Preceptor Beta Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi donates to Rockland District Nursing Association

Wed, 07/05/2017 - 3:15pm

Members of Preceptor Beta Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi Sorority recently met with Rockland District Nursing Association (RDNA) and daughters of Nancy Lewis to present a check in the amount of $6,500 for the Nancy K Lewis Memorial Fund. The sorority will be dissolving the end of June and felt this was a befitting gift and an honor to bestow to the Nursing Association's Nancy K Lewis Memorial Fund.

Each year the sorority had given a nursing scholarship in memory of their sister, Beryl Borgerson, who was a district supervisor of Maine State Public Health Nursing in the Bath/Rockland-Belfast areas. This is a gift that will keep on giving.

RDNA and Nancy Lewis' family deeply appreciate this very generous donation.

"We are encouraged that Nancy's nursing legacy and Beta Sigma Phi's commitment to service will both continue to endure in our community through this act of friendship," said Peta vanVuuren, RDNA Agency Director, in a news release.

RDNA continues to draw on Nancy's wealth of knowledge, astute insight, professional integrity and love of community nursing. The Nancy K Lewis Memorial Fund was established in her memory, is invested for growth with the Maine Community Foundation and supports the work of RDNA.

Nancy Lewis, RN, understood that community nursing was a calling, never forgetting the shared humanity that runs through a community and the important roles that nurses have in maintaining this connection. Nancy kept it simple. She and her family moved to Maine in 1970 from Newtown, Conn., beginning her Maine nursing career at Knox County General Hospital, then Penobscot Bay Medical Center, where she retired after 28 years of service.

Over the years, Nancy often noted that she had worked with, if not hired, most of the nurses in the area. Upon her retirement from PBMC, Nancy sought to continue her nursing career in the community, attending Marquette University School of Nursing in Wisconsin.

She received her accreditation as a Parish Nurse in 2000, and served for 15 years as the area's first Parish Nurse at the Rockland Congregational Church. Since 2007, she was the RDNA Board Nursing Committee Chair, helping shape RDNA into the thriving, creative agency of today.

Nancy retired from both community positions one month prior to her passing.

In addition to these roles, she was an active member of the Knox County Nurses Guild, served on the PenBay Continuity of Care Committee as well as the Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care & Hospice PAC committee. The mid-coast community lost Nancy in 2015. Her memory lives on through the nurses who today are carrying on these time honored traditions.

For more information about the RDNA Nancy K Lewis Fund, contact Peta vanVuuren, 594.4522.