New Hampshire Nursing News - June 2022

June, July, August 2022 New Hampshire Nursing News • Page 9
and marketing. She continued to learn and advocate for our organization and
with her background and experience easily transitioned into our first full-time
Executive Director role. She has served as the Executive Director for two years and
has continued to ensure our mission, vision, and goals are clear with a direction
forward. She has continued to elevate our organization by developing processes
and relationships with key personnel from around the state and region, including
the front lines of the statehouse with policy. She sits on all of our board committees
to guide and support our work. She sits on various state-level committees to ensure
the voice of nurse practitioners is at the table. She works closely with our lobbyist to
ensure our goals and advocacy is at the highest level. She has been instrumental in
the growth and steadiness throughout these very challenging years.
Siobhan Benham, owner, and provider of Hearthside Family Health was recognized
as NP of the Year. She is a humble, quiet advocate for nurse practitioner students
and patients. Ms. Benham served as faculty at Rivier University for four years,
serving as lead faculty for women’s health and pediatric curricular development.
Current practice experience enhanced the quality of her teaching. After 12 years
in clinical practice and increasing frustration with a healthcare system designed
around insurance company requirements, she opened Hearthside Family Health
in 2017 under the Direct Access Model. She provides individualized care with
direct communication to and from her patients in an affordable, cost-transparent
model. Families and patients with high insurance deductibles, lack of insurance,
or seeking comprehensive, individualized primary care services are able to
access full-service primary care. She continues to provide evidence-based care,
with compassion and kindness, all while paying attention to the cost and delivery
of every medical choice. She does not compromise care, but advocates for her
patients by finding care that works for each patient all while staying an integral
part of the local medical community. Siobhan is a team player, motivated by
caring for others, and is a personal and professional role model for all who have
the pleasure to work with or know her.
Last year, Mary Sanford, APRN was recognized for the NHNPA Lifetime
Achievement Award. Mary has been an outstanding role model and advocate for
Nurse Practitioners since becoming the first NP to work in the ICU at Catholic
Medical Center. She has been involved in forwarding the profession of Advanced
Practice Nursing since serving on the NHNPA as the vice-president and president
working with the efforts of the NHNPA to acquire full practice authority for NPs in
NH. Mary is an outstanding clinician whose career has been marked by significant
accomplishments. She created a role for Advanced Practice Nurses to oversee
patient management in a busy medical/ surgical ICU. This was at a time when
nurse practitioners were not a mainstay as inpatient hospital providers. She worked
closely with the ICU intensivists and is responsible for a myriad of policies and
procedures that guide the care of these medically complex patients. After building
this unique role her focus shifted to advocacy for the nurse practitioners within
Catholic Medical Center and forged the way for institutional changes that were then
mirrored by area hospitals. She developed the Allied Health committee as a means
to provide a voice for advanced practice providers in an institution where APP was
a new phenomenon. She spent her time educating physician peers regarding the
role and scope of practice of nurse practitioners outlining the valuable resources
an APRN can bring to the inpatient arena. Through her efforts, the prevalence of
APRN’s in the inpatient setting within all disciplines is an example of the confidence
the institution has in the APRN model of care. Based on the development of the
Allied Health Committee this has since evolved to an APP committee, an organized
venue for APP advocacy within the institution now with a dedicated seat on the
Medical Executive Committee and voting rights. Mary is well known as an expert
clinician, admired by all who have had the opportunity to work with her. Mary
went from being the first and only ICU NP to an ICU now managed by a team of
Nurse Practitioners. She is the sole reason that nurse practitioners are sought
after in the inpatient arena, she has demonstrated the value of NP expertise and
has paved the way for all who came in her wake. She has presented at numerous
national conferences on the care of ICU patients specifically post-op management
of coronary artery bypass patients having done original research on the rewarming
protocol of post-surgical patients.
Debra Fournier, Advocate of the Year with
Jillian Belmont, outgoing President of NHNPA.
Marcy Ainslie, recipient of the LIfetime of Service award
with Jillian Belmont, outgoing President of NHNPA.
Bridget Linehan NP of the Year pictured with
Jillian Belmont, outgoing President of NHNPA.
Siobhan Benhamp ‘20 NP of the Year, Mary Sanford ‘20
LIfetime of Service recipient, Kim Mohan ‘20 Advocate of the Year