Nomination: It is my pleasure to recommend Dr. Kalise Price as an outstanding Magic Valley registered nurse. Kalise was born and raised in Twin Falls, ID. Kalise doesn’t often talk about her humble beginnings and she never once has used them as an excuse to not be the best human and nurse she could be. If you did wrangle it out of her, she will tell you she grew up poor, in high school working part time at Maxie’s pizza to have food to eat and part time at Shopko to have money to buy tampons. After barely getting herself though high school, she went to cosmetology school and added cutting hair at the JCPenny Salon to her work list. She started volunteering at the Twin Falls Long Term Care Center, cutting and perming the little old ladies hair. She was sad and upset that they would come to her with dirty clothes and unkempt appearance. She kept thinking to herself that this was such a disservice, to be at this vulnerable stage and place in life and not even have basic cares like getting teeth brushed, hair combed, and a clean shirt. She started thinking that she could take good care of these humans, that she could help ease their suffering and make their lives a little better and that’s when she started classes as CSI for her licensed practical nurse (LPN) degree. After graduation, Kalise was able to quit her job at Maxie’s and Shopko and started her nursing career at the old downtown clinic on Shoshone providing care on the adult medical- surgical floor, still continuing to cut hair at JCPenny’s and volunteer at the care center. Kalise worked hard to care for her patients in her LPN role but she found herself wondering about the care regimens and would question the RNs about labs and treatments, only to be met with answers like “those are RN things” and “don’t worry about it, that’s not your role”. Kalise accepted that as a challenge and returned to CSI to start her Registered Nursing (RN) degree. She had married a local boy who ran Bill’s automotive downtown and about 3 years later she walked across the graduation stage with a 1-year-old and a newborn on her hip, having just buried her mother a week before.
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With her new RN degree, Kalise applied for a job at Magic Valley Regional on the Labor & Delivery Unit. After her interview they asked her what she thought about instead working in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). She accepted the challenge and if you ask any mommy, daddy, or newborn who had a stint in the NICU, they would tell you Kalise was the nurse you wanted. This is where I bumped into Kalise in 2003. I was a baby nurse that had just accepted a job in the NICU and Kalise, a charge nurse, swooped me right up and took me under her wing. I remember watching her work and being amazed….she never sat down, she never stopped. She did cares on the babies, and would then go to deliveries, and then fold the laundry and take out the garbage, and then starting wiping down the counters. I remember telling myself, “I’ll be damned if I let this woman outwork me!” Kalise was an example for me and other nurses in her work ethic, but also in her nursing. I was young and did not have children and I would listen to her talk to families and teach them about caring for their babies. She taught hundreds of scared moms and dads to confidently take home sick or premature babies, and she didn’t even know I was learning right along with them. I realized quickly that I only wanted to work the days she was in charge because I found working with her brought out the best version of me. And when I delivered my own premature, sick twins, I felt so much confidence knowing she was there to provide care for them. When I met Kalise in the NICU, she was working on her bachelor’s degree online…add that to the list of things this woman was doing in addition to being on the unit best practices committee and also being on call 48+ hours a week working on the hospital’s Neonatal Transport Team, picking up sick and early babies from outlying facilities.
I remember the day CSI called me and told me she had put me as a reference for a teaching position she was applying for in the RN program. I cried. I didn’t want her to leave our unit; I needed her and the babies needed her and basically everyone needed her…but I told CSI that if anyone knows the struggle of humans in our community who are good, but trying to be better, it was Kalise. If anyone had done things the hard way with everything working against them, it was her.
She knew what it was like to have a family and a job and no money, but also a desire to be more. I did not have to cry too hard because even though she accepted the job of teaching in the RN department at CSI, she continued to work a few shifts a month in the NICU, in addition to her starting her Master’s degree in nursing. It wasn’t long before a job opened at CSI teaching in the RN program and I couldn’t help but jump at the opportunity to work again with the best nurse I know. I started teaching in the Fall of 2012 and once again Kalise took me right under her wing. She helped me make to extremely difficult transition from bedside nurse to nurse educator, all the while finishing her doctorate degree in nursing, raising her family, and still working in the NICU on nights and weekends. It was with Kalise’s encouragement that I started the long educational journey to my doctorate degree in nursing. When it was hard and I wanted to quit, I would think of her work ethic and her drive for success, despite obstacles, and when I voiced that I wanted to quit she told me to stop making excuses, remember my goals, and get to work.
About four years ago, the CSI RN program went through big changes and we were in need of a new chair for the program. Kalise was the first person that came to my mind. Not only was she the most senior RN we had, she was also the most qualified as she had spent her time and money becoming an RN program accreditation visitor. With national accreditation standards being a requirement for nurse graduates to work at most nursing facilities, including St. Luke’s Magic Valley, her knowledge in this area was vital and no other faculty member had her experience and expertise. She continues to be a vital asset to the CSI RN program as she leads courageously, always thinking differently, and also working tirelessly side by side with faculty. She is one of the biggest reasons that CSI is able to educate around 100 future nurses a year to provide care in our community.
I have worked with Kalise as a nurse for almost 20 years now and I really can’t think of a better nurse to honor for her sacrifice and dedication to our profession. She has served in several capacities but has always shown hard work, dedication, and compassion for whomever her patient happens to be…little old ladies at the care center, sick adult medical patients, preterm babies, fellow nurses, nursing students, and our community.
Current Employer:
College of Southern Idaho & St. Luke’s Magic Valley
Career History: Idaho Home Health & Hospice, Medical/Surgical & Intensive Care Unit Twin Falls Clinic & Hospital; Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center; Medical/Surgical, Cath Lab, Pediatrics, Mother/Baby, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and Clinical Education St. Luke’s Magic Valley; and Nurse Educator/Administrator College of Southern Idaho.
Achievements: LPN, RN, BSN, MSN-Leadership/Management, DNP-Evidence-Based Practice. I’ve presented at conferences, published, and an Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) Site Visitor.
Why did you decide to become a nurse? I wanted to make difference.
How many years have you been in nursing? 28 years
What makes you unique from other nurses? Not sure, we all have our uniqueness. Perhaps the odds were against me in obtaining an education.
What is the most rewarding part of being a nurse? Emotional reward from caring for patients and student success.
Why did you go into your field of nursing? I wanted to be a labor and delivery nurse. When I interviewed at Magic Valley Regional Medical Center, I was told my personality would fit better in NICU; didn’t really know what that meant at the time, but I was hooked the first time I went to a high-risk delivery. I worked 18 years in NICU nursing until I assumed the nurse administrator role for the RN program at CSI October 2018. I chose nursing education because I wanted to be a part of people’s educational journey to success.
