Terry Foster
2015 Dancing With Our Hearts Celebrity
Terry Foster, Nurse Specialist
St. Elizabeth Med. Center - Author, Speaker & TV Personality
Charity: Peggy Foster Memorial Fund
Pro Dance Partner: Kate Alexander
2018 DWYH Judge
Terry M. Foster, was originally a 1977 LPN graduate of Booth Memorial Hospital School of Practical Nursing in Covington, Kentucky. After working for 5 years as an LPN in both the ED & ICU, he received his RN diploma from The Christ Hospital School of Nursing, Cincinnati, and in 1997 received his Master’s Degree in Critical-Care and Trauma Nursing from the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing and Health.
He has held positions of volunteer, ward clerk, staff nurse, charge nurse, critical-care instructor, clinical director and night supervisor, at both the Mercy Hospitals of Cincinnati, Ohio, and at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in northern Kentucky. His primary areas of nursing experience have always been in the Emergency Department and Critical-Care Units where he has national certifications in critical-care nursing, emergency nursing, and pediatric emergency nursing.
Terry has authored more than 40 professional publications in various textbooks, nursing, and healthcare journals. He has lectured on a wide variety of clinical topics at nursing seminars and conferences throughout the USA, having given a total of over 3000 formal presentations, covering all 50 states by the time he turned 50 years old.
Nationally he is a well known and sought after speaker on nursing humor, as well as clinical topics on critical-care and emergency nursing. As a humorist, Terry has also performed at the Las Vegas Caesar’s Palace, Atlantic City’s Trump Tower, and at local comedy venues in the greater Cincinnati area. An active community volunteer, he regularly volunteers for Covington’s Parish Soup Kitchen, Holy Cross Catholic Church, the Cincinnati Arts Association, “Chicks & Chucks” Breast Cancer Support group, and oversees the operation of the Peggy Foster Memorial Fund. He is also a member of the executive committee of the St. Elizabeth Foundation and volunteers on multiple charitable boards and especially for fundraiser events.
Terry has been the recipient of the Judith Kelleher award, which is the highest award, given by the national Emergency Nurses Association and he was inducted as a Fellow into the Academy of Emergency Nursing, an internationally appointed group of accomplished emergency nursing leaders from around the world. Over the past 5 years, Terry has been featured in six episodes of The Learning Channels (TLC) national TV program “Untold Stories of the ER” and two episodes of "Sex Sent me to the ER." He is the first RN to ever be featured on this physician only based television show.
Most importantly, Terry credits his single greatest achievement is that of “Dad” to his daughter Meredith, who he has raised since the untimely death of his wife, Peggy, also an RN, in 1995. Since 1998, Terry has been the Critical-Care Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Emergency Departments at St. Elizabeth Medical Center (a Magnet designated hospital) in Edgewood, Kentucky, where he coordinated the development of the Code Blue and Rapid Response teams. He has been continuously employed in this five-hospital system since 1975.