NRMC social worker gets 'Award of Excellence'

Mary Wille came to Nevada Regional Medical Center as a volunteer social worker after college graduation 24 years ago and reached a milestone as the hospital's recipient of its "2011 Employee Award of Excellence."

Recognized at the Sixth Annual NRMC Foundation Gala Oct. 8, Wille said she enjoys her work because it enables her to return the consideration that others have given her.

"I like to help people," she said Tuesday. "Many people have made a difference in my life, so I hoped to make a difference in the lives of others and thought this might be one way to do that."

Asked whose assistance has been most beneficial, she said, "There have been too many to mention."

Awards of Excellence were also given to a recently retired pediatrician, Dr. Ron Jones, and NRMC Performance Improvement Administrator Holly Bush.

Wille is a 47-year-old Liberal, Mo., native who earned a degree in social work in 1987 at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph. "I took that summer off and in the fall began volunteer work at NRMC," she said.

"Then in December they asked me to turn in an application."

Wille's father Vernon was Liberal superintendent of schools and her mother Mary an educator at Nevada Habilitation Center. Her brother William, former football offensive coordinator at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, lives here.

Wille's sister Martha Ann Gregory, director of tech prep at State Fair Community College in Sedalia, died of breast cancer in 2004 while working on a doctorate at the University of Missouri. Her dad died in 1991 and her mom in 2009.

Specializing in discharge planning, Willie works with patients "to make sure they have what they need when they leave the hospital," she said.

"Each day is a new day. People are different, so you have to individualize."

She explained that she provides special equipment like oxygen and home health services such as arranging for visits from a homemaker. Wille also coordinates alternative placement for patients who are unable to go home.

She is a member of Life Church and a member of the board at the Neighbors Center.

Wille said she practices her profession on the basis of the Social Worker's Prayer, which asks, "As I dedicate my life today to the care of those who come my way, let me touch each one with healing hands and the gentle art for which I stand so that tonight when day is done, let me rest in peace if I've helped just one."