By Jolene FarleyNurse Patricia (Gibson) Van Wyhe was killed in a car accident by Presho, S.D., in February of last year.To honor her memory, her family has established the "Patricia K. Van Wyhe Nurse of the Year Award" through the Sioux Valley Foundation, Sioux Falls. Patricia, Director of Surgery and Anesthesia at the hospital at the time of her death, was a 28-year employee. "We wanted to do something from the very beginning to recognize Pat’s nursing and leadership characteristics," Tom Van Wyhe said. "Everybody liked Pat," he said. "She had a lot of qualities, values. There was a lot of genuineness there."Tom said Patricia was very clear with the people she worked with that no matter who they were, they were important. "That’s how she led her area of work," he said. Some of those qualities are what the committee is looking for in recipients of the "Nurse of the Year Award."Pat was born at Sioux Valley and was a graduate of the Sioux Valley School of Nursing. She began her career as an operating room nurse at the hospital in 1973 and was retiring as Director of Surgical Services when a car accident took her life. Candidates are nominated according to criteria representing Pat’s personal and professional qualities by their peers. A committee established by the Sioux Valley Foundation selects the winner.The Van Wyhe family is not involved in the selection process but presents the award at the hospital’s award luncheon. Recipients of the award must be full-time or part-time, non-management nurses who practiced at Sioux Valley Hospital for at least one year. They must have a passion for people and the work of nursing, encourage and mentor others in the field, maintain high integrity and a positive attitude, be able to bring out the best in others, inspire team work for greater results and become a catalyst in the field of nursing. Ann Jost, a surgery staff nurse at the hospital, was the first recipient of the award. Van Wyhe and her husband, Tom, were returning to their home in Sioux Falls, S.D. from a basketball game in Pierre, S.D., when they swerved to miss a stalled semi. Patricia was killed instantly. Tom Van Wyhe is the son of Cliff and Vi Van Wyhe, Hills. Patricia’s father, Marshall Gibson, is a former Beaver Creek postmaster. Tom and Patricia are both 1968 Hills-Beaver Creek High School graduates.
