
Celebrating National Patient Recognition Week: Honoring the Patients We Serve in Correctional Health Care
A patient-centered approach leads to better health outcomes.
Home In Memorium: Renee Greengard, MSN, NP, CCHP
NCCHC Nurse Advisory Council Member Renee Greengard, 65, died on January 9.
Ms. Greengard lived in Roseville, Minn., where she started her career in labor and delivery nursing. She became a Nurse Practitioner after achieving a Master’s Degree in Nursing from the University of Minnesota, later being named a fellow. She was a nurse practitioner and clinical director in jails and prisons in Minnesota for more than 20 years. She also taught nursing at the University of Minnesota and Metropolitan State University.
Ms. Greengard presented at NCCHC conferences and was named Correctional Nurse of the Year in 2024 by the American Correctional Nurses Association. She was active in and president of the Minnesota APRN Coalition. She had been a member of the NCCHC Nurse Advisory Council since 2019.
In an article she wrote on correctional nursing as a career, Ms. Greengard noted “Not long after experiencing practice behind bars, I began to realize that correctional healthcare could be not only a viable career option, but also a very rewarding one… Providing medical care in a jail is not glamorous, but it is essential. While working with this population can be challenging, the rewards are usually great for both clinicians and the people affected by incarceration.”