Ann M Lachat Excellence in Occupational Health Nursing Award

The ABOHN Ann M. Lachat Excellence in Occupational Health Nursing Award was  established to honor Ann M. Lachat, the former CEO of ABOHN, for her 23 years of service.   This special award is given to the individual who achieved the highest score on the previous year's COHN examination.

           The 2023 Ann M. Lachat Excellence in Occupational Health Nursing Award is presented to:

Catherine Field, RN, COHN

Field

 

Catherine became a nurse in 2002 after earning her associate’s degree from the Community College of Baltimore County.  Later on, in 2015, she earned my BSN from Notre Dame of Maryland University.  Her employer at the time had a great partnership with the school and made it easy and affordable to get her degree, even as a single mom of two.

For the first 14 years of Catherine’s career, she was an emergency room nurse.  Catherine loved the fast pace and unpredictability of her days.  After participating in a medical mission trip to Haiti with Notre Dame, she became interested in the operating room and made the switch to the OR but didn’t feel like it was where she was meant to be.

Catherine made the jump to Occupational Health nursing in 2017 at Johns Hopkins Hospital and has never regretted it.  While this is a totally different type of nursing than she was used to, Catherine loves the work.  It lets her tap into many different parts of her personality and further develop her skillset such as critical thinking, problem solving, and working with other teams within the organization.

In December 2021, Catherine helped open the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic at Hopkins.  She was the lead nurse at the East Baltimore location which vaccinated the employees and students of the Johns Hopkins Health System and University.  This, Catherine says, was a wonderful experience, - even though she was no longer at the bedside, she felt like she was making a difference in the pandemic.  As a result of this work, the COVID-19 Vaccine Team was recognized by Johns Hopkins Medicine and awarded the Clinical Excellence Award for Clinical Collaboration and Teamwork.  Catherine was also one out of one hundred nurses in the Baltimore area recognized by Baltimore Magazine in their 2022 Top Nurse issue.

Catherine is the mother to two amazing young men.  Colin, 24, is pursuing his PhD in Planetary Science at Purdue University.  Christopher, 18, is a freshman at Towson University and is studying business.

When she’s not working, Catherine enjoy running and fitness.  Running is her passion and she is currently training for a second 50-mile race. Catherine also sits on the board of her local running club.  Living an active and healthy lifestyle is very important to Catherine and helps her to be a better woman, mother, and nurse.

 

Congratulations Catherine!