News & Notes Castillo Receives Advocacy Award
Houchen Retires After a 50Year Nursing Career
Jose D. Castillo III, PhD,
Betsy Houchen, JD, MS, RN, began
MSNA, CRNA, APRN, was
her nursing career in the field of
recently honored by the
home health. As her professional
American Association of Nurse
journey evolved over the years,
Anesthesiology (AANA) with
she became a recognized leader
the Ira P. Gunn Award for Outstanding Professional
in her field and was recognized and praised for her
Advocacy during the Association’s Virtual Congress
knowledge, diplomacy, and commitment to nursing
on Aug. 17, 2021. Castillo holds the APRN Seat on
regulatory excellence. Houchen retired on Sept. 30,
the Florida Board of Nursing. He was recognized for
2021, after serving as executive director of the Ohio
his work as president of the Florida Association of
Board of Nursing (BON) since 2005.
Nurse Anesthetists (FANA) in 2019 and 2020, as he led the effort to remove physician supervision requirements in Florida law. FANA was previously honored in 2020 with the AANA Award for Excellence in State Government Relations Advocacy. Castillo commented, “As we continue to work on ways to benefit Florida’s residents, I look forward to standing side by side with my APRN and CRNA colleagues.”
“I wanted to go to college and go into nursing,” she recalls. My mom said, ‘Well, colleges in Ohio offer degrees in nursing.’ So, that’s how I got started. When I graduated, I worked in public health and home health. And that was my life for years, visiting people in their homes and caring for them, and almost becoming part of their families. It’s a different kind of nursing that I know isn’t for everybody, but I loved it.”
Sharpnack Elected to Serve on National League for Nursing
Her first administrative job was in a home care agency.
The National League for
position and served as the director of a home health
Nursing (NLN) has announced
and hospice program, where the focus for home care
that Patricia Sharpnack, DNP,
was both maternal and child health and acute care.
RN, Ohio Board of Nursing, has been chosen by voting members as chair-elect of the organization’s Board of Governors. She will serve two years as chair-elect and, starting in 2023, two years as chair. Members of the Board of Governors assume significant responsibility for all aspects of the NLN, including shaping its vision, developing its policies, advancing its mission and goals, and ensuring its growth.
“I was there when the hospice movement started, and we started one of the first hospices in central Ohio,” she says. She held an assistant health commissioner
While pursuing a law degree at night, Houchen held positions as a bureau chief at the Ohio Department of Health, and later worked as a policy director for the Ohio Council for Home Care and as a consultant for the National Association for Home Care. She worked for two law firms in the health care area, but discovered, she comments, “law practice in a large firm was not my thing.” Her first position at the Ohio BON was in the Discipline and Compliance Unit as a staff nurse
The Ohio Board of Nursing congratulates Sharpnack
attorney. She eventually rose to associate director and
for being selected for this significant role.
then executive director.
