United Hospital
Nurses share the benefits of specialty certifications.
Lauren VanGroningen, RN
GREENVILLE, MI March 16, 2023 – In honor of Registered Nurses Day March 19, three nurses at Corewell Health’s Spectrum Health United Hospital shared the importance of gaining additional knowledge through additional certification.
More than 40 registered nurses at Greenville and Kelsey Hospitals have achieved nursing certification, demonstrating additional professionalism and excellence. Certified Nurses Day is March 19, the birthday of nursing expert and advocate Margaret Madden.
“As a nurse, earning professional certification demonstrates that you are determined to go above and beyond by taking that initiative and becoming an expert in your field,” said Kristen Van Stensel, director of nursing at both hospitals. “It’s an amazing way to model to other nurses how important it is to continually learn and grow in your own practice.”
Amy Colby, RN, is a 1997 graduate of Greenville High School who was board certified in medical surgery in 2018.
“Receiving this certification increased my confidence in being able to share expert information with newer nurses and fellow team members,” Colby said.
Colby attended business classes at Montcalm Community College, Hope College and Grand Rapids Community College and was a manager at Ponderosa in Greenville for five years.
She, like her husband Justin, joined the Army National Guard in 2004. They were both deployed to Iraq.
Because of her military experience and after her uncle was diagnosed with a brain tumor, she was inspired to go back to school to become a nurse.
She received her associate degree in nursing from Montcalm Community College in 2015 and her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Western Governors University in 2022.
Colby began her nursing career at Butterworth Hospital in the inpatient unit and joined Greenville Hospital in 2017, working primarily in the ICU. She is currently a hospital superintendent, a role she has held since April 2020.
Lauren VanGroningen, RN, is a Central Pennsylvania native who moved to Michigan to attend Calvin University where she studied social work and psychology. She graduated in 2007 and worked as a social worker for about nine years before following her lifelong dream of becoming a nurse, returning to school and earning a nursing degree from Grand Rapids Community College in 2016 Mr.
VanGroningen’s mother and both grandmothers were nurses, and her father and both grandfathers were doctors, so becoming a caregiver is a family tradition, she said.
After working in hospice, long-term care and the Meijer Heart Center, she joined Greenville Hospital in 2020 as a labor and delivery nurse.
“I’ve always loved women’s health, so my dream job was childbirth,” she said.
She received her Advanced Midwifery Certification in 2022 and will complete her Master of Science in Nursing from Ferris State University in April.
“This credential helps guide us as nurses on how to intervene if there is a concern for a patient or a baby,” Vangroningen said. “It gives you an extra boost of information and reminds us what tools we have in our toolbar when you’re on the floor with patients.”
Carly Ring, RN, graduated from Ionia High School in 2010 and received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Detroit Mercy at Aquinas College in 2014.
She was certified in advanced medical surgery about six years ago.
“As a nurse, this credential gives you a little more confidence,” Ring said. “It’s just more recognition that you have experience and have taken the time to demonstrate that you are competent in your field.”
She worked as a floating nurse technician at Greenville Hospital while in college and joined the hospital full-time in the inpatient and intensive care units after graduation.
Ring, who lives in nearby Orleans, is currently returning to work in the floatation pool, getting her bearings in the emergency room and will then gain experience in the obstetrics department.
To celebrate Registered Nurses Day, each advanced registered nurse at Greenville and Kelsey Hospitals will receive a small gift and be recognized on reception displays at each hospital.
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