May 6 – 12 is National Nurse’s Week 2022. We’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the nurses who work here at The Independence Center. Every day, they make a difference in the lives of others and we couldn’t do what we do without them.
Today, we’re shining the spotlight on Jean Bell, who has been connected with The Independence Center for over 20 years!
Jean, who hails from Central Illinois, graduated from nursing school in 1973 and spent most of her nursing career there working in critical care. She married her high school sweetheart in 1974 and they adopted three children together.
A desire to be closer to family brought them to Colorado in 1992. She worked for 11 years for a large HMO-PPO insurance company doing medical reviews but she found that she missed nursing. She started picking up some part time home care work and joined The Independence Center in 2000. She spent the next 20 years running the U.S. office for a large nonprofit mission in Haiti, traveling back and forth a few times a year and continuing to work part time for The IC. Since retiring from her Haiti work at the end of 2019, she has been primarily working for The IC.
“I have two patients that I admitted in 2001 and I have been their nurse ever since,” she says. “There are others that I’ve had for many years and have enjoyed watching them grow up. My plans for the future are to continue doing what I love doing for as long as I can.”