Visneski receives prestigious national award for cancer care
KINGSPORT – There are countless people through the years who have come to know and admire Kathy Visneski’s dedication to providing cancer care at Holston Valley Medical Center: physicians, nurses and – most especially – her patients.
But admiration for Visneski’s work as Holston Valley’s oncology clinical nurse specialist isn’t limited to those at the Christine LaGuardia Phillips Cancer Center. The American Cancer Society has noticed, too, by naming Visneski as the recipient of a prestigious national award given each year to health professionals who provide consistently excellent and skilled care to cancer patients.
The American Cancer Society will present Visneski with the Lane Adams Quality of Life Award during a May ceremony in Atlanta. Winners of the Lane Adams Award join select company, as there are only 15 Lane Adams winners this year. There were only eight winners in 2008 of the award named for Lane Adams, the former executive vice president of the ACS.
“We’re grateful the American Cancer Society is recognizing Kathy, because it’s hard to think of someone who is more deserving,” said Blaine Douglas, president of Holston Valley. “Through her work with cancer patients, she embodies the mission of our hospital – to deliver superior care with compassion.
“Kathy not only touches the lives of patients but also family members, friends of patients, the people she works with. There’s no way you could begin to estimate the number of lives she has touched through the years.”
Visneski began her career in oncology nursing in 1986 as a senior nurse at Holston Valley and has been there ever since. Holston Valley’s robust cancer support groups for patients and family members are managed by Visneski. They include groups for those battling prostate cancer, the Sisters group for breast cancer patients and a general cancer support group called Take Time. The latter support group is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
Visneski earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from East Tennessee State University and a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, but she will tell you it almost wasn’t meant to be – she first earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and intended to become a doctor. Even though she was accepted to medical school, Visneski chose nursing instead and tried her hand at oncology – but only because it was a temporary job lasting three months.
“I was working in oncology and when my first patient died,” Visneski said, “I thought, ‘I can’t handle this.’”
But Visneski’s nursing mentor at Holston Valley, Debbie Mills – who founded Take Time – recognized Visneski’s combination of skill and empathy and cornered her one day on the W-3 floor at Holston Valley: “What do you mean you don’t want to work in oncology? You HAVE to be an oncology nurse.”
Visneski acquiesced – and has never regretted her decision. Through her work at Holston Valley, Visneski met her husband, and the couple has two children. In addition to her clinical work at Holston Valley, she devotes many hours to the support groups. It’s an invaluable duty that even Visneski’s 9-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter recognized last year as she openly contemplated giving up the support groups so the nurse could spend more time being mom and wife.
“They told me, ‘Mom, you can’t do that,’” Visneski said. “They need you.”
Ever since that first death of a patient Visneski experienced, she has been there for countless others – for the many who survive and for those who do not survive and need help along their journey. Time and again, Visneski emphasizes the importance of quality of life and doing everything possible to realize it to the fullest. One cancer patient, writing in that vein, wrote that if you journey along with Visneski, “She’ll take you down a good road.”
“There are tough moments in oncology care, but there are so many that are good moments, too,” Visneski said. “You know, I didn’t plan to be an oncology nurse, but God seemed to have a different plan for my life. I get so much inspiration in working with our patients, and I’ve developed so many meaningful relationships – some have lasted for years and still do to this day.
“Many people do think that working in cancer care would be depressing, but in fact it’s just the opposite. The patients and the families appreciate you so much; I get back so much more than I give. You learn so much about living your life fully by working in oncology.”
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