CARL JUNCTION, MO, November 02, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Betty Houser with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Ms. Houser celebrates many years' experience in her professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in her field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Inspired by her mother, who never had the chance to complete nursing school, Betty decided to pursue a career in nursing. Therefore, after graduation from Rocky Ford High School, she went to Loretto Heights College, now known as Regis University, in Denver CO, and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing.
She was interested in psychiatric and mental health nursing because some of her family members dealt with mental health issues, so later in her career, Betty (now Betty Houser) graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M), with a Master of Science Degree. Her major focus was psychiatric and mental health nursing in the clinical nurse specialist functional role. After graduation she was certified by the American Nurse Association as a psychiatric and mental health nurse and approved as an outpatient mental health care provider in WI. And after obtaining the necessary supervised clinical experience hours and passing the American Nurse Credentialing Center exams, she became Board Certified as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in child, adolescent and adult psychiatric and mental health nursing. She then moved to MO, where she was recognized by the MO State Board of Nursing as an Advanced Practice Nurse in child and adolescent psychiatric and mental health nursing. She was a member of the Missouri Nurses Association, the American Nurses Association and the American Psychiatric Nurses Association.
Betty retired from her prolific career in nursing in 2002, spanning 30 years of service. For the last several years of her career, she served as an assistant professor at Missouri Southern State College (MSSC), now University, in Joplin MO, where her primary responsibilities were to teach psychiatric and mental health nursing theory and supervise students' clinical experiences with the mentally ill. Among other duties, Betty taught basic nursing skills and participated in the National League of Nursing Accreditation process for MSSC. She also presented Missouri League of Nursing all day workshops for mental health providers' continuing education in eight MO cities. And for two semesters she was a part-time psychiatric and mental health nurse clinician/lecturer at Pittsburg State University School of Nursing in Pittsburg, KS.
For a decade, Betty was a psychiatric/mental health nurse at Mendota Mental Health Institute (MMHI) in Madison WI, where she was a charge nurse on the unit for psychologically and neurologically impaired children and adolescents. There, after graduation from UW-M, she took on an advanced practice role, which included parent and community liaison, trainer and educator; in –service coordinator; and quality assurance/improvement reviewer. She also worked on the Deaf Treatment Unit at MSSC, where she learned sign language in order to care for emotionally challenged deaf children, adolescents and adults. And, for several semesters after graduation from UW-M, she was an affiliate clinical instructor and preceptor/ instructor in their under-graduate nursing program, plus, she was an instructor in their graduate nursing program. Early in her nursing career, she worked at several psychiatric/mental health facilities, including Menninger Clinic in Topeka KS, and she was a private duty nurse for injured Vietnam veterans at the US Air Force Base in Tachikawa, Japan.
Betty was a volunteer nurse as well. After retirement, she volunteered as the mental health professional for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in Joplin MO and accepted responsibilities as an officer and board member. In NAMI, she taught an all-day provider course to a variety of mental health professional care-givers, as well as a 12-week program to families of the mentally ill. While at MSSC, she coordinated several American Red Cross (ARC) Blood Drives and volunteered at the Joplin Community Clinic, plus, she taught ARC pre-natal classes at an Air Force Family Housing Annex in Japan. For her professional and community contributions, Betty was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society and the MSSC Nursing Honor Society.
Betty has excelled in many areas outside of nursing. She earned an Early Childhood Education certificate from Edgewood College in Madison, WI and dedicated a decade to developing and teaching pre-school music, arts, and crafts in her program called "Small World" at the West YMCA in Madison. She has also participated in many church choirs, as a director, organist and choir member. Since her retirement, Betty sang in the Joplin Sweet Adeline's Chorus and she has been an avid gardener with the Ozark Gateway Master Gardeners and the Carl Junction Cultivator's Garden Club.
She has been a prolific writer as well. She reviewed and contributed to Elizabeth Varcarolis' book: Psychiatric Nursing Clinical Guide Tools and Assessment. And she notably authored My Precious Sister, a tale of one woman's extraordinary ability to find beauty, joy and peace, despite living with Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS). Based on her sister's amazing journal, Betty wrote her story, which was published in 2015, with a second edition released in 2016. She was recently invited to speak about and read from her book at an Artists and Writers Program in Rocky Ford CO. To learn more about and/or purchase her book, go to Betty's website: myprecioussister.com.
Throughout her career, Betty has witnessed her students utilize the knowledge they learned in her classroom. For example, one student told her that her class on suicide was instrumental in saving his patient's life. Betty attributes her professional success to her family, especially her husband, who has supported her in all her endeavors. She also cites her love for reading and learning and a strong faith in God among the building blocks of her rewarding career.
Looking forward to the future, Betty plans to continue working in her fifteen gardens, being active in her church, and devoting time to her family. She also wants to finish developing the over thirty albums of the travels to foreign countries which she and her family have visited throughout the years. And finally, she hopes to finish writing her family stories and her own memoirs.
Betty is listed in Marquis' Who's Who in American Nursing (1993-1994); Who's who in American Women (1995-1996); Who's Who in the Midwest (1996-1997); Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare (2000-2001); and has been chosen as a Who's Who Marquis Lifetime Achievement Inductee (2020).
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