Two Taylorville Memorial Hospital registered nurses have been promoted to manager roles this summer.
Nicole Heimsness became manager of Acute Care in June. A Taylorville native, she graduated with honors from Lincoln Land Community College before earning a bachelor of science in nursing degree with honors from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Prior to joining TMH, she worked as a charge nurse, assistant manager and house supervisor at other healthcare organizations.
“The support system at TMH is fantastic,” she said, noting that she also received mentoring from previous Acute Care manager Vicki Myers prior to her retirement. “It’s a teamwork approach. I have all the resources and support I need to be successful in this role.”
Heimsness and her husband, who have five children, live in Taylorville.
Becky McCauley was named manager of the Emergency Department in July. During her more than 20 years at TMH, she has served in a variety of areas and earned multiple awards for nursing excellence, including two Daisy awards and TMH Colleague of the Year. A Taylorville native and a graduate of Lincoln Land Community College, she is working toward a bachelor of science in nursing degree from Western Governors University.
McCauley said she appreciates how Memorial Health has supported her career growth, including providing tuition reimbursement and scholarship funds from the Taylorville Memorial Foundation. She also took part in a Memorial leader internship program in 2022. “It was amazing, I was able to spend time with different leaders in different departments to learn about their areas,” she said.
She lives in Taylorville with her husband, who also works as a nurse at TMH. They have six children, one grandchild and one grandchild on the way.
Eli Heicher, TMH chief nursing officer, said that TMH is focused on developing the skills of future nursing leaders like Heimsness and McCauley.
“The assumption, especially with nurses, is that because they are good at providing patient care, like starting IVs, that they’ll be great managers,” he said. “But nurses must possess very different traits and qualities needed to be successful in these leadership roles. We have developed leaders and highlighted the internal growth of colleagues, which supports our mission.”