Retired VA nurse says live your best life now
Before retiring earlier this year, Kathy Bixby spent 44 years working as a nurse, first in the Army and then at VA, taking care of Veterans like her and using Whole Health to help them improve their well-being.
Retired VA nurse says live your best life now
As a VA hospice and palliative care nurse, Kathy Bixby wanted her patients’ last days to be meaningful. She said, “In hospice care, we’re talking about quality of life at end of life. And it dawned on me: Why are we not looking at quality of life way upstream? And lo and behold, here comes Whole Health.”
Bixby spoke of her passion, which she discovered as a certified oncology nurse in VA. “That’s really where my heart was singing most,” she said. While she loved the work, she wanted Veterans to know that they don’t need to wait until the end of life to find meaning. “Know that you matter, and pause long enough to appreciate how all these areas (in the Circle of Whole Health) are influencing your health and well-being … this is your opportunity to make changes that support your best self.”
Whole Health centers around what matters to you, not what is the matter with you. You decide what is important for your health and well-being, and your VA care team helps you develop a plan for all areas of your life using the Personal Health Inventory.
In 2018, Bixby became a Whole Health nurse educator at the Washington DC VA Medical Center, teaching classes on topics such as mindfulness, nutrition, exercise, and other aspects of self-care. Starting during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bixby led a “coffee hour,” a virtual check-in call for Veterans where they could talk about emotional challenges and help each other through them. (Watch this short video to hear from both a Veteran and Bixby about Whole Health at the DC VA Medical Center.)
A life of service and overcoming challenges
Bixby has served others her whole life, starting as a military kid, the daughter of a career Air Force pilot. The family spent much of their time at each new duty station serving others through church or other civic activities.
In 1979, she joined the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and in those 9 years, she had the opportunity to use medical techniques that were very new at the time such as the Swan-Ganz heart catheter, which many consider the “gold standard” for gathering accurate information about what’s going on inside your heart and pulmonary artery.
As a second lieutenant, stationed in Hawaii, Bixby was experiencing her career at its fullest when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and went from nurse to patient, receiving care from her colleagues. She received a medical discharge and came to VA as a registered nurse.
A new Whole Health journey
Now retired from 36 years of service in VA, Bixby has partnered with another Veteran and retired VA Nurse, Kathi Burkhart, to help others discover new passions. Their collaboration uses Whole Health concepts and creative arts to help “people like ourselves figure out what’s next — because we’re not done yet!” Bixby said.
“The Kathies,” as they’re affectionately called, have a mission, said Bixby, of “helping people know that they matter — that ‘me’ in the middle of that Circle of Health is you, and you matter, and all these aspects of your life matter. Maybe we haven’t had an opportunity to pay attention to that, but that’s the invitation.”
