Debbie Weber, Wendi Wolfe and Rick Reiss. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.comChanges are afoot at Los Alamos Visiting Nurse Service. A longtime employee is retiring, and a former employee is returning to take the helm of the not-for-profit home health and hospice agency.
“Our Board is happy to announce the appointment of our new executive director Wendi Wolfe, RN-NE,” said Board President Rick Reiss during an interview Monday with the Los Alamos Daily Post. “We are impressed with her credentials, her service to the community and the state. We also are happy that she is returning to LAVNS after a five-year hiatus.”
Wolfe most recently worked as director of nursing at Sombrillo. Among her activities at the state level, she serves as a nurse educator on the New Mexico Board of Nursing and is a deputy medical investigator for the Office of the Medical Investigator.
While Reiss and the Board are excited to welcome Wolfe they expressed sadness at the retirement of Debbie Weber.
“Debbie has been with us now for 24 years and we are going to miss her dearly,” Reiss said. “She carries an awful lot of corporate knowledge that we are gathering up before she goes. She has grandchildren now that she wants to spend time with and we can understand that … but we are sad to see her go.”
Weber explained that this is a particularly favorable time to retire because she feels LAVNS is in very good hands having worked with Wolfe in the past and with the hiring of new office manager Linda Vance.
“I feel good knowing LAVNS will continue bringing the best home health and hospice care to Los Alamos and northern New Mexico,” Weber said.
Wolfe has been transitioning with Weber.
“I am really excited being back … I used to be a nurse here and coming back in a much larger capacity is wonderful,” she said. “I look forward to working with the physicians and the community and want them to know we will always be there for them.”
LAVNS serves patients in Los Alamos County, northern Santa Fe County and parts of Rio Arriba County, providing intermittent skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and language pathology, medical social services and home health aides.
Services are provided under written physician orders in the patient’s home, under a plan of care developed to meet their individual needs. Visits are routinely scheduled Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. and on weekends as medically necessary. An RN is available on call after regular office hours.
Wolfe mentioned that she has an opening for a clinical manager and welcomes applications. LAVNS is at 2202 Canyon Road and can be reached by calling 505.662.2525 or visiting www.lavns.com.