Cambridge Who's Who Names Kathleen Kobylas, RN Professional of the Year in Critical Care Nursing
Kathleen Kobylas enjoyed a multi-faceted career that included work in intensive care, cardiac intensive care, burn treatment, nuclear medicine and infection control

MACHESNEY PARK, IL, August 26, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Kathleen Kobylas, a Registered Nurse retired from Kalaupapa Health Services, has been named Cambridge Who's Who Professional of the Year in Critical Care Nursing. While inclusion in the Cambridge Who's Who Registry is an honor, only a small selection of members in each discipline are chosen for this distinction. These special honorees are distinguished based on their professional accomplishments, academic achievements, leadership abilities, years of service, and the credentials they have provided in association with their Cambridge Who's Who membership.

A 27-year veteran of the healthcare field, Kathleen Kobylas enjoyed a multi-faceted career that included work in intensive care, cardiac intensive care, burn treatment, nuclear medicine and infection control. She recently retired from Kalaupapa Health Services where she specialized in treating patients with Hansen's disease (leprosy). As an RN in the renowned leprosy settlement, she helped care for the 109 patients with only 19 remaining by the time she retired. Ms. Kobylas has since relocated to Illinois in order to spend more time with her brother Dr. Joseph Kobylas, a professor at Rockford College. She lives with her Bengal cat, Layla, on the banks of the Rock River.

She first honed her skills as a critical care nurse in Los Angeles, working in the ICU/CCU and burn unit. As a critical care nurse, Ms. Kobylas always placed emphasis on paying attention to every detail and being able to think on her feet. She avers that it was this ability to handle multiple tasks at once - combined with a genuine compassion for patients - that was the key to her success.

Born and raised in the Detroit area, Ms. Kobylas started out as an art major but eventually decided to heed a calling in nursing. She obtained an associate degree in nursing in 1982 from Los Angeles Harbor College after completing coursework in art at Wayne State University. Though officially retired, she looks forward to more years of volunteering, especially with persons with HIV/AIDS. When she is not working, Ms. Kobylas pursues her early passion for art through sketching.

Kalaupapa, a community on the island of Molokai in Hawaii, is the last leprosy settlement in the United States. It received its first leprosy victims in 1866. Father Damien deVeuster, the most prominent of the Catholic missionaries to have served and died there, was canonized as a saint by the Church in October 2009.

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