And Humiston had no idea that the award was coming as she sat in the audience at the Colorado Health Care Associations annual awards banquet in Denver last month.
“I was sitting there playing with my phone and pretty soon I was like, ‘It sounds like they are talking about me,’” she said, laughing.
Sure enough, they were.
The Colorado Health Care Association was about to present the coveted Vesta Bowden award for distinguished service in the field of long term care to Mancos native Humiston.
“I cried,” Humiston admitted after getting the award.
What got Humiston was that the organizers of the award presentation were able to sneak Humiston’s father and two of her sisters into the Double Tree Inn in Denver.
“I can’t believe they got my dad over there without me knowing,” she said. Humiston’s father, Glenn Humiston is 78 years old.
What makes this award unique is that it has annually been given to a diverse group of recipients who have had a significant impact on Long Term Care in Colorado. This includes facility administrators, directors of nursing, medical directors, direct care staff and public officials from key health care agencies as well as members of the state legislature.
“Simply stated, to receive this award, you must have made a significant, substantial and lasting contribution to the overall betterment of Colorado’s senior citizens,” a press release from the Colorado Health Care Association stated.
Humiston said she wrote a paper in the 10th grade about wanting to be a nurse., a paper she still has today. The rest, as they say, is history. As Humiston has been an nurse and in the health care sector for more than 30 years.
“I just wish my mom was there to see it. I know she was there in spirit though. She was the one who raised us girls and told us we could do anything we wanted to do.”
In 2005, Humiston was appointed by 3rd District Democrat Rep. John Salazar as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging.
In fact, as Humiston spoke with the Journal, she was waiting for a plane to Washington, D.C., where she said she was expected to speak on behalf of Medicare this week and attend another health-care convention.
The award is named after Vesta Bowden, who was one of the Colorado Health Care Association’s founders and developers of long-term health care. The award was first given in 1967.
Besides her professional nursing degrees, she is also a licensed nursing home administrator and in 1996 cofounded a management company, C&G Health Care Management, Inc., based in Cortez, that now owns and operates nine facilities in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, employing over 750 people.
Some of her colleagues wrote in her nomination papers:
“She has taught us to be proud of what we do and to hold our heads high because caring for the ‘greatest generation’ is worth every bit of the fight.”
“She has advocated tirelessly for long-term care in rural facilities to make sure that public policy is designed to promote the dignity, health and independence for rural seniors.”
“She has put every ounce of blood, sweat and tears into the betterment of long-term care.”
Humiston was given the award Sept. 18.
