WINNEMUCCA - Robyn Dunckhorst, of Winnemucca, was named as Nurse Nightingale Nurse of the Year for Humboldt General Hospital (HGH), where she has work in the emergency room and obstetrics for 13 years.
HGH Chief Nursing Officer Darlene Bryan said Dunckhorst was selected by a committee of nurse managers. Bryan was on that committee. She said the committee looks for a nurse who inspires, energizes, innovates and elevates.
Bryan said Dunckhorst trains new emergency room nurses and really takes that task to heart.
"She spends a ton of time with these people," Bryan said. "She makes certain that when they go on their own they are ready."
She added that Dunckhorst gets a lot of compliments from patients and that she looks at nursing as a profession, not a job.
"It's a part of her life that matters," Bryan said. "She just does it because she loves what she does."
Dunckhorst said she is happy to have won the award.
"I am certainly honored that my peers nominated me for this award," Dunckhorst said. "It has been an amazing 13 years providing care for the citizens of Winnemucca, especially when I get to work with the phenomenal medical community that HGH provides."
Dunckhorst has lived in Winnemucca since 2008. Prior to that, she lived in Battle Mountain from the time she was in the sixth grade. From 2000 to 2008 she commuted to Winnemucca from Battle Mountain.
Prior to working at HGH, she served as a nurse's assistant at Battle Mountain General Hospital from 1997 to 2000.
Before that, she was busy earning her Applied Science - Nursing degree from Great Basin College. She is a 1995 graduate of Battle Mountain High School.
Dunckhorst said she decided to become a nurse after meeting so many compassionate nurses during a family illness.
"As a young adult I became rapidly familiar with the healthcare industry due to a major family illness," she said. "Along the way I met phenomenal nurses that inspired me through their confident ability to compassionately care for others. Those nurses and also the enjoyment of helping people are the reasons I became a nurse."
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Her favorite part of being a nurse is working with people.
"I love the compassion and human connection to patients that are truly in need," she said. "I enjoy that challenge of the ever changing medical field. Most of all I like that I can believe in myself and my coworkers, that there is no situation we can't handle together."
Dunckhorst was born in Buffalo, Wyo., and lived in multiple places in Wyoming before moving to Battle Mountain.
Her husband is John Dunckhorst and her kids are twins boys, Christian and Robert Rives, both 17, and Bree Dunckhorst, 8.[[In-content Ad]]
