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Rhonda Simpson |
“I spent a few hours in the dental chair as a child and always thought that’s what I would like to do someday,” said Simpson, the UNMC College of Dentistry’s instrument management center supervisor and recipient of the October Chancellor’s Gold ‘U’ award.
The award recognizes outstanding performance and service to UNMC.
She’s been a UNMC staff member for almost 23 years.
Simpson began her career as a pediatric dental assistant at the college, which is in Lincoln.
She then transferred to adult restorative dentistry and later became a dental assistant specialist after 18 years of assisting.
Her current responsibilities include helping her team with material management, supply, processing, sterilization and distribution and occasional emergency care dental assisting.
The college’s state-of-the-art sterilization and distribution center, which opened four years ago, could not have opened without her help, according to her nominator.
“Rhonda was a critical member of the team that planned and developed our new instrument management center,” said John Reinhardt, D.D.S., dean of the College of Dentistry. “She has been a leader in our sterilization and asepsis programs.”
Simpson is a member of the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Material Management.
She has also taken advanced classes in sterilization techniques through Purdue University to become a certified registered central service technician and is continuously looking for ways to further expand her area of expertise.
“[She] keeps the College of Dentistry on the cutting edge of sterilization and is always seeking methods with which to improve her work. She keeps her staff up-to-date on the latest changes and continuously seeks improvement in all areas of her sterilization,” her nominator said.
Though Simpson has been personally recognized as an employee of the highest caliber, she doesn’t take all the credit.
“It’s due to the people I work with. They motivate me to do a good job,” she said. “It’s nice to look at the people you work with as part of your extended family.”
Married for 22 years, Simpson also has three children. She enjoys following her kids in their activities and doing anything outdoors, including camping, rock hunting, walking and gardening.
“I even like to mow, it’s therapy for me,” she said.