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Davison receives‘Forty Under Forty’award from AAPC

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<p>PLAINS TWP. &#8212; For Lisa Katra, patient zero of her health care career was a bit on the fuzzy, cuddly side.</p><p>&#8220;I think the teddy bear was my first patient,&#8221; the veteran nurse supervisor at Timber Ridge said with a chuckle. &#8220;I was probably around 8 years old.&#8221;</p><p>Originally from New York &#8212; Monticello High School upstate and not too far from the Hudson is her alma mater &#8212; Katra came to this area through family. &#8220;My mom is from here.&#8221;</p><p>She came to nursing through, well, maybe that teddy bear, maybe those heartwarming TV medical shows of the 1970s.</p><p>&#8220;From the time I was little, I loved &#8216;Marcus Welby, MD&#8217; and most of those things,&#8221; she recounted, referring to the ABC series that debuted in 1969 and ran for seven seasons. Robert Young &#8212; the titular &#8220;Father&#8221; knows best from the 1950s series, played an avuncular and compassionate general practitioner in Santa Monica, Calif.</p><p>&#8220;I started taking classes at Luzerne County Community College and got the spark,&#8221; she recalled. &#8220;I decided you know, I want to be a nurse.&#8221;</p><p>That spurred her to get a bachelor&#8217;s degree from Wilkes University and go to work in various capacities, looking for the best fit. &#8220;I did medical surgery, emergency room, and then I went into long-term care and realized that&#8217;s my thing.&#8221;</p><p>Her previous gig was Guardian Elder Care, where she watched her director of nursing work with compassion and competence. &#8220;I really liked her style, liked everything she did as far as supporting her nurses and how she managed the place,&#8221; Katra recalled.</p><p>So when that person switched to Timber Ridge, Katra went along. She&#8217;s been at the facility for eight years, currently serving as RN supervisor for the third floor, overseeing six nurses aides, two LPNs and about 60 patients. That&#8217;s a pretty big work load.</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s super important to have a good staff,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We may roll our eyes at each other sometimes, but everyone knows whats expected of them.&#8221;</p><p>What keeps her going? You may be surprised.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s funny, but the knowledge that these elderly patients impart has always been a pinnacle with me. To hear their stories from the old days, when things were simpler, when you see marriages that last forever, to have people depend on you, the family members. They get very close to a lot of my nurses aids and nurses. They know them, they know their mother and father. They become family.</p><p>At 57, she may be a tad flattered at the nomination by one of her LPNs &#8220;who has been a nurse since the day that I started,&#8221; but she shows no ego about it.</p><p>&#8220;Of course, you never think you deserve it. You&#8217;re just doing your job like any other person, kind of like public service or when you work in the firehouse positions, where you kind of give rather than expect to get anything in return.&#8221;</p><p><ins>To read more about Nurses Week, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/tag/nurses_week" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">click here</a>.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Lisa Katra is a nurse at Timber Ridge Nursing Home in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_LisaKatra1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Lisa Katra is a nurse at Timber Ridge Nursing Home in Wilkes-Barre. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_LisaKatra2a.jpg">
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>Age: 57 &#8226; Position: Nurse supervisor at Timber Ridge</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Lisa Katra never really considered another profession