing at Lovelace Regional Hospital – Roswell and to apply online, click here.