Kele Ivey Email & Phone Number

I am a forensic nurse examiner and the program manager for Methodist Hospitals STAR Center, a sexual assault and forensic nursing program located inside Methodist's Northlake Campus in Gary, IN. What was originally envisioned as a means to provide competent care to sexual assault patients has evolved into a team of highly-trained, compassionate nurses able to provide patient-centered, trauma-informed care to victims of intimate partner violence, child abuse, human trafficking, elder abuse, sexual assault, and more. As program manager, I oversee staff training, maintain equipment used for forensic exams, develop policies regarding sexual assault, assist in securing grants for our program, and provide outreach and education to our community partners. I have a board certification as a sexual assault nurse examiner for adult and adolescent populations and have additional training for pediatric sexual assault and intimate partner violence. I graduated with my associate's of nursing in 2015 and began working in the emergency department immediately. I continued my education and received my bachelor's in nursing in 2020, right at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. working in the emergency room throughout COVID changed my outlook on many things in healthcare, as it did for many of us. The hospital I worked in was in an underserved community with limited resources and it brought a lot of attention to the health inequities of the system. It furthered my resolve to provide the highest levels of care to historically marginalized groups. Prior to nursing, I spent 20 years involved in EMS, finishing EMT school in 1994. I went on to complete both paramedic school and critical care transport training. During my career as a paramedic, I worked in a variety of settings, including community emergency response, industrial settings, non-emergency transport, critical care transport, and as an emergency room paramedic. Although I no longer work on an ambulance, my heart remains in EMS and I refuse to forget where I came from. I now work to ensure that EMTs and paramedics receive proper training in responding to victims of assault in their communities.In the last year, I have been fortunate enough to receive recognition for the work I do. I was named Methodist Hospitals' Humanitarian of the Year for 2024. I was also awarded Northwest Indiana Influential Women Association's Up and Coming Influential Woman in Healthcare award.

Listed skills include Healthcare, Acls, Emergency Medicine, Critical Care, and 17 others.