45 Years and Counting
Growing up, teachers viewed Bev Teegarden as the person most likely to know the answer to a question but who wouldn’t answer aloud. Bev has come a long way since being a shy fourth grader at Westwood Elementary in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
As Memorial Hospital’s Chief Nursing Officer, Bev oversees more than 1,000 nurses and 500 other clinical staff nurses. It’s a job she couldn’t foresee back in the 1960s as a high school candy striper at Middletown Hospital in Ohio. But the Owensboro, Kentucky, native and oldest of three children came to realize, while she didn’t like math or science, she did like helping people. So when it came to deciding on a college, every school she considered had a nursing program, including Ball State.
Following graduation from Ball State she moved to South Bend and took a nursing job at Memorial Hospital, “because people said this is the place to work in South Bend.” Her tenure at Memorial officially started on June 29, 1970, in the ICU/Coronary Care Unit – she was one of the first two nurses at Memorial to have a bachelor of nursing degree.
After her first child in 1972, Bev worked part-time for the next five years in the role of educating ICU nurses. She was later selected ICU co-director and head nurse of the ICU before taking the role of head nurse in the ER. Then as ER program manager, Bev oversaw operations and finances. She was again promoted in 1993, and managed several service lines including Critical Care, ICU, Interventional Radiology and Cardiac Cath Lab. In 2011, Bev was selected Chief Nursing Officer.
“I love it. It’s my favorite role ever,” says the mom of two grown children and grandmother to seven grandchildren. “My passion
has always been to facilitate change and to make things better for the clinical nurse.”
Bev has a way of embracing change at every turn. Maybe that stems partly from the fact she moved nearly 10 times as a child and teenager. Back in the 70s at Memorial, she was among the first nurses to do away with wearing the traditional nursing hat. She also pushed for nursing directors and managers to wear everyday clothes versus a nursing uniform.
If changes about the delivery of care take place in the hospital, Bev emphasizes nurses need to be at the center of those discussions.
“If we want to make things better, we should always be at the forefront of care. Our philosophy about nursing is to empower nurses with a passion to be the change leaders at the bedside.”
Nursing hasn’t changed all that much in Bev’s 45 years at Memorial; it’s still about providing the very best care. But still, changes are inevitable. The increasing prevalence of technology at the nursing station and at the bedside has impacted how patient information is stored, communicated and used in directing patient care. Bev never wants to see a computer get in the way of the nurse/patient relationship, but as a tool to better assist nurses in doing their job.
Bev understands nurses feel overwhelmed at times due to sophisticated health care technologies, emotional fatigue, increased documentation and government compliance. That is why she is a big supporter of shared governance – a nursing model involving teamwork, problem solving and accountability, with the goals of improved staff satisfaction, productivity and patient outcomes. It is working together to make decisions that affect nursing practice and patient care.
“I am very proud of our shared governance structure at Memorial,” says Bev. “It is the forum for nurses to have ‘a say’ and implement change for patient care delivery and quality of work life.”
In the end, she holds the highest regard for those serving in the nursing profession. “What drives me is knowing that there are people here who want to help people improve their quality of life. There is so much compassion at Memorial. That keeps me coming back every day.”
