With over three decades of professional experience to her credit, Diana J. Collison-Jones holds considerable expertise in in-patient and emergency room care. Now retired from nursing, she is still certified — as a nurse and in podiatry — and remains active as the owner of Woodland Haven, an adult assisting living facility, a role she has held since 1990. The facility notably includes an adult foster care, which houses those who have no one to care for them, such as homeless individuals and people who have been rejected from other facilities. From 1988 to 2003, she worked as a staff nurse with the United Public Health Service at Red Lake Hospital in Minnesota, having begun her career as the director of nursing with the Good Samaritan Society in Minnesota in 1985.
Looking toward the future, Ms. Collison-Jones intends to continue working in assisted living, adult foster care and podiatry. In addition, she has plans for several books and a number of short stories, drawing on her experiences in nursing. Her first book, “Fresh Tracks,” was published in 1994, and she has had numerous poems published as well. She has also recently been using her free time to get more involved in her artwork and to continue cultivating her embroidery work.
Ms. Collison-Jones was inspired to her career after growing up in a very rural area that did not have access to proper health care and often relied on folk remedies. She wanted to gain medical knowledge in order to provide her community with better alternatives. Achieving an associate degree from Amarillo College in Texas in 1985, she was certified as a registered nurse that same year. She subsequently continued her studies at Bemidji State University in 1986 and obtained certification in foot podiatry.
Proud of having never had a negative evaluation throughout her entire career, Ms. Collison-Jones also cites working at a St. Anthony’s Hospital in Texas, which was run by nuns, as among the highlights of her career. She had a particularly powerful experience when she helped a patient who was really suffering find peace before they passed. For all her accomplishments, Ms. Collison-Jones has been presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor conferred by Marquis Who’s Who.
Born in Prineville, Oregon, to Acle Floyd Collison and Elinor May Pochardt, Ms. Collison-Jones has been happily married to George Robert Jones since 1986. Together they are the proud parents of four children, Marlaine, Ervin, Rebecca and Crystal, and grandparents to several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In her free time, Ms. Collison-Jones enjoys doing art and embroidery and playing with her grandchildren.