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Addressing the shortage

Lt. Cmdr. Annette Debisette, DNSc, ANP, RN, began her career with the Commissioned Corps as a nurse consultant. She brings 13 years of teaching experience and 21 years of clinical patient care to her job as chief of the advanced education nursing branch within HRSA.

Debisette works to decrease the national nursing shortage by providing funds to nursing schools seeking to hire additional teachers. Her office also provides grants for nursing students to help defray tuition costs.

“We’ve had a healthy response recently in terms of nurses applying for grant monies,” said Debisette, who funds training programs ranging from certified nurse assistants to doctoral programs for qualified nurse candidates.

Debisette, who grew up in Philadelphia, saw firsthand the health disparities that exist within urban cities and wanted a job where she could make a difference

Like her colleagues, Debisette describes her job with both passion and enthusiasm. She finds rewards in the camaraderie of the corps and notes that the admiral and chief of the nurse corps are responsive and accessible to nursing personnel.

Although much of her job involves attending a number of meetings and making administrative decisions, Debisette remains ACLS certified and maintains that it’s critical to keep up with her clinical skills.

“We may be in meetings one day and called out to assist victims of an earthquake the next day,” Debisette said. “It’s important for nurses in the corps to remain flexible and be open to change.”

Disaster preparedness

The next time the country goes to Code Orange, it’s going to be a busy day for Cmdr. Roberta Lavin, MSN, RN.

Lavin serves as chief of staff for the HHS’s Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, the federal agency responsible for meeting the health needs of the United States during emergencies.

In cooperation with other federal agencies and the private sector, the office coordinates the federal health and medical response and recovery activities. Lavin’s office serves as the medical “911” for all national disasters.

In addition to her work in the United States, her job in the corps has taken Lavin just off the Kamchatka peninsula of Russia, where she served as the medical officer for a national crew conducting water sampling and testing. She also has worked at an immigration detention facility in New York and at the Bureau of Prisons in Tucson, Ariz.

“A lot of my work revolves around policy and ensuring that all the right agencies are on board,” said Lavin, who, despite working in an office, manages to maintain her clinical hours by spending a couple of weeks each year working for the Indian Health Service.

“I do miss direct patient care, but I chose to leave clinical work for a policy job with the corps,” Lavin said. “Working at the bedside, I was able to impact the lives of individual patients, and by doing policy work I’m able to see the lives of thousands of patients changed with the stroke of a pen.”

Contact Linda Childers at eastbaypr@aol.com.