November Employee Of The Month Has Enjoyed Seeing The GI Lab Grow

As a staff and charge nurse in the GI lab, Kathy Reller works with physicians, technicians and other nurses on highly specialized procedures to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal conditions. Her job requires a high degree of skill and knowledge, and it also requires care, compassion and discretion for the people who need these procedures.

“You have to help patients through it if they’re nervous or scared,” Kathy says. “I like educating and helping them.”

Kathy joined Boone Hospital Center 30 years ago, when a friend encouraged her to apply. At the time, she was working on her bachelor’s degree in nursing at Central Methodist University and had been a nurse for about 10 years. She worked in hospitals in Houston, Texas and throughout Missouri, including Saint Louis Children’s Hospital, before coming to Columbia after getting engaged.

Kathy started in the critical care float pool, which cared for patients in the hospital’s intensive care and stepdown units. She then became a critical care nurse educator, but after realizing how much she missed providing bedside care, she took a staff nurse position in the Labor and Delivery unit. Four years later, she moved to the hospital’s new GI Lab, where she was one of just three nurses on staff. It turned out to be a great fit; Kathy’s been with the GI Lab for the last 24 years.

“When we started, we would be busy when we saw maybe 10 to 12 patients in a day. Now we treat 20 to 40 patients a day,” she says. “It’s been a wonderful experience to see the GI Lab grow.”

Not only has GI Lab team grown in size and capability to provide excellent patient care, but her coworkers have also grown close over the years. This bond is what Kathy loves most.

“We’ve all grown up together,” she says. “I was pregnant with my second child when I started in the GI lab. He’ll soon be 24. We’ve all done school things together, sport things together, went through happy times and sad times, celebrated baby showers and wedding showers. Now our children are getting married, and we’re seeing grandchildren. We’re a very special, tight group.”

Kathy is also very dedicated to her family, her husband of 32 years, Steve, and sons Scott, 28, and Todd, 23, both Boone babies. All of them share a love of baseball.

“We’re a baseball family,” she says. “I was a baseball mom. I still am!”

Her sons are currently assistant baseball coaches at community colleges, Scott in Hutchinson, Kansas, and Todd in Pratt, Kansas. Steve runs a baseball league in Columbia. Kathy is also a Cardinals fan and supports all of her teams.

Her other interests include sewing, crocheting and quilting, and she loves making special gifts for family and friends. She enjoys photography and has won past employee photo contests with some of her baseball pictures.

When asked what she likes best about working at Boone Hospital Center, Kathy says, “The best part of Boone is the staff.”

 Congratulations, Kathy!