Reactivating a Voluntarily Surrendered RN license

[clinicnurse]

I am an RN working as a Camp Nurse in Wisconsin. I am working with an elderly woman who voluntarily surrendered her Maine nursing license due to disciplinary action in 1995. She states that she has applied for reactivation of her (Registered Nurse) license, and is "just waiting for it to come through". Is this possible? (She said the same thing last year, although it never materialized.) This summer she is acting as the "Health Center Manager", giving nursing advice, and giving first-aid and over-the-counter medications to campers. I

[AmandaWIRN]

It sounds to me like she is practicing nursing without a license. Does the camp know that she is giving medical advice & dispensing medications with no license??? How elderly are we talking about here?

[clinicnurse]

She is 74. Yes, the camp is aware that she gives medical advice and OTC's and does first-aid. They had her take the Wilderness First Responder course (which their staff teaches) so they could have her "legally" practice nursing basically. It boils down to the dollar, I think. They feel she has "nursing knowledge"....but they don't have to pay RN wages. She's a 74 year old with no nursing license, no drivers license, and no established residence....she's happy for a roof over her head and food in her tummy. Kind of a symbiotic relationship...but it's a lawsuit waiting to happen.