Donna has been a dedicated and respected AIS faculty member for both onsite (her favorite) and online classes for over 20 years. Starting her career as a Trauma Nurse in 1983, working shock-trauma ICU in Allentown, PA, Donna completed her MSN and moved first to a TPD (Trauma Program Director) role in Erie, PA. It was here where she had her very first coding class in 1987 with Elaine Wodzin, a long-serving executive director of AAAM. And, yes, back then it was paper everything, “overheads”, and everyone did their homework overnight between classes to get the enormous pile of charts done. Ah, the memories!
Donna took the AIS course again after the 1990 version came out, where she was recruited to become faculty. She officially joined the ranks as an AIS faculty member in 2000 upon moving to Colorado. She was a member of the faculty in the development of the mapping project, which was developed to provide the crosswalk between ICD9 and AIS for matching purposes. Donna has authored multiple publications and has a long history of performing research and presentations within the field of trauma care. Having worn multiple career hats, Donna has been a TPD, registrar, PI nurse and contractor (to name a few!) and is currently enjoying a contractor role where she assists facilities with site survey prep, registry, program development and more.
In her spare time, Donna has a passion for working with wolves in Colorado (WOLFsanctuary.net), is an accomplished Hula dancer, has traveled all 7 continents and enjoys swimming with humpbacks and orca whales during her many snorkeling and diving excursions.
Oh, and she’s also a Reiki Master and teacher.