Local nurse wins national award

      Something about those white hats.
      Since she was a kindergartner, Rhonda Hawkins has loved the white hats worn by nurses. Nevertheless, Hawkins forgos white hats in her job as a case manager and medical supervisor for Amil International of Nevada, a managed health-care organization.
      The Northwest resident prefers wearing other hats. Teacher. Patient advocate. Friend. And now, Nurse of the Year.
      Hawkins, 38, was one of 14 Southern Nevada nurses named Nurse of the Year in Case Management by the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, a national nonprofit group devoted to eliminating birth defects.
      For the last 12 years, the March of Dimes has selected nurses for the award based on biographical data and professional and civic accomplishments.
      "I'm still in awe and shock," Hawkins said. "There are so many good nurses in Las Vegas. I thought I was run-of-the-mill and ordinary. But I guess I'm not. It's nice to have your peers and employers say you're doing a good job."
      Hawkins, a 15-year nursing veteran with experience in cancer treatment, orthopedics, pain management, labor and delivery, and intensive care, said she was drawn to nursing both by the profession's trademark white hats and by compassion for others.
      "I had always been the type of person that took care of everybody," Hawkins said. "So I knew I wanted to become a nurse."
      The road was not always smooth for the St. Joseph, Mich. native.
      Hawkins, who moved to Las Vegas in 1992 when her husband was transferred to Nellis Air Force Base, was not unable to afford college when her parents divorced during her high school senior. She sulked for two years, then, with help from her grandmother, landed a spot in the nursing program at Southwestern Michigan College in 1981.
      A year later, she landed her first job as a nurse at Phoenix's John C. Lincoln hospital. She almost quit. She said the pressure of working with cancer patients was overwhelming.
      "It was my first nursing job, and I was working with oncology cancer patients," she said. "I became a basket case. I took everything so personally. I wanted to help everyone, but I couldn't."
      After a pep talk by her husband, Hawkins reconsidered.
      Lois Kleinpaste is glad she did.
      "She was there for me when my husband had open heart surgery," said Kleinpaste, Amil's intake coordinator for medical management, who monitors the patients as they come in. She nominated Hawkins for the award.
      "I see (Hawkins) in action with patients and the reassurance and comfort she provides is priceless," Kleinpaste said. "She is wonderful."
      Hawkins said she's had to learn to shield herself from too much involvement with patients. It has not always been easy, she said. A particularly troublesome case came when she advised a family trying to decide whether to take their daughter off life support after her father had accidentally ran over her head with a car. The girl had run outside to accompany her father on a trip to the grocery store, but he hadn't noticed her.
      The emotional shield went up. The professional took over.
      Although that memory is sad, many others are heartwarming, Hawkins said. Hawkins recalled how one woman was stunned to learn she would not to get kicked out of the hospital, even though she had no money to pay for treatment.
      "The look on her face was the funniest thing," she said. "I love my job."