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270,000 NPs: Health Care You Can Trust #NPWeek
November 10-16 is National Nurse Practitioner Week. A BIG Thank you to our compassionate NPs, Robin Anderson and Alex Hinrichsen. Thank you for the care you give to our #hospice and #palliative care patients.
Robin Anderson, RN, CHPN, MSN, NP BIO:
Before my 19 years with hospice I worked for 17 years with renal failure patients, both dialysis and transplant. I have worked as an aide to developmentally handicapped, nurse aide, LPN/LVN and as an RN.
My work with Harbor Hospice (formally Hospice of Muskegon-Oceana) began in 1999 as a staff RN During this time I went back to school for my master’s degree in nursing through the University of Phoenix and started looking into programs for advance practice nursing in the palliative care field. At that time there were two programs, one for a clinical nurse specialist and one for a nurse practitioner. I choose to follow the NP path.
I received my post masters certificate in palliative care/medicine at New York University in 2005. During this time I had an educational leave of absence from hospice but would help cover shifts over the holidays.
When I graduated the palliative care program was put into inception at Mercy Health Partners (formally Mercy Hospital). My first palliative care patient was in 2005. During this time I have always been a hospice employee with my services contracted to Mercy.
(Robin joined our Harbor Hospice team in 1999 and Harbor Palliative Care in 2005)
Alex Hinrichsen, AGPCNP-BC BIO:
My academic career started at Iowa State University where I received a Bachelor of Kinesiology. During my time at Iowa State, I had the pleasure of spending some time with a family friend who was a palliative care physician. This was when I truly discovered my passion for palliative medicine. Witnessing how Dr. Ihrig cared for his patients was something I had never experienced before. Being able to connect with patients and help honor their wishes while walking side by side with them on their journey was a truly inspiring experience.
After I graduated from Iowa State, I worked for a year in my home town of Sioux City, IA, as a nursing assistant. I knew I wanted to work in the health care field and this was where I decided that being a nurse practitioner would allow me to reach my goal of providing palliative care to my future patients. I received my Bachelor of Nursing degree from Mercy College of Health Sciences in Des Moines, IA where I served as our student nurses association president. This allowed me to present about the topic of palliative care and even write a proposal to increase the use of advance care planning at the Annual National Student Nurses Association conference.
Upon completion of my BSN, I was accepted into Vanderbilt University’s MSN program where I specialized as an adult/geriatric primary care nurse practitioner. While completing my advanced practice coursework, I did my clinical rotations here locally in Muskegon, at Seminole Shores Internal Medicine. Here I got to put my skills to the test and manage numerous chronic illnesses while working with patients to make the most informed choices about their healthcare.
I am excited to be part of Harbor Hospice and Harbor Palliative Care and I look forward to helping the program grow.
(Alex joined our Harbor Palliative Care and Hospice team in 2018)
Read more about our entire TEAM