02/19/2026
𝐁𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐝 𝐯𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐍𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐊𝐚𝐲 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭
Between them, Karen Nalley and Kay Weissberg have spent nearly nine decades caring for patients. While medicine, technology, and hospitals have changed dramatically over the years, their approach to nursing has remained the same: care for the whole person, both physically and emotionally.
“I like to meet patients at their level, and I try to put them at ease as much as possible,” Nalley said. “I am a big patient advocate and a big advocate for Hospice and for patients and families to be educated.”
The two work in Endoscopy and many of the people they care for are outpatients, coming in for some type of scope procedure.
Weissberg said she still gets to know them even though the majority go home the same day.
“They are awesome and grateful for what we do for them,” Weissberg said. “They come in nervous and you can relax them.”
Nalley has been a registered nurse since 1989 and Weissberg began her career in 1977. She was part of the first graduating class at the new Indiana University Southeast, on the New Albany campus.
Karen Nalley
Nalley has spent nearly 20 years at Baptist Health Floyd across two different chapters of her career. After starting at Floyd, she moved to the University of Louisville before returning because, she said Baptist Health Floyd is simply, “home.”
With experience in the ER, Outpatient Surgery, and now Endoscopy, Nalley brings both skill and compassion to her work. While the ER was fast-paced, Endoscopy allows her more time to truly connect with patients — learning their medical history, understanding their support systems, and meeting them where they are emotionally.
She believes patients deserve honest conversations about their options so they can make informed choices.
“If you educate them and tell them straight how it is, they can decide what’s right for them,” she said.
Now 67, she said she plans to work a few more years, still finding joy in mentoring others and caring for patients.
“It’s a wonderful profession,” she said.
Though she is not officially a hospital preceptor, she is always available to answer questions or help new nurses.
“You need common sense along with the science,” she said of nursing. “You have to recognize vital signs, notice when something isn’t right — and that takes time, experience, and people who are willing to share what they know.”
Nalley speaks highly of her colleagues, especially department manager Crystal Alcorn for her “leadership, integrity, and support.”
“Crystal is a solid, genuine person,” she said. “She’s made hard decisions and stood by them, and we’ve grown so much as a department.”
She said she prays every morning on her way to work.
“I ask God, ‘is there someone I can help today. Please put them in my path.’ And often, someone is in my path,” Nalley said.
Alcorn calls Nalley “an exceptional nurse.”
“She goes above and beyond every day,” Alcorn said. “She has a genuine passion for patients, families, and co-workers. She is the strongest patient advocate I have ever worked with. When she believes something is right for the patient, she pushes for it and will carry it farther than most would ever attempt. In my two years here, I have seen her make a difference countless times. She tells me she prays before work for God to place people in her path who need her, and it shows in the way she moves through each shift. What she does reaches far past typical bedside care.”
Kay Weissberg
The hospital has seen many changes since Weissberg began her career in 1977, but one thing has not … her desire to always put patients first.
“You treat them the way you want to be treated,” she said. “You look at it from the perspective of what they are seeing. They come in nervous. The number one thing I tell my patients is we want to be in control, but when you come to the hospital you are not in control and you are relinquishing that to us. I assure them we have their best interest at heart because many times we are their voice, their advocate.
“The hospital has changed a lot, but I haven’t.”
Weissberg was named nurse of the year at the hospital in 2015 and last year was presented with a DAISY Award. She said it was her grandmother’s desire for her to become a nurse.
She has worked in various departments during her career and, like Nalley, has been in Endoscopy for the last eight years. She said the hospital has always had “a family atmosphere.”
“You get to know your co-workers,” Weissberg said. “You go down the hallway and see familiar faces.
“There has always been a good opportunity if you want to advance in nursing. I have been everything from a staff nurse to supervisor. Now at my age I am fine being a staff nurse. You are there with patients and help them when they are nervous or support them when they get bad news.”
She also praised Alcorn, her supervisor, for the last two years.
“Crystal is so supportive. She has her thumb on everything and knows what is going on,” she said. “We are like a family in Endo. I have been down there eight years and most of them were there before I came.”
While she said retirement is something she thinks about, she still loves being a nurse.
“I can’t imagine not doing it,” she said.
Alcorn said Weissberg is “one of the greatest gifts to our Endoscopy Department.”
“She represents everything you hope for in a nurse — skill, compassion, humility, and an unwavering commitment to doing what’s right for patients,” Alcorn said. “Her longevity is impressive, but what truly stands out is how she continues to show up every single day with gratitude, pride, and a genuine love for what she does. Kay approaches every assignment with enthusiasm and professionalism. She never complains, never cuts corners, and never hesitates to jump in wherever she is needed. From a patient perspective, there is no one I would trust more. Kay treats every patient and family as if they were her own.”
