Lovelace leadership series – an interview with Vanessa Moreton

Vanessa Moreton, RN works in the same unit today that she was hired into as a new nursing graduate 13 years ago. However, don’t assume that means her career at Lovelace has been under the radar in any way. From starting out on the night shift as a staff nurse on the post surgical services unit, Vanessa moved to days then into a role as a clinical educator, and then ultimately the director. “I was asked to do this on an interim basis and ended up taking it on a full-time basis,” she says of accepting her new and current role in 2010. She leads a team on the eighth floor at Lovelace Medical Center with low turnover and a strong connection to each other. “When you’re one of the Best Places to Work in Health Care, it’s all about people helping each other out and we do that here.” Yet, what Lovelace patients and upcoming nurses have benefitted from during her leadership may not have happened if it weren’t from one of life’s circumstances you could take right out of a country song lyric.

“I was leaving Texas and wanted to go west, but my car broke down here in Albuquerque,” Vanessa laughs. “Fortunately, it was one of my stops I was going to make anyway.”

Meeting with three hospitals in Albuquerque, Vanessa says the interview she had at Lovelace Medical Center left a lasting impression on her. “I’ll never forget Maryann Winklejohn,” she says. “She was an influence on me accepting this position. And then three months later, she retired.”

Timing is everything.

In 2003, it was Vanessa’s time to begin a new career at Lovelace at the age of 49. “Nursing was not my first career,” she adds. “It was something I always wanted to do and I believe that no one should go out of this life not doing what they wanted to do.”

As a human resources specialist for the Air Force, Vanessa worked full-time while going to school at night. “There are no excuses,” she says of making sacrifices to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse.

Her earliest memories of nursing are from the month she spent in the hospital when she was only seven years old. “I was always attracted to the white hats the nurse wore,” Vanessa recalls. “I can still make paper nurses’ hats today!”

Vanessa admits her personality is a bit spirited and she does not shy away from speaking her mind. At her core, she is that girl who understood what those nurses were doing for her and she will never forget that. “I always wanted to help people,” she explains. “Even when I was working in HR, I was helping people. I think sometimes we forget that. What if we were in that bed? What if the person in that bed was our family member?  How would we want to be treated?”

In staff meetings and one-on-one conversations, Vanessa says she is continually reminding her team about that very notion. “You have to stop and think about it,” she says. “We need to be reminded of that all of the time.”

At 62, Vanessa says nursing as a second career for her has its benefits, adding, “I’m fortunate to have had a lot of life experiences to bring to the table.” She recognizes there are generational gaps with younger nurses on her team, but in them many times she sees her own children. “I tend to be a mother figure at times. I’m also available. I get here when the nightshift is leaving to answer any of their questions. I’m on the floor when needed, even if that means starting an IV or emptying a urinal or bedpan.  I want to instill that work ethic for my team.”

Her team and the Lovelace team, Vanessa says is why she feels fortunate the stop she made on the way out west ended up being a permanent home for her nursing career. “I love Lovelace because of the people I work with on my team, my peers and the C-suite and the teamwork we have,” she says.